Children are encountering provocative, polarising content online at a highly impressionable age. What they see can shape how they view the world — and how they treat one another. We need to help them question what they hear, respond with empathy, and resist the normalisation of violence.  Today, YEF publish the first in a series of four weekly reports based on the largest-ever survey of children’s experiences of violence in England and Wales. Nearly 11,000 children aged 13–17 shared their experiences — offering unprecedented insight into the pressures young people are facing.

18% of teenagers were victims of violence, 13% perpetrators, and 50% witnessed violence in the past year.

Serious violence led to medical treatment for 29% of victims, with 2.1% of teenagers reporting carrying weapons.