Alarming spike in violent incidents at Sydney schools

Public education staff are reporting a daily average of 16 incidents across Sydney schools, 9News can reveal.

Most of these violent incidents are happening in Sydney’s west and south-west, including suburbs such as Bankstown, Penrith, Liverpool and Fairfield.

There were a grand total of 453 incidents in 2023 across these suburbs.

In comparison, schools in the northern suburbs of Sydney saw 275 incidents, while those in the south saw 261 incidents.

Incidents involving weapons have skyrocketed by 10 per cent (360 incidents in 2022, 738 incidents in 2023) over those two years.

Criminal activity is on the rise too, up by 85 per cent in 2023.

The statistics show students in NSW are exposed to a crime at school every four days on average.

Sarah Mitchell, NSW Shadow Minister for Education, said the spate of crime and violence in NSW schools is “frightening”.

“It distracts the teachers, it makes the students and staff feel unsafe and I really do think it sets back any educational outcomes if you’ve got a number of issues happening at particular schools,” she said.

The state government is introducing a new behaviour policy in January in a bid to curb violent outbursts, including measures to make it easier for principals to suspend students.