Queen Ethelburga school and sex abuse

[BatmansBat]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/owner-of-york-boarding-school-queen-ethelburgas-jailed-for-historical-sexual-abuse-of-pupils-3295138%3famp

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9754347/amp/Millionaire-businessman-bought-37-000-year-boarding-school-abuse-pupils-jailed.html

Ok, so I am really cross that the previous thread got deleted. It had a lot of helpful links. This concerns child abuse and safeguarding and I am still aghast that this can happen.

A predatory male buys a boarding school (allegedly through various holding companies)

he installs somewhere between 500 and 700 cameras around the building, including in areas where children get changed

he abuses children

his lawyer threatens to sue MN when women tried to discuss anything negative about the school

He got appointed to Chairman of the Governors which meant that he could help write the safeguarding policies.

He managed to get off from charges the first time

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-44785825.amp

How can this be allowed to happen? As parents we need to know that our children are safe. I think this should be used as an example of how important all safeguarding principles are!

I have no words for this. I just want to cry for all these children.

It’s insane and makes me sick that someone can do all this and get away with it because they have money.
3 years is no where near enough. It’s clearly being suppressed from being discussed by the wider media because surely this should be national news and the google search results are all suppressed too... how is that okay?

Teachers grooming and abusing students is sadly nothing new. There ARE always rumours but still... somehow that's not always enough.
The damage it does is very real, lifelong and insidious.

We should actually be writing Queen Ethelburga’s in every post about their paedophile owner.

All those adverts in horsey mags drew me to this school, and I was 'lucky' enough to win a boarding scholarship at QE and left in 2017 after finishing my A-Levels.
Whilst there, I knew things were a bit odd, but coming from a protected upbringing, I didn't realise the odd things were actually sinister.
I remember sitting on the sofa watching a movie in the 'activity centre' one evening with my now husband and some other friends. A staff member came over to tell us that Mr Martin had just phoned to tell him that we were sitting too close to each other on the sofa. Clearly, Mr Martin had been sitting in his office watching us on the CCTV cameras.
It was always explained that Mr Martin wanted to ensure a safe, family-feel boarding facility, and by ensuring boys and girls maintained some physical distance prevented our teenage feelings from overflowing inappropriately.
Looking back, I don't understand why (more) staff didn't step up to report this creepy behaviour to the authorities, even if it would risk them being fired. Surely they should have cared more about protecting the children in their care than their jobs? Surely they must have realised that his behaviour went beyond the given reasoning?
If your sports team won three matches in a row, you were invited to his house for a pool party. This was seen as an honour, like being treated to a special day out by your grandparents, but now it seems to have had an entirely different motive.
I have really mixed feelings about attending QE now. I had a truly fantastic time there, great teachers, boarding houses, horses, trips etc, and certainly gave me many more experiences than I would have had, staying at home with my low income parents. However, now I know that we were being spied on by a predator whilst 'at home' turns my stomach.

MorningCoffee, I am so sorry if your happy memories have been tainted with this.

Sorry, may I ask, when you say that you knew that “things were a bit odd”, are you referring to anything else that the CCTV spying?

It appears that in total 3 people from the school have been sentenced for sex offences and I am trying to figure out if there is any point where things could have been done or escalated by parents.

Were there any rumours among the children? Did any parents complain to the school?

People posting on MN seem to have been silenced from speaking about this. Did you sense any silencing?

Was shocked reading this thread but the mention of Neville Holt made my blood run cold. My uncle went there. He said he was never sexually abused but the physical abuse he endured was horrific. He boarded from 7 (!) and he was often beaten black and blue.

Shockingly though he will defend that school and the teachers (well some of them). He went on to have a very successful career and puts it down to the discipline he got at school!!

Took me a long time to realise he is a victim and has a weird stockholm syndrome going on.

How fucked up is it that the accepted costs of a prestigious school include abuse to this extent?

It is all so wrong. And I find it horrific that people have been silenced for talking about any negative things about this school.

A wider problem is that I don’t understand how we protect our children. This man set his own safeguarding policies.

There needs to be a scrutiny of safeguarding policies and parents need to be able to be involved and comment on what the schools do.

I sometimes feel dismissed by my DCs schools when I voice any concerns (mainly about child not understanding a topic or if a certain friend is mean). I have never even thought about safeguarding. How can I keep my children safe???

Moita, I am so sorry to hear about your uncle. I don’t even know what to say

The school sent us a prospectus and a letter to invite us and DD to consider it for 6th form. I have no idea where they would have got our address from or how they knew we had a year 11 child.

'The damage it does is very real, lifelong and insidious.' Sums it up perfectly.

I think it's often very confusing for victims to reconcile it all.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/angus-mearns/2279422/victims-weep-as-former-fife-teacher-admits-20-year-campaign-of-sexual-abuse/amp/

More sexual abuse in schools. This man got away with it for 19 years. Why can school policies not spot this?? Where is the safeguarding that is supposed to protect our children failing?

