A THIRD of parents said Bradford schools were not dealing with bullying quickly and effectively, new figures show.

Ofsted figures for the year to September 2023 show 3,189 parents in the city were asked if their child has been bullied and whether the school dealt with the bullying "quickly and effectively".

Of the 1,265 parents that said the question was relevant to them, 34 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed that the school handled the bullying effectively.

14 per cent of parents said their child was not happy at their school while 12 per cent said their child did not feel safe.

The data covers private and public nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools and special schools.

Tom Bright, Bradford branch secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: "The problem of pupil behaviour is getting worse.

"Schools have been contacting us about issues like pupils kicking doors.

"Staff and the other children are victims of this anti-social behaviour.

"There is also a recruitment crisis in supporting staff which does not help."

Across England, 32 per cent of parents said their child's school did not deal with bullying well.

Martha Evans, director of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, said bullying behaviour is a "persistent problem" in schools.

She added: "We know that almost a quarter of children say they are being bullied frequently face-to-face, so it is unacceptable that understanding how to deal with bullying isn’t a mandatory part of initial teacher training."

"There are many examples of school staff who do a great job for the children that rely on them, but we must do more," she said.

"If we get better at equipping staff to root out the problem, take a whole-school approach to tackling bullying, and make sure there is a senior teacher leading the way, then the serious implications of being bullied can be lessened."

The figures also showed 11 per cent of parents across England said their children were not happy in their school and nine per cent did not feel safe in the schools.

David Johnston, minister for children, families and wellbeing said: "Bullying is never acceptable, which is why this government is committed to working with schools to create good behaviour cultures and to improve approaches to tackling bullying.

"We’ve created behaviour hubs across the country, included teaching respect and inclusivity as part of the RHSE curriculum and provided more than £3m of funding to anti-bullying organisations to support their vital work."