Stabbed teacher relives boy's classroom 'ambush'

Steve Hose faced every teacher's worst nightmare when a student attacked him with a knife at Te Puke High School.

Mr Hose was flexing his arm to give his Year 9 students a direction following the end-of-class bell when he thought a student had fallen against him.

But the 53-year-old maths teacher had in fact been stabbed. He suffered four knife wounds in the left side of his neck and the top of his left shoulder.

Mr Hose said that during the period, his attacker had been distracted, moving around the room. He told the boy to sit down and get on with his work.

Mr Hose described the student's attack, on Monday last week, as an ambush.

"There was only a split second to strategise, and all my life's experience came into play.

"I knew I had to get all the students out of the way and keep the kid's attention fixed on me.

"Most of the kids fled the room but a few hung around the doorway, watching. But that was okay because now they are witnesses."

Mr Hose said he took evasive action to keep himself safe from the student.

"I managed to get a block of four desks between him and me so the attack couldn't continue.

"So he was face-on and would have needed to put his hands on the desks to jump over them.

"As the realisation dawned on him that he wasn't able to get at me, I told him to 'forget it. Don't even think about. Just drop the knife and leave.'

"He suddenly seemed confused and at a loss," Mr Hose said.

"So I repeated myself and he tossed the knife away and walked straight out of the classroom."

By then, other teachers had rushed to Mr Hose's aid, called by students who had fled the classroom.

Mr Hose said that in his 20 years of teaching - eight of those at Te Puke High School - he had never seen students with knives at school. The majority of children came to school to learn and enjoy their time in class, he said.

"You can't blame the school for this happening. If it had happened in an aisle in a church or supermarket, it wouldn't be blamed on them [the church or supermarket]".

However, he said there was a need to work more closely with the community to ensure it was appropriate for students to be in class with other students and their teacher.

"It would be unconscionable if any [students] with known aberrant behaviour issues were placed in a classroom with a teacher who was not aware of their history."

- APN