Children as young as five are being accused of sexual offences at school amid concerns some teachers could be criminalising innocent childish behaviour.

Figures show the number of sex crimes reported at UK schools has nearly trebled in four years from 719 in 2011-12 to 1,955 in 2014-15 - an average of 10 per school day.

Children’s charity Plan International UK, which got the figures using the Freedom of Information Act, said the findings are ‘alarming’ and called for more widespread sex education.

But experts warned yesterday that the rise in reports may be due to schools becoming ‘hyper-sensitive to any contact or comment’ – even if the child meant it ‘entirely innocently’.

Children as young as five are being accused of sexual offences at school amid concerns some teachers could be criminalising innocent childish behaviour (File photo)

The warning comes amid growing concern that some schools may be taking their safeguarding duty too far.

In England, boys and girls as young as five were accused of carrying out sexual offences, while the youngest alleged victims were also five-years-old, the research revealed.

This included a five-year-old girl who was accused of sexual assault on a boy under 13, and a five year-old boy who was accused of sexual activity involving a girl under 13.

In Wales, the youngest alleged victim of a sexual offence was just four, although no details of the allegation or the child’s gender were given.

Welsh police also investigated claims a five-year-old boy had sexual activity with a five-year-old girl.

In total some 4,643 sexual offences were reported at UK schools during the four years.

Nearly a third of the alleged crimes over the four years are thought to be committed by pupils, while school staff - including teachers - are behind 15 per cent of the allegations, according to the charity.

Nearly two thirds of alleged victims female, and 94 per cent of the alleged offences committed by males, the figures showed.

The figures come from 34 out of the 45 police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The numbers relate to sexual assaults where the location was recorded as a school and may include some historic allegations.

Lucy Russell, the charity’s UK girls’ rights campaign manager, said the girls are facing ‘day in day out, everyday harassment’ in schools.

Figures show the number of sex crimes reported at UK schools has nearly trebled in four years from 719 in 2011-12 to 1,955 in 2014-15 - an average of 10 per school day (File photo)

She demanded the Government makes relationship education compulsory to tackle aggressive sexual behaviour.

She said: ‘We are very concerned about these findings, sadly we are not really shocked because we have heard time and time again from girls in the UK that sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools is sadly quite commonplace.

‘Sometimes it is passed off as banter or as just having a laugh and girls are expected to put up with it.

‘But when we ask them how they feel about it, the answer is they feel harassed and bothered about it and that’s a real concern.

‘It’s important to realise that the small things build up - every time you get away with something small it means you can try the next stage - so it is really important that schools give a clear message to boys and girls that unwanted sexual touching, sexual name calling isn’t OK - it’s harassment.’

She also warned that very young children who exhibit sexual behaviour may themselves have been victims of abuse.

Ms Russell said: ‘The youngest cases are the minority so they don’t represent the bigger picture, but absolutely if a child is acting out overly sexualised behaviour at a young age it should be a cause for concern to investigate much further.

‘There are warning signs there that the child may have seen something that was significantly inappropriate for them, or they may have actually experienced abuse.’

She said schools must take a zero-tolerance approach to sexual abuse and harassment.

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘Schools are becoming hyper-sensitive to any contact or comment even where, especially amongst young children, this is entirely innocent.

‘These days there is a greater awareness of sexual bullying and assaults. There is, also, a greater willingness to report them.