Queen Ethelburga's York

[TheRealMBJ]

Is there any one on here with any first (or 2nd or 3rd even ) hand exoerience of this school? we weoukd be entering in the Prep department.

it certainly looks shiny IYKIM and the facilities are very impressive. But i have reservations

I think this is the school which threatened a number of MNetters with legal action.

Yes it is. Every time there's a thread QE threaten to sue the arse of MN.

I'd think very carefully about it before sending a kid of mine there and do some research, lots of research. Under the gloss it doesn't seem as shiny. But I have no experience myself.

A school which sends out endless adverts in girl's pony type magazines, is just advertising too hard.

I don't think that's quite right, VivaLaBeaver, and we need to be very careful what is posted, so they have no reason to complain.

I know of only one thread which led to threats to sue MNetters (in Feb 2014), though there have been threads deleted on the grounds of the amount of anomalous posting. I think it is quite important that the February 2014 remains, and hope that it will not attract posts which lead to it's removal.

I know nothing about the prep part of the school.

OP have you searched the school on here? I think there's been at least two threads about it in the last 4-5 years.

Thank you. I will go have a look.

OP
There is a big thread somewhere on MN - quite bowlderised but interesting none the less.
I was another one of the posters threatened with legal action by the school.

Thanks everyone. I found and read the thread. Quite something (even heavily redacted)

We are looking for a prep and have actually already decided on one but my MIL had heard good things about QE through a friend and insisted I look into it instead.

Just check on the one you like on here. There probably will be quite a contrast.

I took some kids up to a prep near there last week, cundall manor, had a lovely feel though all the pupils obviously very wealthy so might be wary of it if not so moneyed,

Have already mummytime although I am no longer a fulltime MNetter it is still my first port of call for important issue research . We have essentially settled on The Minster School

Coming very late to this discussion. However, for what it's worth both my daughters went there - both were bullied. The elder girl worked through it, eventually thrived and ended up going to Durham. We had to move our youngest girl. I know that the staff rotate through the school much faster than is usual. In my opinion it is a business first and a school as an after thought; all fur coat and no knickers.

Thanks for the feedback. We have chosen to send the children to The Minster School. QE is not my cup of tea at all.

BBC News 11 November 2015

A spokesperson for Queen Ethelburga's College said Brian Martin, 66, had "stepped aside" from school matters.
North Yorkshire Police said no charges had been brought.
Police said: "A 66-year-old man was arrested on 20 October in Harrogate on suspicion of indecent assault on a child."
Mr Martin was also arrested on conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and voyeurism, police said.

I don't know how common this knowledge is but my contacts in independent education in North Yorkshire were not all aware of it.

isiservice.devprocess.com/DownloadReport.aspx?t=c&r=FLWEV6811_20150604.pdf&s=6811

A very damning report on QE's safeguarding policies and procedures. It's in the public domain so there should be no comebacks for Mumsnet.

Oldsweat and others: there is a quite active thread related to this (ISI report) and also recent media coverage (worth reading), on the "secondary education" board.

It doesn't surprise me. It also doesn't surprise me how well this has been kept under wraps locally. However, today there were articles in The Yorkshire Post and The Times. I hope it comes back to bite them on the backside significantly. That man Martin is a charlatan and a disgrace to education.

Bullying issues in the school too..

I used to work there, for my sins. I can post some "facts," but not my opinion as we all know how fond they are of a cease-and-desist letter.

The school no longer has horses there or offers its own lessons but farms the children out to the (excellent) Harrogate Riding Centre/Harrogate Country B & B, as featured on The Hotel Inspector recently.

The school is split into "College" and "Faculty." Brighter students in sixth form will be put into the College to take A Levels, the rest will take a combination of A Levels and BTECs in the Faculty. Struggling students are often swapped from College to Faculty. As far as the league tables are concerned, these are two different schools, but they share premises, teachers, equipment etc.

The overall school is now called Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate. In British English "collegiate" is not a noun.

The school is owned by a complicated series of companies, with Amy Martin as CEO of them all, with a controlling interest by Foxlow Limited, owned by David Abrahams aka David Martin (no relation), who is worth a Google.

The present incarnation of the school at Thorpe Underwood was created and funded by Brian Richard Martin, who made himself "Provost" (whatever that is) and Chairman of the Board of Governors. He lived in a big house which was physically part of the school, but stood down and left the site following his arrest. As his case is now subjudice, I can say no more about him.

There is a massive turnover of boarding staff and the school is continually advertising for new staff, especially through Greycoat Lumley.

The school was heavily criticised in last year's ISI report, but the senior management team spent most of last year addressing the failures. Some would say to the detriment of the staff, but that would be opinion and I'm not going there.

A large proportion of the boarders are from China and the former USSR countries. There is also a large number of forces' children there.

There is a lot more I could say, but that would result in threats from QE's not-so-tame solicitors.

Whatever my opinions of the school, any prospective parent needs to ask themself "just why are they so litigious? What is it that they feel they need to work hard to protect?"