BRADFORD'S schools are having to deal with increasing numbers of violent crimes, figures released to the Telegraph & Argus show.

During the last academic year, police recorded 81 violent crimes at primary and secondary schools across the district - an increase of 62 per cent on the previous year.

Officers were also called seven times between September 2014 and July 2015 about possession of weapon reports - up from one the year before.

Sexual offences crimes shot up from six between September 2013 and July 2014, to 30 last year - a hike of 400 per cent. There was also one rape recorded for each of the years.

The Freedom of Information request revealed a total of 452 crimes were recorded at schools last year, compared to 340 the previous year.

The Bradford spokesman for the National Union of Teachers said the figures were worrying.

"There is a concern when you have an increase of that much in one year," Ian Murch added.

Police were asked for the numbers of crimes recorded at schools, with a breakdown of crime classification, and whether the incident led to an arrest. Last year, crimes led to 50 arrests, up from 37 the year before.

Crimes recorded included burglaries - 67 in 2013/14 compared to 96 the following year - and criminal damage which jumped from 55 incidents to 72 over the two year period.

In 2014/15, there was one incident of trafficking in controlled drugs, ten of arson, one of fraud, and five of possession of drugs.

Vehicle offences accounted for 23 recorded crimes, while 'miscellaneous crimes against society' accounted for another four.

"There could be multiple issues caused in a school by one or two gangs, I've known that to be a problem before, and these gangs are not necessarily pupils," Mr Murch said.

"Schools do try and secure themselves, but sometimes the layout and environment of schools makes this difficult to do."

Councillor Susanne Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council's executive member for education, said such statistics could be "blunt tools" that did not necessarily show trends in the classroom and assured parents that each school in the district had a nominated police officer focused on reducing crime in and around schools.

When issuing the figures, police said incidents may have occurred in the grounds of the school, during or outside of school hours and may not have involved students.

Police said some crimes would have led to warnings, rather than arrests.

The most high-profile crime committed at a school this year was the stabbing of supply teacher Vincent Uzomah by a 14-year-old student at Dixons Kings Academy in Lidget Green, in June.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to an 11-year extended sentence at Bradford Crown Court in August for wounding with intent, after he stabbed the science teacher in the stomach.

In May, Daniel Stainsby, 32, of Thorold House, Fairweather Green, was given a suspended prison sentence for burgling three properties, including St Stephen's School in West Bowling. He took two computer monitors from the school during the incident, which happened while he was on bail for another burglary.

Cllr Hinchcliffe said: "Schools and West Yorkshire Police work together through the Safer Schools Partnership to ensure all our students and staff are as safe as possible.

"Statistics can be blunt tools and we have to be clear that these figures do not necessarily reflect criminal behaviour in our schools by students.

"The incidents could have taken place in the grounds of our buildings, outside school hours and involved people who may not have been students.

"However, to reassure people they should know that each school has a nominated Safer Schools police officer or PCSO who work with school staff to focus on the prevention and reduction of crime, anti-social behaviour and incidents in and around the school.

"Schools will continue to work with the police to deal with offenders and reassure any victims so that schools are a place where everyone feels safe."

The education spokesman for the Conservatives on Bradford Council, Councillor Debbie Davies, added: "It is a concern that figures are rising, you would hope they were stabilising or going down.

"I think a lot of these figures might be the same few schools, and that in itself is a concern. You can't necessarily blame the schools. I'm concerned figures have gone up, but it is hard to draw conclusions based on raw figures like this.

"Maybe if there were tougher punishments for these crimes it would deter more people from doing them."

Mr Murch said the increase in figures may not necessarily reflect a worsening long-term problem with violence in schools.

"You need to look at a longer run of figures to know if schools are becoming more violent places. The union has a system of recording assaults on teachers, and that isn't showing an increase, the figures are quite steady.

"When you think that there are about 100,000 children in Bradford's schools, this isn't a huge amount, and it is certainly not the main problem schools face."

When issuing the figures, police said incidents may have occurred in the ground of the school building, during or outside of school hours and may not have involved students and that some crimes would have led to warnings, rather than arrests.