seeing an increase in the number of young people who are coming to them with gang violence problems.

And Kit Swainson, the executive director of the Coalition for the Protection of Children which runs the Fresh Start programme, revealed that many of the students were carrying knives with them on a day to day basis for defence purposes.

She said: "I don't want to raise any alarms. The problem has always been there. We are just seeing more students that have to deal with it.

"Many of the students are struggling with street violence and carrying knives for defence purposes.

"There has been some talk of gangs and gang retaliation, but for the most part the students we see are carrying weapons for defence purposes.'' The students have been hearing from a series of guest speakers who address the dangers of gang violence and carrying a weapon.

They speak not only from the Police perspective, but the gang member's perspective too.

Said Ms Swainson: "A lot of talking, dialogue and conflict resolution is being done. We are talking about things like what happens if you carry a knife and what could happen if someone gets hurt.'' The students are mainly referred to the programme by their schools after they have shown disruptive behaviour -- either by being aggressive and confrontational or passive and non-compliant -- and have been suspended.

During their suspension they attend Fresh Start and work one on one with a teacher on their core subjects and on anger and stress management and conflict resolution techniques.

Once they have completed Fresh Start they return to their regular schools, and, in most cases, are very successful.