Knife Crime Talk - Charlie's Promise

Note: this article contains discussion of sensitive topics. 

On Wednesday 17 June, we were privileged to welcome Martin Cosser into school. Martin is the founder of Charlie's Promise, a charity dedicated to educating young people about knife crime. It is named in honour of Martin's son, Charlie - who was tragically stabbed at an organised house party in 2023 and subsequently died from his injuries. Before he passed away, Martin made a promise to his son - that he would make it his life's work to raise awareness of the impact of knife crime and the immeasurable damage it causes to both the victim as well as their family and friends. 

Martin came into school to speak to Years 9 and 10. He told his son's story in vivid detail - how he was a kind young man that became the victim of senseless violence in an instant. Martin was very frank about the incident and what came after, and our students sat in shocked silence taking it all in. This gave a unique perspective into the consequences of knives that was both engaging and thought-provoking. It also used real-time data on knife crime to educate students. Martin reminded students that reporting what they see or know is not ‘snitching’ but can in fact save a life.  

At the end, the applause given to the courageous speaker was loud and enthusiastic - thanking him for delivering his story in such a poignant and effective manner. Reading through the student feedback makes clear how students were affected - indeed, the words "emotional" and "thought-provoking" appear many times, while students were also appreciative of the knowledge about how to report anonymously. Ultimately, this fantastic talk gave a brilliant contribution to our ongoing PSHE programme, as well as showing that we will always tackle sensitive, contextual issues that matter to our school community. Our sincere thanks to Martin Cosser for coming into school. You can read more about Charlie's Promise on their website. Charlie's story is also featured in series 2, episode 1 of the ITV series 'TikTok: Murder Gone Viral', which you can watch on ITVX. 

Fearless enables young people to pass on information about crime 100% anonymously - this includes knife carrying and knife crime.