Exclusive:'Three calls a week' to police about violence and sex offences linked to Sheffield secondary schools
But the overall trend for calls to 999 or 101 about Sheffield schools is on the way down
As many as three calls a week are placed to the police to report assaults or sex offences at Sheffield secondary schools.
New figures reveal what the public called 999 and 101 for the most when raising the alarm about crimes on or near school grounds in the past five years.
It reveals how the single biggest reason to phone authorities is to report ‘violence with injury,’ accounting for one in six of all calls to the coppers.
But shockingly, it also shows over 250 calls logged for sex offences linked to Sheffield secondary schools since 2021, including assaults, indecent images, and 13 reports of rape.
However, the overall trend for reports of crime linked to Sheffield secondary schools is down, and have dropped around 20 per cent from a peak of over 800 in 2023 to 650 in 2025.
2026 is also on track to have less overall calls to police involving Sheffield secondary schools.
What do people call the police about involving Sheffield’s secondary schools?
The Star sought out these figures after three high profile incidents at Sheffield schools in 2026.
They included a large disturbance at Fir Vale School in February, then two separate reports in July from Greengate Lane Academy and Stocksbridge High, both involving young people refusing to leave school grounds.
The Star made a Freedom of Information request asking for a log of all calls to South Yorkshire Police involving secondary schools in Sheffield between September 2021 and August 2026.
It revealed the force has recorded a total of 3,448 incidents in that time - made up of 999 calls, 101 referrals, and incidents officers ‘stumble across’ while doing their duty.
This means there is no way to determine if these calls were about active incidents, or non-emergency calls to 101.
Conceptually, it is the difference between phoning 999 about an assault as it happens, and a parent calling 101 about their child being assaulted earlier that day.
And, despite evidence the overall number of calls are declining year on year, as well as over 500 where the caller “abandoned” or hung up without reporting anything, it shows the most common reasons are over violence, harassment, and an alarmingly high number of sex offences.
Violent crime
The single greatest reason for calls to the police about Sheffield secondary schools was to report ‘violence with injury,’ with a total of 489 calls - around one in seven.
This does not include a broad range of other violent offences - such as 24 reports of threats to kill, six reports of robbery, and 21 calls about a person with a knife or weapon.
Also listed was a single report of murder - of course, referring to the killing of Harvey Willgoose at All Saints Catholic High School in February 2025.
Other notable but rare offences here included one report of kidnapping, two reports of arson and one report of a person with a firearm.
Sex offences
Sex offences were not the most commonly reported offence linked to schools, but they are arguably the most concerning.
The data showed reports of 252 sex offences, including 72 sexual assaults, 64 reports of indecent images, five for indecent exposure, and 13 reports of rape.
The greatest number of calls was for a broad category labelled ‘sexual offences/other,’ at 97 in total.
There was also a single call to report ‘prostitution related nuisance.’
Together, reports of sex offences and violent crime add up to 821 reports in the past five years - amounting to an average of more than three calls a week to the police.
Non violent crime, ASB and drugs
A large number of calls reported anti-social behaviour and harassment.
In fact, over 300 calls in total reported incidents of public disorder, rowdiness, false alarms and people refusing to leave, including 26 cases of ‘threatening behaviour.’
More serious were the 113 reports of harassment, and seven counts of stalking.
There was also seven reports of ASB specifically involving fireworks.
There were also a comparatively few 13 cases of burglary, but around 70 instances of theft.
An interesting statistic was the shockingly small number of reports involving drugs, with just 11 cases of possession and only one count of dealing. This is possibly because schools may choose to discipline students caught with drugs internally without involving police.
‘Concerns’ and missing people
Lastly, the largest overall category of calls to police were out of concerns for other people’s welfare.
Around 873 logs, or around a quarter of all calls, were to raise concern for another’s safety, report suspicious behaviour, or out of “concern for a child.”
There were also 202 calls regarding missing people - or, to read between the lines, missing teenagers and students.
Are Sheffield’s schools safe?
It may be alarming to see the weight of all calls placed to the police regarding Sheffield schools - but the overall trend is there are less calls to officers year on year.
In the past five years, the number of calls to police regarding school peaked at 812 in 2023.
Since then it has steadily declined by around 20 per cent - falling to 710 in 2024 and 656 in 2025.
There have also been just 392 calls to police between January and August 2026, meaning it is on track to decline this year as well.