​PUPILS in Bristol schools are being watched by at least 160 CCTV cameras every day.

An investigation by the Bristol Evening Post has shown that some city schools have as many as 16 cameras on their premises with others a camera for every 14 pupils.

Orchard School, in Horfield, and West Town Lane Primary School, in Brislington, were revealed to have the most cameras of the state schools in the city.

The figures, gained through a Freedom of Information Act request, showed that 29 schools operate CCTV according to the council.

Although a spokeswoman stressed that the cameras were ones they had been made aware of and there could be more in place.

At Bankleaze Primary School, in Lawrence Weston, nine fixed cameras monitor the 187-pupil school. In nearby Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School, which has 204 pupils, five cameras are used.

The school which had the highest number of cameras per pupils was Cabot Primary School in Montpelier. Here 13 fixed cameras monitor the security of 193 pupils – roughly one camera for every 14 pupils.

On the opposite end of the scale Fairfield High School in Horfield, which has 930 pupils on the school roll, has just one moveable camera on site.

At West Town Lane primary in Brislington, there are 16 CCTV cameras in use.

Head teacher Jeremy Hughes said they were solely for security reasons and not for monitoring the children.

He said four cameras were installed in 2002 after £32,000 worth of computer equipment was stolen.

He said: “Since then, we had a couple of burglaries which prompted us to increase the number of cameras.

“We have not had any problems since the system was enhanced.”

Mr Hughes said none of the cameras were looking into classrooms. Cameras which were keeping an eye on some of the entrance ways might include some parts of the playground ”by default” but were not used for looking at pupils.

Orchard School head teacher Dr Helen Holman explained that the cameras were there for the security of the building and the safety of the children within it.

She said: “We had some in the corridors as part of the build to make sure children are safe and we put some additional ones in the IT suites as they have some expensive kit.

“We do use them. If there is an incident it is useful to be able to check on what happened and there have been some thefts.”

Richard Riordan, headteacher at Cabot primary in Halston Drive, St Paul’s, said they had two cameras which were inside the school premises.

He said they were installed before he was appointed head teacher 18 months ago and therefore does not know the reason why they were put in but assumed they were a security device.

He said: “They are not looking at the children, either in the playground or the classrooms.

“I’m glad they have been installed because if there was a break-in, we might be able to assist the police in catching the criminals.

“Having said that, we have never had trouble at this school since I’ve been here with crime or anti-social behaviour because the school is so well supported by parents and the community.”

A spokeswoman for Bristol City Council said: “The decision when to install CCTV is one made by each individual school in meeting their duty of care. There are a number of reasons that they may choose to go down the CCTV route.

“This could include the need to monitor more secluded areas of a school premises or the need to monitor specific remote access gates especially where there is electronic entry and the identification of an individual is needed to grant access. In most cases the school will seek advice from the local authority, especially as alternative security measures might be more appropriate.

But a national campaign group has criticised the use of CCTV as “over the top security”.

Daniel Hamilton, director of Big Brother Watch, said: “There are more CCTV in schools in the UK than anywhere else in the world.

“CCTV should be used sparingly to help solve serious crimes, not to watch school children going about their day.

“Any right-thinking person would conclude that this kind of snooping is completely over the top.

“Wouldn’t schools be better off spending the money on educating their pupils, rather than spying on them?”