Violent crime in Britain’s classrooms has hit nearly 100,000 incidents in the last three years, a shocking new report reveals.
Police forces have recorded primary school pupils as young as seven bringing knives into lessons and teenagers plotting to poison or kidnap their peers.
According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the worst hit areas were London where there were 11,156 reports of violent crime in schools, then the Greater Manchester area with 5,618, and West Yorkshire with 5,118, from 2021 to 2024.
In the last three years there has been a rise of almost 25% of violent incidents in schools with 4,800 reports of weapons being seized.
This includes teenagers carrying a loaded or unloaded imitation firearm in schools in West Mercia. While the seven-year-old who came to school armed with a knife was reported to police in Merseyside.
Police officers seized 767 weapons from pupils in London, while Gloucestershire detectives reported that 143 of the victims of violent crime in schools were under nine.
The indictment of the country’s schools is revealed in ITV‘s documentary on the appalling murder of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey by school pupils.
A 13-year-old girl who stabbed two teachers at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman school in Wales went to class armed ever day
Brianna, 16, was murdered on February 11, 2023 in Warrington, Cheshire, by her supposed friend Scarlett Jenkinson and stranger Eddie Ratcliffe, who were both 15, after they became obsessed with violent torture films online.
Her mother Esther, has campaigned tirelessly since her daughter’s death to make schools safer. She said in the documentary called Brianna: A Mother’s Story: ‘It doesn’t surprise me that there’s an increase in violent crimes (in schools).
‘There is just so much harmful content and negative influences online that children have got access to. It is something that really needs to be looked into.’
Cheshire Constabulary, the police force which caught Brianna’s murderers, reported 2,412 incidents of violent crime in schools over the three years.
The report’s data was compiled from the responses of 40 police forces which showed there have been 97,876 violent incidents in schools, ranging from assault, stalking and strangulation marking an increase of almost 25% from 2021 to 2024.
Recent examples of violent incidents in school include a 13-year-old girl at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman School who was convicted in February of three attempted murders.
Swansea Crown Court heard how the pupil, who cannot be named used a Swiss Army style knife to stab assistant headteacher Fiona Elias, additional needs teacher Liz Hokpin and another pupil on April 24 last year.
In another case, footage shared widely on social media, shows a fight between two pupils at Waid Academy in Faith, Scotland from January 2023.
One pupil was filmed attacking another at the Waid Academy in Faith Scotland in January 2023
At the school in Wales the girl concealed this Swiss Army style knife in her cargo trousers
A moment before the schoolgirl (right, in black and white trainers) lunged at assistant headteacher Fiona Elias with a knife at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Carmarthenshire
The schoolgirl then ran off after briefly being restrained – attacking another girl with whom she had previously had a ‘petty argument’
Responding to the shocking figures Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT- The Teachers’ Union called on the government to do more to protect staff and pupils.
He said: ‘The NASUWT is calling on the Government to bring forward a national plan to tackle violence in schools and colleges to be delivered by a national taskforce on school safety and security.
‘Given the shocking number of incidents of pupils and teachers being threatened and seriously injured by young people carrying knives and other weapons, schools and colleges must be given even greater support to help them keep children, young people and staff safe.
While, Alistair Wood, CEO of Edapt, which represents tens of thousands of teachers in England who don’t want to join a union, says: ‘Behind these figures are real stories from classrooms.
‘We are increasingly supporting teachers who have had to step in and physically restrain pupils to prevent harm, actions they never imagined taking when they trained for the profession.’
Brianna’s killers revelled in a secretive online world where extreme acts of violence were normalised, leading Jenkinson to form a list of five teenagers, including Brianna, she would like to kill.
The 18-day trial of the pair heard they were at least in part motivated to commit the horrific crime because Brianna identified as being transgender.
Jenkinson was jailed for a minimum term of 22 years and Ratcliffe was sentenced to a minimum term of 20 years imprisonment at Manchester Crown Court.
Following the brutal murder of Brianna Ghey (left), her mother Esther said to police: ‘I knew this was going to happen’
Murderers: Scarlett Jenkinson, left, and Eddie Ratcliffe, right, delighted in planning the attack
Since her death, Brianna’s mother Esther has campaigned tirelessly to highlight the connection between social media and violence in schools.
In a recent interview ahead of the documentary she described social media a ‘cesspit’ and called for it to be banned for under 16-year-olds.
As part of her campaign, Miss Ghey is asking for a public inquiry into violence between school children and the harm social media is causing young people’s mental health.
Brianna: A Mother’s Story will be broadcast at 9pm, 27 March 2025, on ITV1 and ITVX.
