Lawyers and campaigners have condemned the “horrifying” scale of child-on-child sexual abuse in schools after a Guardian investigation revealed thousands of sexual offences against under-13s, including multiple rapes, are reported to police every year.
Close to five sexual crimes against children aged 12 and younger were recorded on average by police every day in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, according to Guardian analysis of police data for 2021-25.
The figures include reports of almost 2,000 rapes and attempted rapes, which is equivalent to an average of one allegation of rape at a school received by the police every single day. More than a third of the rape victims were children under 13.
The new data showed at least 8,500 sexual offences against under-13s were recorded by police as having occurred on school premises or nearby between 2021 and 2025 – equivalent to 4.7 offences reported each day.
While most of the police reports did not specify the age of the alleged perpetrator, they are likely to be fellow pupils, and in at least 1,890 of the offences reported as being committed against under-13s the offender was described as under 18.
Girls are more likely to be victims of sexual offences than boys, according to the analysis, which found that close to two-thirds of reported crimes affecting under-13s where the sex of the victim was documented had involved female victims.
Responding to the figures, the children’s commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, described peer-on-peer abuse in schools as “widespread, normalised and too often brushed under the carpet”.
“We have taken important steps in the last few years,” she said. “But as these figures show we have a long way to go. This is not simply a school or college issue, it is a societal one.”
The data, obtained via freedom of information requests, also includes reports of a further 6,140 crimes involving the possession, taking, making or distribution of indecent or prohibited images of children under 18.
This has become a significant problem in schools, particularly with the introduction of AI and deepfakes, but headteachers are hoping phone bans and social media restrictions will help to turn the tide.
Andrew Lord, a partner with Leigh Day solicitors who represents survivors of sexual abuse, said: “This new dataset evidences clearly the horrifying true scale of sexual abuse of children within schools.
“Those in authority can no longer claim that they were not aware of how prevalent an issue this is. Parents deserve to know that their children are safe while undertaking their education, and anything short of concrete action to tackle this problem is simply not good enough.”
The data also detailed reports of at least 2,300 sexual crimes against children aged 13 to 16 and a further 9,100 sexual crimes against those aged 13 or over recorded by police as having happened in or in the vicinity of schools between 2021 and 2025. Three-quarters of these involved a female victim.
The true figure is likely to be significantly higher, since the analysis is based on data provided by 33 police forces that replied to FoI requests, out of a total of 43 in England and Wales. There may also be variation in the ways forces collect data.
Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) campaign, said: “This data is shocking but sadly not surprising, and underlines the urgent need to protect children from sexual violence at school.
“We’ve long raised the alarm about this national crisis in schools. However, despite what should have been numerous watershed moments, young people continue to be harmed en masse.”
Excluding 2021, when schools were closed between January and March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the rate of sexual offences increased by 4% outside London, with 26.6 offences per 100,000 children under 13 in 2022, rising to 27.6 in 2025.
A government spokesperson described the figures as appalling. “No child should be unsafe at school, and no child should have to carry this alone. That is why schools’ duty to respond to sexual violence and harassment is now statutory, and why staff are trained to spot concerns early and support victims.
“As part of our strategy to halve violence against women and girls, we have pledged to make sure all young people are taught about healthy relationships and consent from an early age – and we’ve forced tech companies to tackle harmful content and protect young people online through the Online Safety Act.”
Acting chief constable Becky Riggs, who leads on child protection and abuse investigation for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said the number of sexual offences reported in school settings was “deeply concerning”, but might also reflect growing awareness and greater confidence among child victims to come forward and report what has happened to them.
“These findings underline the urgent need for a stronger focus on prevention through age-appropriate education, digital resilience, effective safeguarding measures and greater support for parents, schools and professionals to identify concerns early and intervene before harm occurs,” she said.
“Tackling child sexual abuse requires a whole-system response, with policing, education, social care, health services, technology companies and communities working together to prevent harm, protect children and hold offenders to account.”
Soma Sara is the chief executive and founder of the Everyone’s Invited campaign, which has played a key role in highlighting sexual violence in schools. She now runs education programmes for young people. “When we first launched [in 2020], people refused to even refer to rape culture,” she said.
“It is now accepted as an issue both in wider society and within our schools. But we cannot expect schools to tackle it alone, particularly when the online world is changing so rapidly.
“The proliferation of violent pornography and the increasing harms young people are exposed to online are creating challenges that are incredibly difficult for teachers to keep pace with.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The prevalence of these incidents is simply appalling and a source of great concern for everyone working in education.
“We hope measures being taken by the government to better protect children online will improve matters but ministers must be prepared to go further in regulating online platforms.”
Figures from some forces were taken from keyword searches of police summary notes, so may include cases that mentioned schools but happened outside school premises. Some other forces recorded schools as a location for crimes both on and nearby school premises.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
