The October 2025 wave of the Department for Education’s Parent, Pupil and Learner Voice survey gathered responses from parents and pupils in England between 4 October and 10 November 2025. The survey included responses from 1,505 parents of primary school pupils, 1,791 parents of secondary school pupils, 857 parents of pupils in special schools, and 3,531 pupils in years 7 to 11. The survey asked pupils about their experiences of bullying in the previous 12 months and asked parents whether their child had experienced bullying in the same period. Bullying included both bullying by pupils at school and bullying by others, and could include online or in person bullying.
Bullying reported by pupils
Pupils in years 7 to 11 were asked whether they had been bullied for any reason in the previous 12 months.
Key stage 3 pupils
Among pupils in key stage 3:
- 22% reported being bullied by pupils at their school
- 4% reported being bullied by someone else
- 68% reported not being bullied
- 7% said they did not know
Overall, 24% of key stage 3 pupils reported experiencing bullying in the previous 12 months.
Key stage 4 pupils
Among pupils in key stage 4:
- 13% reported being bullied by pupils at their school
- 4% reported being bullied by someone else
- 76% reported not being bullied
- 7% said they did not know
Overall, 17% of key stage 4 pupils reported experiencing bullying in the previous 12 months.
These results suggest that younger secondary pupils were more likely to report experiencing bullying than older pupils which chimes with other related research in the UK relating to bullying and age.
Bullying reported by parents
Parents were asked whether their child had been bullied in the previous 12 months.
Across all parents surveyed:
- 24% of parents said their child had experienced bullying in the past year
- 64% said their child had not experienced bullying
- 12% said they did not know
Among parents who reported that their child had been bullied, the majority said the bullying was by other pupils at school.
Overall findings
The survey indicates that bullying continues to be experienced by a notable proportion of pupils. Around one quarter of key stage 3 pupils and around one sixth of key stage 4 pupils reported being bullied in the previous year. A similar proportion of parents also reported that their child had experienced bullying during that period.
