EXCLUSIVE: Charity warns many sex assaults in Merseyside and Cheshire schools go unreported

A charity is warning the number of child on child sexual assaults taking place in schools across Merseyside and Cheshire could be far worse than figures suggest.

Victim Support says many incidents are going unreported, after we exclusively revealed Cheshire Police has investigated nearly 230 cases of children sexually assaulting other children on school grounds in the last five years. Merseyside Police has received 148 reports over the same time period.

This so-called 'peer on peer' abuse involves children aged 16 or younger perpetrating sexual assaults against other children in their class, year group or wider school.

Ben Donagh is children and young person's lead at Victim Support in the North West and told us 'peer on peer' sexual assaults in schools make up around 25% of his team's case load. "These figures are alarming but unfortunately they're not surprising. Both locally and nationally we are seeing an increase in this kind of peer on peer assault and abuse. We're seeing a lot of young people being harmed by someone who is either in the same year group or the same class as them at school.

"I think there is potential for these numbers to be much higher than the records show. Young people don't always know who to tell or how to talk about what's happened. They could fear repercussions, they might worry about not being believed. It's really important for young people to know that it's never their fault.

"Knowing the person and seeing them regularly in school can have a massive impact on the victim coming forward. It can definitely worsen that fear of not being believed, but they also have a daily reminder. When it's someone from school, they're likely to see them again on a daily basis after it's happened. so it reinforces that prolonged impact."

The charity says there are important measures that schools can take to encourage victims to come forward. Ben continued: "It's important that schools make sure that the young person isn't in the same class as the person that's harmed them. They need to really reinforce the open door policy so that young people can speak to trusted adults in school about what's happened or how they're feeling. It's also vital to have a firm zero tolerance stance on this type of abuse and make sure students know how and where to access support."

Where else can I talk about my experience of sex attacks in school?

If you've been affected by any of the content of this article, you can report incidents to your local police force or safeguarding teams within your school.

You can also access alternative support here:

Victims of sexual assault can speak to the teams at Victim Support or Childline.

Survivors are anonymously sharing their stories via the Everyone's Invited project.