EXCLUSIVE: Charity worried over trend in sex assaults within Cambridgeshire schools
Our investigation has highlighted the number of child on child sex abuse reports over a five-year period, according to police figures
Last updated 2nd May 2024
A Peterborough charity is telling us it's worried about the trend in reports of school children being sexually assaulted by a fellow pupil.
Figures obtained by Greatest Hits Radio have found Cambridgeshire Police dealt with nearly 190 reports of the offences on school grounds in the last 5 years.
This so-called 'peer on peer' abuse involves children aged 16 years or younger perpetrating sexual assaults against other children in their class, year group or wider school.
"It's something we need to address as a society"
Emma Fleming is from Embrace, which supports children who've been victims of crime:
"It seems to be an escalation of bullying within schools that it's getting to the sexual element; it is worrying and we are supporting children who've come through this and it does have a huge impact on children within the school system," she said.
"I don't think we can deny the impact of social media and the easy access to pornography for children have these days.
"It's something we need to address as a society and technology companies to address because I think that's what we're seeing is driving a lot of this behaviour.
"The children we support say they are isolating themselves, they are scared, losing confidence and self-esteem and through that, they're not attending school and that has an impact on their academic achievements and life chances as well."
What are the statistics?
In response to our Freedom of Information Request, Cambridgeshire Police received 187 reports of sexual assaults committed by children aged 16 or younger within school grounds in the 5-year period, including 20 in 2019.
That figure dropped the following year, before rising to 43 in 2021 and 70 in 2022 respectively and then falling by nearly half last year.
Ben Donagh is charity Victim Services' children and young person's lead:
"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," he said.
"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, such as:
- Making sure the young person isn't in the same class as the person that's harmed them
- Reinforcing an 'open door' policy so young people can speak to trusted adults in school about what's happened and their feelings
- Making 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.