COPLESTON High school, which was hit by an arson attack overnight, had to call police in 49 times last year - the fourth highest amount of calls of any school in the country.

COPLESTON High school, which was hit by an arson attack overnight, had to call police in 49 times last year - the fourth highest amount of calls of any school in the country.

The figures, revealed in a national newspaper, were released under the Freedom of Information Act and placed Copleston High fourth in the paper's “league of shame”.

They surveyed 39 forces in the country with 24 giving full accounts of incidents where police have been called to schools.

The news follows an Evening Star investigation earlier this month which revealed officers had attended 19 schools in south east Suffolk on 58 occasions in the last academic year.

Moira Bryan, spokeswoman for Suffolk County Council, said: “Any incident in a school is very regrettable and is not tolerated by the school or Suffolk County Council.

“Thankfully serious incidents are rare in Suffolk, and the county council provides advice and guidance for schools to help them deal with any type of incident.

“They are therefore equipped to deal with anything that does happen, quickly and effectively. Schools are expected to appropriately report any number of different types of incident.”

She added Suffolk's schools had built up good working relationships with police teams in there area to ensure issues are dealt with appropriately.

Figures nationally reveal police are called to 180 incidents at schools in the UK every day.