School incident reports rose 4.6% in PSP areas
The PSP's Safe School programme recorded 4,075 criminal and non-criminal incidents in the 2025/26 school year, including five-year highs for assaults and weapons.
Archived after its publication day. Search retains this original briefing for background and accountability.
Archived 12 September 2026The figures support closer prevention and reporting, but they cover PSP areas and do not by themselves prove that every school has become less safe.
- PSP recorded 4,075 incidents, 4.6% more than the previous year.
- The total included 2,898 criminal and 1,177 non-criminal incidents.
- Reported assaults reached 1,426 and weapons incidents reached 60.
- The PSP cautions against treating the totals alone as a complete measure of school safety.
What sits behind the total
Reported insults and threats numbered 920. The 60 weapons incidents involved three firearms, 50 bladed weapons and seven other weapons. The report also recorded 155 bullying and 25 cyberbullying occurrences.
These are reported incidents in the PSP's mainly urban jurisdiction. GNR-covered areas are outside this dataset, reporting practice can change and one occurrence can have a different seriousness from another.
Make reporting clear and usable
Families should know the school's safeguarding contact, how an incident is recorded and when police or health support becomes necessary. Preserve relevant messages or images without circulating them among other families or exposing a child publicly.
An immediate danger needs 112. Other concerns can start with the school and the Safe School team for the area. A child who reports harm should be heard calmly and not made responsible for proving the whole case before support begins.
What you can do now.
- 01
Save the school's safeguarding and Safe School contacts.
- 02
Record concerns factually without sharing a child's data publicly.
- 03
Call 112 for immediate danger or a medical emergency.
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