A total of 2,462 year seven and eight pupils from the city's 11 state secondary schools were asked for their experiences of bullying.

More than 68% reported they had not been bullied at all during the term, an improvement of 4% from the 2002 survey.

The most common form of bullying was name-calling or having rumours spread rather than hitting or kicking.

Girls seem more likely to suffer anti-social behaviour than boys, the researchers found.

But there was a general fall in the number of pupils who said they usually like being at school.

Mark Ellis from the City of York Council's education team said: "Although the incidence of bullying is on the decrease, there are still a number of areas to work on, especially in terms of the reduction in the number of pupils who report not liking school."