Twenty-nine pupils every week on average were suspended from schools across Bradford for assaulting a teacher or another student, latest figures reveal.

In 2007/8 a total of 1,120 pupils were given a fixed-term exclusion suspension for assault, of which 920 were for an attack on a fellow pupil. A further 200 were sent home and ordered to stay away for attacking an adult.

But the Government figures show there was a year-on-year fall in pupil suspensions across the Bradford district which stood at 1,431 in 2006/7.

Nationally an average of 1,000 pupils were suspended every week for assault.

Paul Hill, manager of Bradford’s Safeguarding Children Board, said the improvement in behaviour across the district was welcome.

He said: “The Council and partners are working hard to support schools in tackling bullying and inappropriate behaviour, and to convey the message that acts of this kind will not be tolerated.”

Shadow schools minister Michael Gove said teachers needed more powers to deal with unruly pupils.

He said: “The number of suspensions from school is truly shocking, and there has been a rise in the last few years as teachers are increasingly powerless to permanently exclude seriously disruptive or violent children.

“It’s simply not acceptable that teachers have to put up with bad behaviour when they’re trying to teach. That’s why we want to give them more powers to keep order in the classroom.

“A Conservative government will give every child the kind of education that is currently only available to the well-off: safe classrooms, talented and specialist teachers, access to the best curriculum and exams, and smaller schools where teachers know the children’s names.”

Education Bradford said schools managed their own behaviour policies and approaches to aggressive behaviour and bullying.

A spokesman said: “One of the recent success stories in Bradford has been setting up Behaviour and Attendance Collaboratives with all secondary schools. Schools now work together on managed moves of pupils who show challenging behaviour rather than just permanently excluding them. The managed move is carried out in consultation with all involved including the student.

“There are also greater opportunities for students to access alternative education. These strategies have brought about a 35 per cent reduction in the number of permanent exclusions in Bradford’s secondary schools between 2006/7 and 2007/8.”