MORE than 100 assaults by pupils on teachers and staff occurred Vale of Glamorgan schools in the last three academic years.

Research by Wales’ largest teaching union has uncovered that teachers and other school staff have been the victims of 102 assaults in that period with over 4,711 physical and verbal attacks by pupils across Wales, an average of 1570 per year and eight per day.

No breakdown of verbal and physical assaults was provided for the Vale.

National Union of Teachers Cymru conducted Freedom of Information inquiries with all 22 local authorities in Wales.

The FOI request asked how many incidents of violence were recorded against primary and secondary school teachers or staff by pupils in the council area in each of the the last three full academic years.

NUT Wales secretary, David Evans, said that any incidents of physical or verbal assault by pupils towards teachers or any members of the school staff are unacceptable.

"To see an average of around 1,500 incidents a year is a great concern.

"The details of the FOI do not cover the severity of these assaults, but of course we can only assume that they were notable enough to warrant school staff to feel the need to report them.

"That is alarming and does need to be given consideration by schools, local authorities and the Welsh Government.

"No teacher should feel unsafe or threatened within their working environment.

"That impacts on the individual teachers and of course their ability to deliver high quality education to the rest of the class.

"A disruption in class, or in the school, due to physical or verbal assault by a pupil is not conducive to a positive education environment.

He added: "What these figures also show is that how different local authorities report these incidents varies widely.

Some of the numbers are noticeable different when they shouldn’t be and so it does beg the question why there isn’t a more standard approach to monitoring which would help in terms of putting in place policies and training to reduce the impact it may have."

Councillor Lis Burnett, deputy leader of the Vale of Glamorgan Council and cabinet member for regeneration and education, said: "While the Vale of Glamorgan figure is low compared to other areas of Wales, the council takes all such incidents extremely seriously.

"Each individual incident is fully investigated and appropriate action taken to minimise the risk of something similar happening again.

"A 24-hour counselling service is operated for staff offering support. 

"In addition, stress management and resilience training is available, while the council also carries out a comprehensive risk-assessment process.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: "Any form of violence or abuse against staff in our schools is unacceptable.

"We want our schools to be safe, welcoming environments where teachers can get on with their jobs, helping pupils achieve the best they can.

"Schools are required in law to have a written behaviour policy which should set explicit standards of behaviour.

"The policy should be developed and put into effect by everyone in the school."