Four out of five school leaders report abuse from parents

Four in five UK school leaders say they have suffered abuse from pupils' parents in the past year, according to a poll that found they had been spat at, trolled on social media and even physically attacked.

- Sally Weale

The problem has become so serious that more than two out of five (42%) of those who took part in the survey said they had been forced to ban parents from the school site in the last year. Nearly a third (32%) have reported parents to the police and almost three-quarters (72%) have issued a warning letter or email.

Verbal abuse was the most common issue, with 85% of school leaders saying they had been targeted in the past year, followed by threatening behaviour (68%), online abuse (46%) and discriminatory language (22%).