Inside the London reception class where kids are taught to talk to help them stay out of gangs

Rushey Green primary school in Lewisham, is taking part in the project funded by the mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer

As one watches the four- and five-year-olds sitting in a circle on the carpet at Rushey Green primary school enthusiastically describing picture cards, gang violence is one of the last things that comes to mind.

Yet these children are part of a project funded by the mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, which was set up to tackle the number of teenagers dying as a result of knife crime.