Dulwich College a “breeding ground for sexual predators”

[rosemary201]

Another day, another school
Interestingly, the first letter from a boy

Dulwich College is today accused of being a “breeding ground for sexual predators” in an open letter organised by a former schoolboy that contains more than 100 anonymous accounts of assault, harassment and sharing intimate photos online.

The letter, written by Samuel Schulenburg, 19, a former pupil at the south London private school, said “experiences of assault, revenge pornography and slut shaming were exacerbated by ... young men who ... laughed at stories of sexual violence”.

His letter includes about 100 anonymous testimonies written by girls who went to neighbouring schools, such as James Allen’s Girls’ School (Jags). One claims there was “an established rape culture” at the school.

I believe Safeguarding policies are not an "opt in" option. There is a statutory need for Safeguarding policies. All schools, in my view, should have them on their web sites. State schools do but I am not sure about independent schools.

Judging the character of the Head is very, very dificult. Talking the talk is not the same as walking the walk. Inspection is the best way to judge if school leadership is dojng what is needed and ISDI need to be far more robust in checking independent schools with regard to safeguarding. Just having a policy might meet the legal requirement but there should be more details required for inspection. Inspecturos can certainly talk to pupils for example.

Evidence of enuring safegurarding is dealt with apporopriately is also an issue for future parents. In State schools, only the Safeguarding Governor, and named staff, see evidence of what has been reported. It is absolutely not available to parents. This should not change in my view. There is confidentiality to maintain. If matters get to court, that is different, but even courts maintain confidentiality of complainants. I would want schools to ensure all DC are able to report matters without potential parents knowing all about it. Safeguarding polices and how schools deal with disclosures should be available but not details of cases. That is a step too far.

There is a need for all children to be safeguarded from porn.

Why hasn’t it happened?

Agree re: divulging of complaints - I didn’t mean to give that impression. Whichever independent body conducts a review will be able ascertain whether the safe guarding procedures were followed or not. The parents do not need to know the details of the cases.

I also agree that safe guarding is not an option but it is stated in various places that it is not as robust in private schools as in state, hence my caveat about the extent of the policies.

I am not sure what in my post you were referring to when you say “talking the talk...”. I think a HT that has been in place for several years and has not followed safe guarding for incidences that have happened under the school’s jurisdiction has shown their character and is most certainly not walking the walk. I am not suggesting this is definitely the case for DC or any other school.
No HT worth their salt should need to be told that allegations of this nature need to investigated properly for the sake of the victim and the alleged perpetrator; the latter could be the victim of abuse, themselves.

That’s what I meant. Not just talking a good policy. Actually doing it is the important bit. It’s also going to be difficult to now say who did what and who didn’t do enough. There’s only one side of the story being told. I haven’t looked at all Safeguarding policies but inspection should tie in referrals with action. However in-action in the past might be difficult to make stick when newer heads are already in place.

A HT or Designated Safeguard lead or any teacher where there is a disclosure must act. The policies explain what will happen. They are long and detailed. I think the interesting aspect will he who knew what. Was it failure to act? Was it promoting a macho ethos? Was it failure to notice anything wrong? Was it all events outside school that were rarely reported to the schools? What did the girls’ schools do? The girls were their pupils. What did they know?

@11plusNewbie

Is anyone able to update on what’s happening at DC please ? And how it is dealt with ? We are looking at that the Dulwich schools for the upcoming 11+ of our youngest. Thanks

What the above poster says. The Wandsworth teen party scene rages throughout the schools, state and private, so I’d be asking the same questions to all schools.

I would hazard a guess that Dulwich might be first in the line for one of these announced visits from today's TES
www.tes.com/news/ofsted-visit-schools-centre-sex-abuse-scandal

Telegraph covering it too...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/07/watchdog-inspect-private-schools-caught-rape-culture-scandal/

@PresentingPercy I think you are raising some very relevant points about how it was dealt with on the side of the boys’ school and, as importantly, about the girls and the girls’ schools given the circumstances.

I am also surprised by the lack of testimonies from the Alleyn’s girls or JAGS girls on the Everyone’s invited website considering the numerous back up testimonies of the DC open letter. it doesn’t quite add up until side discussions have taken place.

@strugglinginswlondon I am particularly interested in the DC schools as the open letter was written by a former male pupil o and addressed to his school.

[quote 11plusNewbie]@PresentingPercy I think you are raising some very relevant points about how it was dealt with on the side of the boys’ school and, as importantly, about the girls and the girls’ schools given the circumstances.

