Pupils in sexual offences shock

8:30am Monday 12th January 2009

DOZENS of young children are being kicked out of school for sexual misconduct.

Shocking new data obtained by The Bolton News shows 32 pupils were suspended or expelled for offences ranging from sexual assault to daubing sexually explicit graffiti over the last academic year.

Some of the pupils were still at primary school.

It is the first time statistics of this nature have been collected by the council.

One children’s charity said incidents such as these were happening because children were becoming more sexualised at a young age.

But Bolton Council stressed sexual misconduct wad not a “major issue” for schools in the town.

Nationally 3,500 pupils were given fixed-term exclusions from schools for sexual misconduct in the academic year 2006/07.

Sexual misconduct can cover a range of behaviour from a one-off incident of daubing sexually explicit graffiti on a wall, to sexual abuse, assault, harassment, bullying, graffiti or lewd behaviour.

It comes as a national survey by the charity Young Voice showed that one in 10 of 11-to-19-year-olds had been forced against their will to take part in sex acts.

Users of Bolton-based charity Bully Free Zone contributed to the survey.

Manager of the charity Nicola Schofield said: “Children are becoming sexualised at a young age and are using sexually inappropriate language against other children. We are seeing more cases of homophobic bullying among boys and girls are often referred to in derogatory sexual terms. This is becoming another form of victimisation used by bullies along with cyberspace bullying.”

A spokesman from Bolton Council stressed that suspensions and expulsions for sexual misconduct were small.

He said: “Only a small proportion of overall exclusions are for sexual misconduct and this is not a major issue for Bolton’s schools compared to schools elsewhere.

“We are continuing to support our schools in the good work they do to engender respect among our children and young people through their work on citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education (PHSE). In addition, many of our schools are taking part in our Healthy Schools Programme, delivering our excellent Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEALs) programme and taking part in Nurture Group training. All of these emphasise the importance of treating yourself and others with respect and dignity, and about understanding how your actions may make others feel.”