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.

There are more prestigious regiments than just cavalry regiments! No, state educated DC might not be in thesew regiments much but in all the others they are well represented at officer level. I do not think all army officers are the same either. However, at school it was the hard lads who wanted to be army officers! The nasty mean prefect type ones.

@PresentingPercy a) I didn’t say that there weren’t other prestigious regiments b) I was talking about my experience and I cannot remember a single state educated officer and only one from a fee paying day school not boarding school in the years I worked with them c) do you work for the ISC PR team, you are endlessly on threads denying people their own experiences and opinions.
I was at boarding school, I know what it was like, and the officers mess just replicated what these men had grown up with. I felt sorry for their wives and girlfriends, either resigned or clueless to the reputation they had in towns in this country and (when I worked with them) abroad.

The problem with experience of one person is that it should not be confused with the overall picture. Yes, 50% of officer recruits are privately educated but the assertion they are all dreadful people, which was the overarching message, is clearly misplaced.

It’s also important that policy is based on evidence and not personal experiences which by definition are biased or narrow. I’m guilty myself and I’m sorry you find my posts annoying. Like you, I think I can put forward a reasoned argument too.

PresentingPercy
“Are parents intending to confiscate phones as well? And lap tops? It really is clutching at straws to think DC will be OK if phones are limited at school.”

I thought that at home parents could set up the internet with parental controls, or is this not true?

@presentingpercy
A) I said ‘some of the young officers I worked with’ Please read posts properly before debating them.
B) who is deciding policy? This is a debating forum not a civil service department. People like to put their experiences across.

@scrollingleaves
Yes most parents of teens do this. Ours get one hour a day. We can get breakdown of how they spent it and limit time of individual apps ie 15 mins for Instagram.

Thank you got explaining Oohhhbetty

So perhaps if there were policies of no smart phones in school it might help a bit.

Plenty of schools already have a no phone policy. They are in lockers for the day.

@scrollingleaves
It's a tough one to call. Some heads would say that banning them means children sneaking in and then you have to waste staff time confiscate them. My head is deputy at a famous prep and he says the year 7&8's hand their phone in but have another one hidden that even their parents don't always know about (very wealthy school, children have a ton of pocket money.)

Personally I would like a ban for KS3 children at secondary /senior schools but where do schools store them once they hand them in? Most parents like children to have them if they are travelling to school independently (I know, we didn't, but that was the dark ages and all.)
Some teachers like children to have them - they use them for science quiz apps etc. I have a dyslexic daughter who is allowed to photograph her homework rather than copy it down. Our comp has a homework app that they have on their phones - its useful. Our local private sends children emails during the day they access on their phones.
I don't think there is a completely right or wrong answer to this. I am not sure that not having phones at school is going to change the porn issue, I don't think they are accessing it so much at school, more on the buses and in their free time and in their bedrooms. It scares me to think too much about it as I am not sure there is an answer to how we stop young boys accessing porn and that just depresses me as much as it does to think about the environment crisis in the world - too big to contemplate somehow.
I think the answer really lies in parenting. Really, really hands on, informed, exhausting parenting. I think schools do have particular cultures that don't always help, but at the end of the day this is happening for the most part on parents watch unless the children are at boarding school.

God awful typing , soz. Friend is a deputy head it should read

It is a shame schools are now depending on smartphones in the way you describe Oohhhbetty otherwise perhaps the old style could be used for travelling to and from school.

Thanks for explaining.

It is strange to think the very wiring of children and young teenagers’ brains may well be being changed by what they are seeing.

Most good schools do not allow phones in lessons. They are not something used regularly as teaching aids. Schools learned fairly quickly this was a nightmare and academic kids certainly don’t have lessons based on phones. Dc keep them in their lockers or in bags. Some schools have phone lockers.

@PresentingPercy at home parents can have a lot of control over screen time viewing. Many parents of both girls and boys I know have a hard cut-off for screens at a certain point in the evening (so yes 'confiscated') because of its impact on sleep. Most people I know also limit overall screen time use for the day, particularly social media.

Not allowing smart phones at all on school grounds rather than in lockers would be even better. It would eliminate them on the commute / school bus / after school activities etc.

No one needs a smart phone. If people want to be able to reach their kids in case of emergency, a basic phone will do. Porn aside, too much screen time has already been linked to poor mental health amongst other ailments.

I despair. I had to bring up the subject of porn with my twelve year old the other day. This is the same girl who was humming a TikTok song - turned out to be WAP. She didn’t know what it meant but figured it had to be ‘rude’ so that brought on a whole other conversation. It is a tough time to be a teenager right now, that’s for sure.

It is another subject in a way but there was a French headmaster who did not allow phones ( I am not sure if they were in lockers, or not there at all) and it meant that in the breaks the children played/spoke to each other more.

It does seem a terribly tough time IrishMumInLondon2020

@PresentingPercy we did a piece of research which involved phoning schools and collating data about their phone policies - you would be surprised how many ‘good’ schools do allow phones during the day, most were similar to our comp - phones to be kept in bags during lessons and only bought out when teacher says to use as eg a timer, or for a homework app etc (of course schools don’t teach lessons on phones, what a daft suggestion!) this was cross sector - a few asked for phones to be turned in, none said no phones on premises although presumably there are a scattering in the Uk - and maybe more on the back of the last few weeks furore.
@presentingpercy which ‘good’ schools that you know of have a phone turn in system - they should be applauded! In our research there was one girls grammar that did this and the girls had to take off make up (cotton pads and remover next to phone lockers.) all the fee paying schools in our research did not use locker turn in (it was not extensive so caveat I am sure that posters on here will know of some that manage this successfully. )

@PresentingPercy would you mind personal messaging me the details of the phones you talked about that learnt quickly about phones and banned them - would like to add them to my list. Did you work at these schools?

Schools not phones! My typing is so off today... thank crunchie it is Friday!

@PresentingPercy
This is on Dulwich College Policy page - like majority of schools they seem to ban them in lessons unless teacher says to use them. Schools are using the technology available on phones more and more, especially during the pandemic, not as study devices but in turns of apps and timetabling/ reminders. I think it would be very difficult (but rather wonderful) for all secondary schools to ban them outright, they have become a bit of a necessary evil.

• Teachers will allow boys to check mobile phones at the end of each lesson (to check their timetable, photograph prep etc.) but mobile phones must be away before the boys leave the classroom.

Dulwich had a clampdown on mobile phone usage a couple of years ago. The quoted policy sounds about right and matches what they actually do.

It's with permission of a teacher only (eg to photo something in a lesson) or for sixth formers within the sixth form centre only. It includes when queuing for the school bus services, but I think they're allowed out once on the coach.

There will be separate rules for the boarding houses.

@AnotherNewt in my experience from children at a few schools it is mobile phones on the buses / at home / out with friends that are the problem not in school - is that your experience too?

I came across this and shocked. I am (or was) considering Highgate for my son who is 4! The sad part is his current school is a feeder to Dulwich college so my heart is torn reading this news and goes out to the victims. Does anyone know how the investigation ended ? Esp for Highgate

A report came out from ofsted and the independent schools inspectorate saying that there was no evidence to say the school promoted such behaviours or there was insufficient procedures for when things like this reported.