12 year Old Girl Stripped Naked And Raped By Fellow Pupils

A spokesman for the school and its headteacher said at the time it ‘deeply regrets’ that it failed its pupils and unreservedly apologised.

 At a school in Manchester, a religious education teacher groped and kissed a teenage pupil in one-on-one meetings in his classroom. 

Richard Jones, 57, was arrested after the girl’s family discovered they had started a secret relationship and found explicit messages on her computer.

He admitted a string of sexual offences when he appeared at court last month and was jailed for eight years.

Claire Lilley, from the NSPCC, told the Independent: ‘Schools must make sure they have adequate safeguarding procedures in place and that parents and teachers are able to recognise warning signs early so they can take swift action when required.’

But the National Association of Headteachers has put the surge in reports down to the fact that alleged victims have become ‘more confident about making a disclosure’ and believes there is an ‘excellent’ amount of work being done to make schools a safe environment.

Headteachers are advised to report allegations of abuse to child-protection experts – but currently there is no penalty for failing to.

Now the Government faces renewed pressure from Labour to reform child safeguarding and introduce mandatory reporting of abuse allegations.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary, said: ‘These figures are very disturbing. Schools should be a place of safety for children and young people. 

The Government needs to take action given the evidence of growing sexual violence amongst young people.’

A Department for Education spokesperson said: ‘There is nothing more important than protecting children from harm - any allegation of abuse must be taken very seriously. Schools' safeguarding arrangements are regularly inspected.’ 

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