The research discussed here was aimed at gaining an understanding of the phenomenon of violence in elementary schools, based on the way it is experienced and perceived by teachers and pupils. The decision to describe acts as violent was left up to the respondents. What teachers and pupils view as violent is then found to differ radically from what is recorded by the statistical instruments of the French Ministry of Education. For example, respondents very rarely mentioned thefts as violence, whereas they represent a large part of the violence recorded by the Ministry's central statistical system (SIGNA, and later SIVIS). The idea was to uncover what respondents view as violence and to gain a perception of how this violent dimension affects educational and professional experience. As will be seen, the outcome is far from validating the representation of schools as besieged, any more than as havens of peace.