Schools across the West Midlands made an average of 70 calls every day to the police last year, The Birmingham Post can reveal today.

West Midlands Police received 13,602 calls from schools in the region between April 2004 and March 2005.

Concern was expressed that the number of calls represented the tip of the iceberg of worrying crime levels faced by teachers on a daily basis.

***

Are you worried about crime levels at your child's school? Click here to send us an email

***

Ridgewood High in Stourbridge made the highest number of calls to the police of any school in the region, with 74 - the equivalent of one every two-and-a-half school days.

Hodge Hill Secondary School in Birmingham had the highest number of incidents that went on to be investigated as crimes - 33 during the 192-day academic year.

Ridgewood High last night said many of the calls made were due to "external issues" rather than disruption in classrooms. They included expupils entering the site and damage to staff cars and school property.

Head teacher Sue Bates said: "The calls referred to are not all emergency calls but ones which assist the police by passing on information."

Marie McMahon, head teacher of Hodge Hill, said the figures were " confusing" because they included calls not related to pupils at the school.

"Hodge Hill is an orderly school with a zero tolerance of poor behaviour on our school site," she said.

Of the 13,602 calls across the force area, 4,826 incidents went on to be recorded as criminal acts by police. Nearly a quarter of that total - 1,154 - involved violence against another person, robbery or sexual attack.

Weapons were used in 451 cases, 164 of which were violent. Firearms were used in 51 incidents and knives in 21 cases. There were also 67 arson attacks on schools.

Police last night stressed that just because a school was logged as the location of a call it did not necessarily mean it occurred on the premises.

However, a spokeswoman added: "It would be fair to assume the vast majority would be at the school."

Birmingham's cabinet member for education Coun Les Lawrence (Con Northfield) said further investigations were needed to see whether a "hardcore" of persistent offenders was responsible. He also expressed concern that violent and threatening behaviour from parents against teachers was growing.

"Parents need to get a much clearer view as to what they can and can't do in terms of issues relating to their children," he said.

"One aspect that leads to inappropriate behaviour is when a child is excluded and parents refuse to take responsibility."

Birmingham City Council is expected to publish results of a year-long study into behaviour in schools at the end of the summer.

Coun Jon Hunt (Lib Dem Perry Barr) chairman of the authority's education scrutiny committee which is conducting the research, said the number of violent cases was of particular worry.

"If that is happening it is real problem which we need to find new ways of dealing with," he said.

Brian Carter, regional secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said the figures highlighted the need to make schools safer.

"It matches the experience of increased attacks by parents and hostile incidents in schools which we would not even have thought about 20 years ago."