IN A room of 50 schoolchildren aged between 14 and 15, I ask how many have ever carried a knife.
A couple of hands creep up. When I ask their teachers to face the wall, about 15 hands shoot into the air.
I put my hand over my eyes and ask someone to tell me why.
"Well it's protection isn't it," a boy says.
"There are so many out there who carry weapons to make themselves feel bigger than everyone else.
"There are bad people, we're scared of them, and you might need it for self-defence."
Does this mean you might get into a situation you might otherwise run away from?
There's a pause, and then: "Maybe. Most of the time when something bad happens, you get caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Mostly though, you don't pick a fight with people like that."
Then a girl in front of me says quietly: "Does it count if you've carried a weapon at home?"
I ask her what she means, whether she's armed herself with a knife because she thinks she might need it.
"Well yeah. I mean when you're home alone and scared about people coming to the house.
"There are boys in my area and they can come round to houses, it happens."
Like house robberies, I ask? Several other girls nod their heads in agreement.
Next, I ask how many have seen an incident between children where a knife or another weapon has been pulled out. The majority put up their hands.
I ask the girls again how many times this has happened and what they did.
"It happens a bit," one says.
"I've seen it twice recently where I've run all the way home after school.
"You just have to run away from it."
How old were you when you started being aware of this kind of thing? Year 7, they say.
"I know a ten-year-old who has been caught up in a gang with knives," a boy says.
"He was someone's little brother."
Does it make you scared of where you live, I ask the room, and are you scared about how many people carry knives?
"Knives aren't that bad," a boy pipes up.
"Guns are the worst, someone can get you from far away.
"To hurt someone with a knife you have to be right up close. You know, I could pick up a rock and throw it at someone. If you're cleverer than them, you won't let them up close."
Suddenly there's a clash of opinion about how dangerous knives are. Half the room are sceptical about whether the weapon will kill you.
"They do kill you," some shout out, others suggest it is very unlikely.
So what are the consequences of using a knife, and do children think about the consequences of stabbing someone?
A different group of boys begin to speak up.
"We know it's wrong to hurt people. Some people don't think like that, they feel better for hurting someone," he says.
"Or they can do it for the fame, to get in with people.
"They're the ones not in school, who don't care about anything or what happens. But it's not just them, they come from schools like this too."
Somewhere in the room, a boy starts talking about "better futures" so I ask him what he means.
"If you have a better future, if you know you can have a better future you won't do this kind of thing," he says.
"Improving confidence, so you're not always scared."
Are there any other ways to lower the level of violence among children, would it help if ex-offenders came to talk to them about getting caught up in knife crime?
"No, speaking to a victim would be better, or lots of victims," a boy says.
"Seeing what it's done to them."
A girl says there's very little anyone can do, so I ask the room if they think the problem is getting worse.
Apart from one boy who is shouted down, everyone nods their heads.
There is a sense of resignation about the problem, that it's just a fact of life and a normal experience of growing up in the area.
One girl says: "It's our age, it stops when we get older."
A boy agrees and says, eventually, the worst culprits stop because they go to prison, see a close friend hurt or are hurt themselves.
What will you do when you grow up to make it better, I ask.
"Tell our kids not to do it," a boy says. "Lock up the knives."
What about parents now? "Some don't care, can't be bothered," a boy says.
"And some think their kids are perfect."
I ask them if they've heard knife arches might be installed at schools and what they make of police tactics like stop and search.
"They would have to have them at every school," says a girl about the arches.
"Otherwise it's unfair and we look like children from bad schools."
There's also an agreement that stop and search is "racist".
Some say the tactic protects them, others say only black children are stopped, or groups of children with their hoods up.
Some even say they feel threatened by the police.
Finally, I ask them how safe they feel and whether they feel protected by adults.
"They can't do much most of the time, outside school," a boy says.
"That's why you have to protect yourself."
The Advertiser has agreed to protect the school's anonymity along with all its pupils and teachers.
