Mossbourne Academies: investigations into alleged emotional harm and abuse. Why are needlessly strict academies unaccountable?

[ParentOfOne]

The Guardian has published a story https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/dec/07/london-academies-emotional-harm-mossbourne-schools-observer-investigation

about allegation of emotional harm and other forms of mistreatment at "one of the country's leading academy trusts", which runs the following schools in Hackney, North London: https://www.mossbourne.org/our-schools/

It is a follow up to a similar story, on the same topic, published a couple of weeks ago: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/nov/23/teachers-at-mossbourne-academy-in-hackney-screamed-at-and-humiliated-pupils-say-angry-parents

The previous story was based on testimonials from 30 parents, but now 70 parents, more than 30 former students and eight former teachers have come forward

"A dossier of allegations, shared with the Observer and sent to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, included Mossbourne teachers being trained in “healthy fear” and “screaming” sometimes “centimetres apart” from children’s faces, several reports of children fainting in line-ups while being shouted at, and children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) being punished unfairly and “pushed out” to other schools. Many former students said they had suffered mental health issues due to being afraid in school which had lasted long after they left."

Here there were some discussions about how notoriously strict these schools were https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5019841-mossbourne-community-academy-any-experiences but no one mentioned this kind of emotional abuse.

My opinion remains that:

• I hate how so many schools have become academies. That's a backdoor privatisation, with teachers being paid less, while the CEOs of these academy trusts earn more than many University vice-chancellors
• I hate that academies are de facto unaccountable to anyone
• It is false that academies do a better job. Some work well, some don't, but lack of transparency and accountability remain big issues. E.g. see academic research by the LSE https://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/Assets/Documents/PDF/Research-reports/Academies-Vision-Report.pdf .
• Academies are simply good at showing Ofsted what they want. If this kind of s* happens in a school rated Outstanding, it means ratings are useless
• I am all for strict discipline, and I will absolutely stand by the school if they punish my child for misbehaving. But I absolutely dread needlessly draconian rules, put together by sexually repressed headteachers who didn't get enough love from their mums, and who get off on exercising this kind of authority to crush their students' spirit. I had made some examples here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5168466-how-common-are-detentions-at-secondary?page=9&reply=138524258 where I also talked about a secondary school in London banning bicycles and giving detentions to students caught cycling to school

If you read the Google reviews of both Mossbournes, they read the same. (Not current reviews, some quite old.)

Jodeg: You keep saying we’re not talking about abuse. Read this BBC article from today, all the way to the end, and tell us that, if true, these allegations don’t constitute abuse. That will be a good test of whether you are arguing in good faith.

www.bbc.com/news/articles/czjd383z9lyo.amp

Surely they were educated somewhere until 11 so it's not "all they know"? 🤔

It’s increasingly clear that these schools are simply not suitable for some parents and DC. The culture and rules are made abundantly clear before parents apply so I’m struggling to see why they come as such a shock to come.

Clearly DC on transition days shouldn’t be shouted at without reason. However, I don’t see the issue with firmly reminding potential troublemakers of expectations for once they start if the opportunity arises.

I think that if this is what you take from that BBC article, you've fully drunk the Kool-Aid.

The only thing from the BBC article I’d be concerned about is the student allegedly being told to kneel when he wasn’t the one behaving badly (if that’s what genuinely happened).

I’d be interested to see if the ex-student quoted as saying the top grades the school got him weren’t worth it would be prepared to give up his top university place and future opportunities those grades got him.

Well, after reading that article I am delighted that this school is now going to be held up to some serious scrutiny. If they've got nothing to hide and have done nothing wrong, what are they so afraid of?

And I really hope that some change is going to come out of this, and that these ultra strict super rigid schools go out of fashion as quickly as possible. I'd also like to see parents who think they're a good idea go out of fashion, but that's sadly not going to happen.

I certainly hope they don’t go out of fashion so long as they are delivering life-changing GCSE results for disadvantaged DC.

As I have linked upthread, there are plenty of schools with terrible behaviour for parents who want that. The rest of us don’t want to go back to the low-aspiration, low-outcome situation that used to exist in areas like Hackney.

Yes, fair point, Ubertomusic but I did say from year 7 too. Sorry not to be precise though!

