RACIST incidents in schools have rocketed by as much as almost 100 per cent in south Bucks and have been partly fuelled by "Islamaphobia", an expert has said.

The alleged terror plot which saw raids in High Wycombe could also had led to a rise in reports in 2006-07, councillors charged with promoting equality will be told.

Figures from Buckinghamshire County Council show there were 101 and 54 racist reports in Wycombe and Chiltern and South Bucks secondary schools, up from 35 and 96 per cent the year before.

The jump was smaller among primary schools in Wycombe, where there were 114 reports, a rise of 12 per cent and Chiltern and South Bucks, which had 61 reports, a rise of 15 per cent.

Yvette Thomas, equalities, diversity and cohesion adviser, will tell councillors on Monday: "A rise in Islamaphobia as identified nationally by organisations such as the Runnymede Trust may have played some part in the increased number of racist incidents."

She said of the raids, which now see two High Wycombe men accused of plotting to blow up planes: "The alleged terrorist plots during that time could have had some part to play in the increase in the number of incidents."

Yet she said the increase "does not necessarily indicate cause for concern" as greater awareness had led to more incidents being reported.

And there are "varying degrees of understanding of what constitutes a racist incident".

Taunts were more common in the playground in primary schools and in the classroom in secondary schools, she said.

The council refused to name at which schools the incidents took place.

Amjad Iqbal, a trustee at Wycombe Islamic Society, said he was surprised by the "dramatic rises".

He said: "Youngsters are not that clever so it is possible that negative media coverage is influencing them."

Schools did a "good job" at tackling racism but he said: "Youngsters will always find something, they always call each other names and the media has just given them another tool."

Responding to the major rise in part of her area Chesham and Amersham MP Cheryl Gillan said constituents had not raised concerns.

She said: "I don't want any racial incidents in our schools whatsoever."

The council's Community Cohesion and Equalities Forum will be given the figures on Monday and also told 11+ exam results have stalled among white pupils but risen among Asian pupils.

In 2003 29.5 per cent of white Wycombe pupils and 31.6 per cent of white Chiltern and South Bucks pupils passed the exams - this was 26.7 and 31.7 in 2007.

For Asian and Asian British pupils this went from 12.8 and 25.8 per cent in 2003 to 25 and 46.2 per cent last year.

There were 2,743 white pupils and 389 Asian or Asian British pupils in all areas who took the exams.

This may be down to "socio-economic" factors committee members will be told.