MORE than two teaching staff are being assaulted every day while working in Southampton’s schools, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Figures obtained by the Daily Echo show that for the last academic year 385 cases of pupils assaulting staff were recorded in city schools.

Of those assaults, 163 resulted in an injury to the staff member involved.

Over the course of the year, a catalogue of injuries has been recorded by teaching staff.

They have been mostly to limbs but the violence has left staff with wounds to their chests, throats, faces, stomachs, groins and shoulders.

The shocking list was revealed after a Freedom of Information request by the Daily Echo.

It also revealed that ten of the assaults were so serious they warranted a police response.

Pete Sopowski, of the National Union of Teachers, said that the safety of staff in schools was crucial.

He said: “If you work those numbers out it means that just over two teachers on average are subject to some violence by a pupil every day of the term.

“Teachers and teaching staff should not have to go to work thinking ‘today could be my turn’.”

He added it was likely that support staff were bearing the brunt of the injuries, as often they were in class to support individual pupils with additional needs.

The figures for the year 2013/14 are actually down on the previous year, when 509 incidents of pupil violence towards staff were recorded.

Of those, 273 left staff injured and police were called in on four occasions.

Mr Sopowski said he was surprised that the number had fallen and said he thought that there had been a change in the way incidents were recorded.

Cllr Dan Jeffery, Cabinet member for education in Southampton, below, said that safety of staff was paramount.

He said: “Of course no person should be injured during the course of their work and I am sure that the policies and procedures that Southampton City Council has in place for their staff ensure that these instances are dealt with properly and that the safety of staff and pupils is paramount.

“I do not think that Southampton has any higher number of staff being injured than elsewhere in the country, or else I would imagine it would have been brought forward through the forums we have.”

Hampshire County Council said that it was unable to release the information as it would take more time to retrieve the data for its 532 schools and education centres than allowed under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.