TreeSquirrel, yes people know it's strict and lots want that, but parents don't know the reality of the day to day. Kids being yelled at in their face, soiling themselves because they're scared to ask to go to the toilet, etc, etc. Parents aren't told that bit.. that's the issue. If it was strict but fair, they wouldn't be complaining as they are. Respectfully, have you read the Observer articles? Would you really be happy if any of the things listed there happened to your child?

I have read all of the articles and the only story that would concern me is the DC told to kneel even though he allegedly hadn’t done anything wrong.

Many of the other stories appear to be parents unhappy with the school enforcing the expectations they signed up for (particularly on uniform).

If as a school you get these kinds of complaints from over 150 people, including pupils, parents and teachers, you are getting something very wrong.

But I get it, you worship this school and you love its destructive ethos. You're unable to see that there are middle ways. It's sad, but there it is,

Which ‘middle ways’ allow DC to get two grades better in each GCSE than expected?

TreeSquirrel, if you think it's acceptable for teachers to have training sessions where they're actively told to make children scared and for kids to be yelled at and be so terrified that they feint, we'll have to agree to disagree.

Apologies, typo, faint

@TreeSquirrel the accounts I know of, including the situation with my DC, aren't detailed in any media report. but I'm glad you picked up on the issue of unreasonable punishment of a child who was the victim rather than the perpetrator.

I don’t think any teachers are being told to make children terrified. The intention is to make DC scared of the consequences if they don’t behave, which is perfectly reasonable.

Where's your evidence that all the screaming and humiliating students and training teachers to instil fear is what achieves this? I'm all for good behaviour management in schools. Uniform - meh, I'm from a country that doesn't have it and has better educational outcomes than the UK, but it's the norm here and so be it. I would like to see some evidence on whether it's the draconian and abusive aspects of the school are what bring the success or whether it's structure and good teaching.

On grades - predicted GCSE grades are based on year 6 SATs. They're notoriously inaccurate to begin with. Then there's the fact that for the sciences, humanities and arts, they are extrapolated which makes the inaccuracy worse. For what it's worth, both of my kids got two to three grades above predicted for all of their GCSEs in a normal, sensible school. So did very many of their contemporaries - in our local comp, if you want to learn you will be supported to do so to the absolute maximum of your capabilities, and no, we do not live in an affluent area. The school is strict but not draconian. It is highly unlikely that it's the only UK school with a relatively tricky catchment that manages this, so again: why are you catastrophising that it's either draconian or utterly lax?

From a selfish point of view that's really concerning, the head then must be the head of my son's school now.

No one is supported to learn in the schools I linked to upthread where lessons are disrupted, fights happen daily and DC truant during lessons. Both schools are also close to bottom of the Progress 8 tables

Those are only two examples of what goes on in many ‘normal comps’ all over the country. Schools need to deal with behaviour before teaching and learning and attainment can improve (as Mossbourne has done).

You're STILL saying that it's one extreme or the other! Your examples are not of 'normal' comprehensives. They are of exceptionally bad comprehensives. By the same token, Mossbourne et al are not examples of 'normal' good schools. They are exceptionally extremely strict schools with good outcomes academically.

Meanwhile across the UK, schools like my local secondary go quietly about the business of educating young people in a normal way - with rule, but also with good pastoral care. I cannot understand why you seem to think this is impossible. The town where I live is in the lowest quintile for university participation and several of its wards are in the top centile for social and economic deprivation in the UK. And yet we manage without the Mossbourne method.

You clearly do not manage if you're in the lowest quintile for unis.

Well, you don't turn a town around in a day, do you? The percentages are rising. When my oldest was born, the school was pretty much as @TreeSquirrel describes the sink schools in her patch. I wouldn't have sent my DC there for anything. Things are very different now - and there's no instilling fear, screaming at kids or obsessing over fringes. Ours is the only secondary school in town, so any local parents who don't give a shit about education don't have anywhere else to go, and rules dictate the school must take them. They don't have the luxury that Mossbourne has of selecting people out in various ways and sending them to other schools.

The kids who want to work hard, learn and achieve do so. 2 to 3 grades above predicted isn't unusual, and all without a scream in sight.

For what it's worth, both of my kids got two to three grades above predicted for all of their GCSEs

This isn't what Progress 8 is though. You don't actually know what their Progress 8 score is.

This is true. But frankly, my kids achieved academically without being brutalised at school. Academics aren't the only thing that matters. Are you one of those people who think the Mossbourne approach is a good thing? That would be sad, you're usually the voice of reason. I understand that this thread has got very black and white, but if this were a different thread what would you say?