Chief's 'grave concerns' over school sex offences

A police chief has called for more action to tackle sexual violence in a county's schools after an investigation revealed the scale of the problem.

Norfolk's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Sarah Taylor, said she had "grave concerns" after figures obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed 444 sexual offences had been reported at local schools since 2020.

Children under six were among those accused of rape and sexual assault by fellow pupils, while in cases where the alleged victim's gender was disclosed, figures showed nearly 70% of the victims were girls.

There were almost 300 offences reported at secondary schools, while 14% of the crimes occurred in primary schools.

The new figures, obtained through an FOI request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), have sparked fears that peer-on-peer abuse between younger children is on the rise.

There were warnings the issue could be even larger than the figures suggest, due to under-reporting of violent and sexual behaviour in schools.

Responding to the findings, the PCC said her office was developing an action plan to tackle sexual violence in schools to create "long-lasting change".

"That even one child might suffer such serious sexual offences while in what should be one of the safest of places, school, is a grave concern," Ms Taylor said.

"More work needs to be done to tackle sexual offences in all forms in our schools."

School watchdog Ofsted warned that sexual abuse and harassment of girls had become "normalised" in schools.

Since 2020, 444 sexual offences were reported at Norfolk schools, according to police figures.

Of the alleged crimes reported in the last five years, 14% (63) occurred at primary schools - including among nursery age children.

Figures show 45 children aged 10 and under were accused of crimes, including rape and sexual assault.

There were eight children aged five and under named as suspects in sexual assaults on girls and boys under 13.

Two children aged five and under were also named as suspects for the rape of a boy under 13.

Of the recorded offences, 297 (67%) occurred at secondary schools.

Sexual assault on females aged 13 or over was the most reported crime, with 157 offences recorded. There were also 58 sexual assaults on girls under 13 recorded. Children aged between 11 and 15 made up about 70% of suspects for these two crimes.

Comparatively, 47 sexual assaults on boys aged 13 and over and 46 on boys aged under 13 were reported.

Norfolk Police confirmed 404 suspects had been charged for sex offences committed in the schools since 2020.

However, when children under 10 had been accused of offences, they were not considered to have reached an age of criminal responsibility and could not be charged.

Some recorded offences would have been historical crimes, but were included in the data as they were reported in the past five years.

Ms Taylor says she has been meeting with education leaders and Norfolk County Council's children's services to develop future schemes to address the problem.

"A reduction in these offences since 2022 is positive, as is the ongoing work by both the police and partner organisations, but more needs to be done," she said.

These included partnerships with other organisations and an assurance that boys, who were also victims of sexual assaults, would not be overlooked.

Some of the crimes reported involved online offences between pupils.

A spokeswoman for Norfolk Police said: "All offences are recorded and investigated at an appropriate level given the individual circumstances.

"Victims are provided with the highest level of support and care whilst a thorough investigation is carried out."

Next month, Norfolk Police will launch a scheme to provide schools with more support and materials to tackle "behaviours and attitudes that can lead to allegations of sexual offences".

"We will continue to support schools in tackling these behaviours through education and targeted engagement opportunities," a spokeswoman added.

The figures followed warnings from the National Education Union (NEU) that schools in Norfolk were facing a crisis.

Scott Lyons, a teacher and Norfolk secretary of the NEU, said: "This makes for grim reading and it confirms our own data.

"We have found there are serious challenges to sexual safety in schools, including seeing an increase in younger perpetrators, aged under 10 years old.

"The 63 primary school offences among the 444 reported suggest external influences are driving young sexualised behaviour and we need schools to do more to challenge parental behaviour.

"We also need targeted interventions in secondary schools for peer-on-peer abuse.

"The problem is likely larger than reported – violent and sexual behaviour is notoriously under-reported in schools."

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