This is awful. Decades of waiting for justice for the victims.

"Wilson – who was first investigated in 2008 – admitted carrying out sex attacks on three boys aged between 12 and 16 during a 19-year period.
The computing teacher was struck off in 2011 after an investigation into his behaviour but it took a further decade for him to be convicted in a criminal court.

Both the charges were found to be proven by the GTCS board."

2008?!

"He was banned from applying to rejoin the teaching register for a year and it is understood that he never returned to teaching after the ruling."

And this is understood on what basis? Are we meant to trust the words of a predatory paedophile? "He says he won't do it again guv". Well, that's alright then.

This is what is driving me insane. These are predators, nobody listens to warnings about them. There are investigations which yield nothing. And multiple destroyed lives later the are finally caught.

And in other areas of this board women are being told that we are silly and mean to focus on safeguarding. It makes me want to cry from frustration.

I’m going to be very careful with what I say here as I know the companies solicitor along with the rest of their team will rip anyone apart like a gang of dragons to protect their own.

I worked there when the allegations first came to light. The whole culture of the place is rotten to the core. The group of those who know too much very quickly close ranks when something happens.
I do know other members of staff have been paid off after allegations were made.
I do know that when specific members of staff leave that they have to sign an NDA if they’re to receive any money.
I do know that staff are watched on cameras.
I do know that I raised issues of a sexual nature which was reported following discussions with the LADO and I was called a liar by those at the top - I have kept the letter I was sent.

I was treated appallingly before I left and was not believed. I am so glad that the truth is finally coming out.

Believe what you read. It is all true.

That is so sad to read annoyed.

I think you are more likely to be believed now, so don’t be afraid of the lawyers. The place should be shut down.

Talkinpeace no longer posts on MN, but still has a copy of the whole QE thread, before deletions, taken during the legal action

@LadyLyndon I truly hope so. It has affected me for some years not just personally but professionally too. And this is what none of these people see or care about.
I know other people who have worked there who have become mentally ill because of how they were treated and what went on.

IMO the place needs a thorough shake up and complete change of senior management if it is to change. I don’t honestly see how they can continue under current control.

I know someone who was there in the early-mid 90s. She suffered serious mental health issues for years afterwards.

Ironically I was obsessed with the idea of going to boarding school at the time and thought she was so lucky.

@annoyedin19 I am so sorry to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience. I just find this awful beyond words.

May I ask (please feel free to ignore) how were safeguarding procedures established and implemented in the school? And we’re they published so the parents could access them?

I am trying to figure out how, as a parent, I could spot something like this.

@BatmansBat I think it’s already been mentioned on here who sits on the board previously and you should be able to see who sits on the board now. That should stand for any school and if you can’t see who is on the board, I would question why.

The same group of people are intertwined between businesses all connected to this place (I am not naming specific places on purpose). They will make decisions for the school and business.
There was designated safeguarding leads and all staff were required to attend safeguarding training every year or two at a push. I will say that the training was mandatory and they would not let you get out of it. Every member of staff from teachers to cleaners had to attend. It also covered many areas of safeguarding from being aware of the signs of abuse to FGM, concerns about staff, etc and it also highlighted the chain of command when it came to reporting concerns and who you could speak to. Alternative staff members were appointed so if your concern was about one of those individuals you could turn to someone else.
The sad part is that I don’t think anyone felt comfortable reporting issues. They managed by using fear as a tactic.
I can’t comment on how they implemented the policies or established them. Things like this would have been done behind closed doors by senior school staff.

WRT Safeguarding policies, this should be published on school websites and if it is not, you are more than entitled to request it. As a parent you have every right to know what the schools safeguarding policy is and how they action this.
You would also expect every member of staff in a school to read and sign any policy to confirm they have read and understood it and this should also be done annually.

I think one of the upsetting parts about this is that it has been done right under parents noses. They socialised with these people and were made to feel special. Looking back on it, it was almost like a Michael Jackson Neverland scenario. Look at me, look at all my things, my big house, my fancy cars, my money, when actually it was all a set up.

Someone very close to me was abused at another boarding school which has been mentioned in this thread. The exact same tactics were used on them. They’re now going through significant and intense therapy to deal with it.

Another very similar one was Crookham Court in Berkshire. Multiple teachers including the headmaster-owner convicted.

I was offered a very generous scholarship to go there for sixth form, but declined it. Learning this, I realise I had a lucky break.

Slightly odd things I noticed, from my brief interaction with the school, is that when the scholarship was declined, they offered to increase it: this seemed rather desperate.

When I visited there were examples of very sexualised behaviour from students who were 15 or 16 years old. I found it very shocking. It seems now that it may be part of a greater culture.