Schools abuse helpline receives over 650 contacts as pupils urged to get in touch with concerns

Sexual assault, sharing nude images and rape are among the concerns reported

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The Government is encouraging teachers to remind their pupils that the NSPCC’s free Report Abuse in Education helpline is still available to them for support and confidential advice.

With children returning to school after the summer holidays the Department for Education will include the update in the monthly bulletin it sends to schools across the country.

Contact the Report Abuse in Education helpline

Our specialised helpline works directly with the Department of Education to support children and young people who've experienced abuse at school. Whenever the abuse happened – we’re here to help.

Worried adults and professionals can call us free for support and guidance.

Call 0800 136 663

Email us help@nspcc.org.uk

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 8am – 10pm or 9am – 6pm at the weekends.


We’ve received over 650 contacts in 5 months since launch

118 of those contacts were serious enough to refer to an external agency such as police, local authorities and the NHS.

Where information about the caller was known:

  • 121 contacts were from adult or child victims: 73 were female, 41 male, two transgender and 5 unknown.
  • 67 of the contacts were from parents with concerns about their child.

The helpline launched on April 1 after thousands of testimonies of sexual abuse and harassment, mostly perpetrated by peers, were posted on the Everyone’s Invited site.

These included reports about sexual name calling, unwanted sexual touching, sexual assault and rape by other pupils as well as online abuse like sharing nude images without consent.

Incidents inclided both recent and non-recent abuse with adults abused as children telling the helpline that they felt they could not report it at the time or they tried to but weren’t listened to. In other cases, adults witnessed incidents but didn’t act on it.

Some told the helpline they were accused of inviting unwanted attention while others were discouraged from taking action out of fear it would ruin their education and life prospects.

Victims said they felt scared, powerless and guilty because of the abuse and some developed anxiety, depression or suffered with drug and alcohol issues.

She said this boy tried running his hand up the inside of her thigh, up to her crotch area. During the same lesson, she witnessed the boy 'grab' two other girls by their boobs. My daughter spoke with the other two girls and they decided to go to their head of year. The girls were asked to write a personal account of what happened before being sent back to their lessons.

I’ve since been on the phone with the school’s pastoral support team and they seem to have a completely different version of events, basically making out like my daughter has got it all wrong. It’s as if they’re dismissing the whole thing. I’m not sure what to do about it now, so I’m hoping you can advise.

One parent wanted advice after her 14-year-old daughter was touched inappropriately by a boy in her PE class

Sandra Robinson, NSPCC Helpline Manager, said:

“We’ve heard about hundreds of incidents of pervasive peer-on-peer sexual abuse and sadly we know there are likely to be many more that have gone unreported.

Contacts to the helpline paint a striking picture of the devastating and lasting consequences peer-on-peer sexual abuse can have on young people and how it can be exacerbated if safeguarding incidents aren’t handled correctly.

For some pupils, returning to schools this week means facing their abusers again but they don’t have to do this alone. Our helpline is a safe space for children, teachers or parents to report recent or non-recent abuse and provide support to help them recover.”

Contact the Report Abuse in Education helpline

Our specialised helpline works directly with the Department of Education to support children and young people who've experienced abuse at school. Whenever the abuse happened – we’re here to help.

Worried adults and professionals can call us free for support and guidance.

Call 0800 136 663

Email us help@nspcc.org.uk

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 8am – 10pm or 9am – 6pm at the weekends.

Vicky Ford, Minister for Children and Families, said:

"As children return to school this September, we want them to feel safe and protected. That’s why we’ve taken steps to remind all schools about the importance of our new mandatory RSHE curriculum, as well as the NSPCC’s dedicated helpline.

We encourage all individuals who have been a victim of sexual abuse, whether recent or non-recent, to call the helpline so that they can receive the vital support they need.”