I am also surprised by the lack of testimonies from the Alleyn’s girls or JAGS girls on the Everyone’s invited website considering the numerous back up testimonies of the DC open letter. it doesn’t quite add up until side discussions have taken place.

@strugglinginswlondon I am particularly interested in the DC schools as the open letter was written by a former male pupil o and addressed to his school.[/quote]
I very much any DC parent will share internal comms, it will be something to address yourself at open days or directly with the school.

I am also surprised by the lack of testimonies from the Alleyn’s girls or JAGS girls on the Everyone’s invited website considering the numerous back up testimonies of the DC open letter. it doesn’t quite add up until side discussions have taken place

I only looked at the initial entries, as they were quite tough to read, but the schools named were where the boys attended rather than the girls, unless it occurred at a co-ed (e.g Latymer Upper), so you wouldn’t see the names of girls’ schools on the website.

As you say, the open letter to DC had testimonies from JAGS girls. Subsequently a former JAGS pupil said she had also written a similar letter to DC head 5 years ago. I haven’t come across any follow-up to this to say what action was taken at the time, although I haven’t actively sought this.

I also haven’t heard much about what the heads of the victims’ schools did at the time. They also must follow safe guarding protocol and should be accountable.

Did many of the girls say anything to anyone at the time? It’s difficult to instigate safeguarding procedures if nothing is disclosed. If any girl did, then there should have been safeguarding procedures entered into. If nothing was said, it’s virtually impossible to do anything.

@11plusNewbie and @365sleepstogo

It was actually a girl from Alleyns that wrote to the head of Dulwich College in 2016 complaining about the misogyny at the school. 160 boys and girls from Alleyns and JAGs signed the letter at the time.

She is now 23 and said she never received any acknowledgement of the letter from the Head of Dulwich College. The full details are below in the Times article but I've extracted the main complaints for those who can't access it.

I find it interesting that the girls seem not to have had similar issues with the boys at Alleyns, who actually cosigned the letter with the girls. While all this is clearly a societal issue, it is also clear it is worse in some schools than others and not inevitable...

"The letter described the boys’ use of a polling app called Waggle It to make homophobic comments and racial slurs, rank girls’ sexual attractiveness and weight and to add their faces to pictures of blow-up sex dolls. The boys had allegedly shared pictures of girls on Facebook as “trophies” of their sexual conquests."

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-warned-head-of-dulwich-college-about-abusive-boys-five-years-ago-xkxgjftk8

I've spent over 20 years working in state and independent schools - and now have a teenage daughter (so see it from a new perspective)

ALL schools have a dominant set - based around wealth, sporting prowess, hardness etc - depending on the school. The boys in this set often set the tone and you can see other boys desperately wanting to be part of it. The quite literally get too big for their boots because of the popularity being in this set brings. A lot of the toxic masculinity happens out of school - parties, weekends hanging out, the bus on the way to sports matches. Parents enable it by allowing kids to roam the streets, give them alcohol, don't talk to them about porn/relationships. This was all present in the early 90s when I went to school and social media has actually made it worse. I fear that my daughter is entering a world that is worse than my teenage 1990s world.

It really is a societal problem and has to be tackled as such - schools cannot solve this on their own.

No idea, all I know is of the letter that was sent 5 years ago and I don’t to what extent that was acknowledged or reflected upon. I would have hoped it would have prompted teaching/ discussions about misogyny, homophobia, consent, safe & confidential means to report and raise concerns etc by all schools involved, even if details were not provided to allow specific allegations to be investigated.

My reply to was to PresentingPercy
Thanks @SouthLondonMommy for the clarification.
Of course it is a societal problem but, if true, then the schools failed in their role and that is what these letters have shown.

@365sleepstogo I agree.

I think its more of an individual school problem than some are willing to acknowledge. It is clearly worse at some schools than at others and this must be down to the school's ethos, policies and response to issues when they arise.

The head of the DC did write to parents after the 2016 letter was made public.

He wrote:

You may have read a report and letter in the Sunday Times today claiming I did not respond upon receipt of a letter from a former pupil of Alleyn’s outlining the misuse of social media by Dulwich College pupils in May 2016. It is also implied that little or nothing has been done at the College since 2016 in relation to such matters. These claims are contested.

and

the College worked with the Waggle It app providers to try to ascertain the source of disputed postings; the postings in a Waggle It “hive” were taken down; the Head Boy wrote a letter of apology to JAGS’ Head Girl, which was accepted, and a pupil was suspended.

and

I also offered to meet the author of the letter and we followed up with Alleyn’s on that offer.

