Police recorded 150 stabbings or other knife crimes causing injuries at schools across England and Wales last year -  the equivalent of four per school week. The knife attacks are among at least 20,000 violent crimes recorded at schools by police forces in 2024, shock new figures show. And as just over half of police forces were able to provide data, the true extent of school violence is likely to be even greater.

The new data from Channel 4 News Factcheck come amid rising concerns about levels of violence in and around schools. In April last year, a 13-year-old girl stabbed and injured two teachers and a pupil with a blade at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Carmarthenshire. The girl, now 14, was found guilty of attempted murder in February and is awaiting sentence. And in February this year, a 15-year-old boy, Harvey Willgoose, died after being stabbed in the chest at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson described FactCheck’s figures as “deeply concerning” whilst teaching unions said the numbers were “shocking” and called for urgent action.

The figures, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, show that police recorded 150 knife crimes resulting in injury at schools in 2024.

Figures were supplied by 27 of England and Wales’s 43 forces. They include offences committed by people of any age and at any time.

It’s possible that in some cases, the injury may not have been directly caused by the knife – for example, if someone was mugged at knifepoint and punched by the attacker.

They are among 631 knife crimes at schools recorded by forces that year, with the stats also including offences like knife possession, making threats to kill and sexual assaults. Some forces say their knife crime figures include crimes involving other sharp objects, such as needles or broken glass.

Overall, the figures reveal that the 27 police forces that provided figures recorded 21,795 violent crimes at schools last year. These encompassed a wide range of offences, including robberies, assaults, threats to kill and weapons possession.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, told Channel 4 News: “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.”

Mike Short, head of education at UNISON, which represents teaching assistants, said: “Nobody should face abuse or witness violence at work. Sadly, for a staggering number of school support staff that’s their daily reality.”

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson, who oversees schools in England, said: “The figures are deeply concerning and sadly what I hear from a lot of teachers and school leaders is that we also see too much low-level disruption and really big challenges around behaviour.

“We are going to be setting out more very soon on the further steps we intend to take to support schools on behaviour management within schools. They have our full backing in taking necessary steps to protect children and to keep them safe.”