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

A quote from an academy CEO in the ST yesterday about teachers' pay said he was on £485k.

I mean, I suppose it's possible that some parents would actively choose to move their child to a school with chaotic behaviour because they don't like high standards. It seems more likely that children would leave for all of the reasons that are being reported so far in both Essex and Hackney - because they are not being shown any empathy or flexibility when they clearly need it (for any number of reasons beyond their control) and because their mental health is declining due to an intentional culture of fear. Because not all children, much as some would like them to, are able to act like robots all of the time.

This seems key and could explain a lot - if policy / practice in the schools is being driven by the CEO's belief that giving support to children with SEND (and by extension perhaps other needs) is to be avoided as it stops them being independent. Sink or swim.

Of course no school could or should fail to provide support to SEN students. However, the schools Mossbourne have taken over have a huge deficit and can’t continue spending money they don’t have.

They also need to make sure that funding is spent to the benefit of all students, not only those with SEN.

@Lunedimiel I'm pretty sure the guy doesn't see himself as a civil servant - even if his schools are entirely state-funded!!!

There's some data on academy CEO salaries here: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/rise-in-200k-academy-trust-ceos-as-pay-stagnation-ends/

I am all for paying for talent. But paying academy CEOs like bankers, giving them, but not the teachers, above-inflation raises, and having the discretion not to pass on to their teachers the salary increases agreed by the Government (although this may finally be changing), well, that's not paying for talent!!!

@TreeSquirrel Of course no school could or should fail to provide support to SEN students.

Well, it's not as if parents had to take academies to court because academies tried to claim that laws on SEN provisions didn't apply to them, right?

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/may/24/academies-refusal-pupils-special-needs

Oh, look, this old case above concerns the very same Mossbourne - what a shocking coincidence, who'd have thought, right??

At least those @###!!@@###!! lost the legal challenge https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/aug/20/academy-loses-challenge-special-needs

It's not as if this speaks volume about how many academies truly feel about the issue, right?

To be fair that article is 12 yrs old. My friend has a son with Cerebral Palsy and she and him canning speak more highly of their experience at Mossbourne

Sorry, what is the ST?

Is the CEO signalling to families with Send kids not to apply to his Essex schools as support will be patchy?

I know families with Send kids who were happy at Mossbourne. Others who were totally let down. A mixed picture really.

Which I imagine is the same in all schools across the country,

That doest make it ok though. Especially, if your child is being failed. You need to stand up for all Send kids, not just yours.

It still doesn't make it right.

How do you think most SEND parents would interpret that interview, knowing that it comes from the CEO of the same academy trust which had to be taken to court because it didn't want to respect the law on special needs provisions???

You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to wonder if the interview was a slight hint that SE kids are not really welcome. The school can no longer kick them out after it lost the legal challenge but welcome they are not.

I never said it did make it ok. Children with SEND needs are being failed across the country in all types of schools. It’s not specific to this academy chain who in a lot of instances get it very right

I know a local Hackney family who was told by Mossbourne staff at an info evening that their autistic child needed to attend a special school. The child's primary school didn't agree. This child is now sitting their GCSEs a local mainstream school.

But I know many instances where they didn't make it right. Do people not have any empathy for vulnerable kids, especially those from families who cannot advocate for them?

My child was ok at Mossbourne. But I know many families who were not and it's appalling. Has anybody even mentioned the whole racism issue/xenophobia? Is everybody white on here? There is a lot of stuff that is not in the public domain (that the investigation will highlight) because families do not want their stories minimised by happy mummies and daddies on forums like this.

Sunday Times.

And, yes, I knew about the racism but was wary of bringing it up lest someone suggests that ,too, is fine or imagined, or exaggerated.

I know 😔

Yes, that is exactly what he is doing. Because like many of these CEOs he fancies himself as more of a politician and media figure than an educator.

Or that it was worth it, or that it didn't happen to their (white) child...

Textbook victim blaming.
It's a bit like saying : my boss didn't rape me, are we really sure he did rape you? Are we sure you didn't lead him on in some ways? Are we really sure it's not your fault?

The words that come to mind to describe this attitude are words I shouldn't be using on this forum but they're easy to guess.

The ‘privileged, middle-class’ takeover threatening one of Britain’s strictest schools'. If only the Telegraph would say what it really thinks! The substance seems to be one parent being baffled by what others have said they have experienced. www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2025/01/15/middle-class-mossbourne-academy-hackney-strict-rules/?ICID=continue_without_subscribing_reg_first