Ore meets a school policeman

No running in the corridor, tuck your shirt in and don't be late for class... they're just some of the school rules that kids have to obey.

But who tells them off when they misbehave?

Well, the government thinks that having police officers in schools is a great idea.

So Newsround's Ore went along to one school with its very own policeman, to see how it all works.

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The school I was reporting from looked like any other secondary school as I approached it until I looked a little closer…

Standing outside was a man wearing a bright yellow top, greeting all the kids with a big smile on his face.

I looked even closer, and parked up next to him was a nice-looking white mountain bike with 'POLICE' written in bright blue.

The school had its very own police officer.

Friendly face

You might imagine that a policeman at a school is a scary thing, but that's not why he's there.

PC Malcolm Spore has worked at the school for over three years, and is one of 400 police officers in different schools around the UK.

With his bright yellow jacket on, he's quite obviously a policeman, but the kids in this school seemed to like him being there.

For the year seven pupils new to the school, PC Malcolm introduced himself to them and spoke about what he can do for them, and most important was the kids' safety.

Problems

I thought this was a brilliant way to show them how friendly and approachable a policeman could be - no sign of the serious and stern face you might normally think a police officer would have.

They asked plenty of questions and Malcolm was happy to answer each and every single one.

He's quite a big man so he has quite a large presence around the school - in the corridors, the classrooms, and he always listened to the problems the kids had when they talked to him around the school.

Malcolm said that when there had been bigger problems he'd had to get parents involved, and act even more seriously if the law had been broken, but he said that these occasions were quite rare.

Do YOU think having police in schools is a good idea?

Trying to chat to Malcolm at break-time was… interesting!

Let's just say it probably wasn't just him I was talking to as the pupils got very excited about Newsround coming to report from their school!

Even so, it gave me an even better impression of how much they like Malcolm as they kept coming up to him, chatting and telling him what they'd been up to.

The kids I chatted to about having a police officer in their school were very happy about it and knew that he was there if they needed him.

The teachers also said it was great having Malcolm on the team.

Good idea?

They said they got on really well and that they really appreciated his support.

I must admit that I wasn't too sure of what a police officer would do in a school that's so different from what a teacher does.

Don't worry - Ore was allowed out!

But by the end of the day, it was obvious to me that Malcolm offered a whole lot more to the school than just being a man in uniform.

Maybe it isn't a solution for every school everywhere, but for this one at least it all seems to work really well.