Analysis of police data for the period 2021–2025 found at least 8,500 sexual offences against children aged 12 and younger were recorded as having occurred on school premises or nearby – equivalent to 4.7 offences reported each day. Nearly 2,000 of these were rapes or attempted rapes, meaning an average of one rape allegation at a school was received by police every single day. More than a third of the rape victims were children under 13.
The data, obtained through freedom of information requests, also recorded a further 6,140 crimes involving the possession, taking, making or distribution of indecent or prohibited images of children under 18.
While most police reports did not specify the age of the alleged perpetrator, in at least 1,890 of the offences committed against under-13s the offender was described as under 18, suggesting fellow pupils are likely responsible for many incidents. Girls were disproportionately affected: close to two-thirds of reported crimes where the victim's sex was documented involved female victims.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the children's commissioner for England, described peer-on-peer abuse in schools as 'widespread, normalised and too often brushed under the carpet'. She said: 'We have taken important steps in the last few years. 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.'