So mis-communication I guess.

Details also about how safeguarding was changed as a result.

@SWMum1976, are you a DC parent?

Yes, there must have been a miscommunication as she says she was never contacted. Does DC feel the actions they took in 2016 fully addressed the issues raised?

Has DC mentioned how they addressed the racism and homophobia as well? There have been multiple accusations of both including named victims who have had their stories corroborated in the Times as well. Its getting less attention but in my view is equally problematic and was part of the 2016 letter too.

It is good to learn what steps were taken at the time, so thank you.

[quote SouthLondonMommy]**@11plusNewbie* and @365sleepstogo*

It was actually a girl from Alleyns that wrote to the head of Dulwich College in 2016 complaining about the misogyny at the school. 160 boys and girls from Alleyns and JAGs signed the letter at the time.

She is now 23 and said she never received any acknowledgement of the letter from the Head of Dulwich College. The full details are below in the Times article but I've extracted the main complaints for those who can't access it.

I find it interesting that the girls seem not to have had similar issues with the boys at Alleyns, who actually cosigned the letter with the girls. While all this is clearly a societal issue, it is also clear it is worse in some schools than others and not inevitable...

"The letter described the boys’ use of a polling app called Waggle It to make homophobic comments and racial slurs, rank girls’ sexual attractiveness and weight and to add their faces to pictures of blow-up sex dolls. The boys had allegedly shared pictures of girls on Facebook as “trophies” of their sexual conquests."

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-warned-head-of-dulwich-college-about-abusive-boys-five-years-ago-xkxgjftk8[/quote]
@SouthLondonMommy

thank you !

@SWMum1976

The head of the DC did write to parents after the 2016 letter was made public.

He wrote:

You may have read a report and letter in the Sunday Times today claiming I did not respond upon receipt of a letter from a former pupil of Alleyn’s outlining the misuse of social media by Dulwich College pupils in May 2016. It is also implied that little or nothing has been done at the College since 2016 in relation to such matters. These claims are contested.

and

the College worked with the Waggle It app providers to try to ascertain the source of disputed postings; the postings in a Waggle It “hive” were taken down; the Head Boy wrote a letter of apology to JAGS’ Head Girl, which was accepted, and a pupil was suspended.

and

I also offered to meet the author of the letter and we followed up with Alleyn’s on that offer.

So mis-communication I guess.

Details also about how safeguarding was changed as a result.

That’s interesting and much better than the original comms sent to the DC parents where I felt it was condemned in breath and minimised in the next.

I’m quite perplexed at the interest of discussion a school at its comms on a public forum from people who don’t send kids there or intend to.

Maybe contact the school for further clarification on matters you’d like to know about.

@strugglinginswlondon

I’m quite perplexed at the interest of discussion a school at its comms on a public forum from people who don’t send kids there or intend to.

Maybe contact the school for further clarification on matters you’d like to know about.

Let me write that without typos ...

I am quite perplexed at the interest of a school and its comms when a person neither sends a child there or intends to.

Maybe contact the school for further clarification on matters you’d like to know about.

Why so perplexed? It’s a public forum where we can discuss anything within legal limits.
Just because someone may not have a child at the school (and you don’t know who has what intentions on that regard), it doesn’t mean it does not affect other children and families. Quite the opposite in fact. It is also a matter for everyone that schools do their part, as should parents, social media companies etc. Discussion enables that. Schools should also realise that any comms sent out can very quickly end up in the public domain.

@365sleepstogo

Why so perplexed? It’s a public forum where we can discuss anything within legal limits. Just because someone may not have a child at the school (and you don’t know who has what intentions on that regard), it doesn’t mean it does not affect other children and families. Quite the opposite in fact. It is also a matter for everyone that schools do their part, as should parents, social media companies etc. Discussion enables that. Schools should also realise that any comms sent out can very quickly end up in the public domain.

I agree with you, this is a whole societal problem that we all need to address, but just dissecting one school and their comms isn't really of benefit to all the schools, especially those families and children affected who don't attend the school. In the hope we can make some giant steps forward in this area, then I would also expect other schools to be sharing the comms they are being sent otherwise one may perceive it as a mud slinging exercise.