The parents of a schoolboy who was stabbed to death by a fellow pupil during his lunch break said they believe the school could have saved his life by acting on "too many red flags" shown by his killer.
Harvey Willgoose, 15, was murdered in front of horrified children and teachers at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield by Mohammed Umar Khan, 15, who took a hunting knife to school.
An independent review into Harvey’s death has found "several missed opportunities" to address behaviour and manage risk before the fatal stabbing, the Willgoose family’s lawyers said.
The private review was commissioned by St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs the school, and undertaken by a former school headteacher and inspector of schools at Learn Sheffield.
The trust said it would not be publishing the report because of sensitivities involved, but released the recommendations, saying it would implement them in full and had made a number of changes since Harvey’s death in February 2025.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the anniversary of Harvey’s death on Tuesday, his father Mark Willgoose said his son’s life could "100%" have been saved by the school.
"If they were doing what they should have been doing, Harvey would still be here today," he said.
Caroline Willgoose, Harvey’s mother, said the report showed "too many red flags" by Khan that were not acted on, and renewed her call for knife arches to be installed in schools, as she said children were no safer now than at the time of Harvey’s death.
She said: "There’s a knife problem out there, the one place children should feel safe is school."
Mrs Willgoose added: "I want the government to take some control from these academies because they’re a law unto themselves. It’s about their reputations, it’s not about child safety."
The couple said they had been "shocked" reading the report, and would like an apology from the school.
Mr Willgoose said: "They let Harvey down."
Steve Davies, chief executive of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, said: "Harvey’s death was a profound tragedy for our community and our thoughts remain with his family.
"Not all questions about the events leading up to the tragedy were addressed by the criminal trial and we therefore commissioned this external investigation to bring as much transparency as possible to the situation.
"We are grateful to the investigator for his careful and thorough work, as well as to the members of our community who generously gave their time to support this important process.
"It is clear that the report identifies areas for improvement, including in relation to our processes, information-sharing and training.
"We are engaging with an external safeguarding expert to advise on how we can implement the recommendations across the school and, where appropriate, the Trust as a whole.
"We have already implemented a number of robust measures over the last year and will continue to take action in line with the report’s recommendations and external advice from the statutory safeguarding agencies."
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