THE number of children suffering “accidents” in Bradford’s schools is on the rise, although education bosses put this down better reporting procedures rather than an actual rise in incidents.

Since 2012, the number of accidents a year involving pupils in the district’s primary and secondary schools, and logged by Bradford Council, has risen by 257.

Accidents are logged online, and many of them related to sporting activities or playground scrapes.

Newly released figures by the Council show that in the 2012/13 academic year there were 360 accidents reported in Bradford schools.

The next year the number rose to 556. There was a slight rise to 558 in 2014/15, and then to 617 last year.

On the latest figures, a Bradford Council spokesman said: “The safety and security of pupils is a top priority for all Bradford schools and for the Council.

“We have invested a lot of resources to increase awareness of health and safety issues in schools over the past few years and we have improved accident reporting procedures which we believe accounts for the increase in incidents shown since 2013.

“The vast majority of the accidents result from normal play or sporting activities.

“Accidents involving pupils are recorded using an online system and Bradford Council’s Occupational Safety team provides guidance and support to schools in recording these incidents.”

“The council also supports schools in complying with the relevant health and safety legislation to achieve sensible and proportionate risk management in schools.”

The figures do not paint the full picture of accidents in local schools however, as the council is not required to collect accident numbers from academies.

The Council spokesman added: “We have no legal responsibility to collect accident information from academies and would only have this information if the academy buys back into the Occupational Safety services that the Council offers to them.”