More than 480 weapons have been seized from school pupils across Scotland over the past three years, according to new figures.

A survey of Scottish councils by the Daily Mail revealed that 482 weapons have been seized from pupils in Scotland in the last three years, an average of four every school week.

Weapons seized include a sword, kitchen knives, ball-bearing guns, a saw, a hammer drill and a home-made taser.

Pupils across Scotland have also been excluded more than 1,300 times since 2009 for attacking other children and teachers with weapons.

The figures were revealed days after a 16-year-old was found guilty of the culpable homicide of Bailey Gwynne, who was stabbed during a lunch break at Cults Academy in Aberdeen.

His death was the second fatal stabbing at a Scottish school in 25 years. Diane Watson, 16, was stabbed to death at Whitehill Secondary School in Dennistoun, Glasgow in 1991.

Aberdeen City Council had the highest number of incidents, with 200 weapons seized in the past three years.

Forty four weapons were confiscated in Argyll and Bute, while Glasgow seized 23.

At one primary school in North Ayrshire, two knives and a screwdriver were confiscated.

However, the Daily Mail reported that police are often not involved in these incidents because headteachers want to avoid bad publicity.

Only two councils, Perth and Kinross and Dundee, admitted to excluding pupils temporarily for weapons possession.

Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, told the Daily Mail: "Teachers are a bit reluctant to bring in police because of the reputation of the school."

Teachers who suspect a pupil may be carrying a weapon are told to report it to their headteacher of senior staff under current guidelines.

Karyn McCluskey, a member of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, told the Daily Mail: "Incidents like this are rare but they are not rare enough. We have done so much to reduce knife crime but we have not done enough yet.

"We have to encourage everyone - children, parents and teachers - to act if they know someone has a knife."

A Scottish Government spokeperson said: "The overwhelming majority of our pupils are well-behaved.

"We take the issue of violence or the threat of violence in our schools extremely seriously and continue to work with schools and local authorities on anti-violence campaigns and curriculum promgrammes to reduce levels even further."