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

I was hopeful for a moment that Mossbourne Federation is finally holding themselves to account, but it's only for those who are or were at any of the Hackney schools since 2023. Nonetheless I will submit the evidence of what was done to my DC because it was so unethical.

I wonder why they've limited it to children since 2023. I suppose they have to draw a line somewhere but it does seem quite a narrow focus. It seems a bit of a strange thing to do when there's already an independent investigation on going. Hiring a KC can't be cheap!

You’re right - I bet you’re talking many tens of thousands for a KC led review like that. Reading the letter it sounds like the results won’t even be made public - “I will write a report about my findings and recommendations for the Mossbourne Federation's Trustees to reflect upon. It is anticipated that my report may also be shared confidentially with the Department for Education and the Local Authority” So potentially the school could choose to ignore the findings the same as it presumably ignored the complaints in the first place.

So this is a private review, commissioned by Mossbourne itself, and whose results won't even need to be made public.

The article also mentions an ongoing safeguarding review being conducted by the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership

What is this latter review? Will it be made public? Will it have any consequences?

The most shocking aspect of all this story is that, if I understand correctly, there is no investigation by the Department of Education.

Folks, let's not forget that Mossbourne is not a private school. It is fully funded by the State.
Where is the accountability?
Why is the Department of Education not investigating?
Does the system even allow for the Government to investigate, to sanction the schools which misbehave, to stop funding them, to demand a change in senior leadership, etc??

It all goes back to the points I raised in my first post: this lack of accountability is preposterous, and would not be accepted in other crucial state-funded services.

Hackney Citizen asking these questions: https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2025/05/28/questions-kc-led-independent-review-mossbourne-schools/

Not Mossbourne but Haggerston - another Hackney school taken over by an academy recently and (by all accounts I’ve heard) now using Mossbourne’s playbook. All sounds very familiar (Times radio video, 15min)…

@ParentOfOne Accountability lies with Ofsted to inspect. However no one likes Ofsted do they? No teacher wants accountability. When a school is criticised and a head took her own life that was seen as wrong. I think Ofsted have backed off and Academies and trusts are not accountable. Having said that, were schools ever accountable? I cannot remember a time when they were and closing down a school is hugely problematic. Where do dc go? Who can insist on an alternative style of education? The government certainly doesn’t dictate. So who can? Only the trust as far as I can see as Ofsted have backed off after the Caversham school safeguarding report. There is not a way to remove slt unless they do something illegal. Failing safeguarding is not enough.

Academy Trusts is backdoor privatisation to allow special interest groups - to push their ideas onto the young. This is from the rightwing playbook in the USA. It's about control and influencing kids.

@Ahmawa A few might be like this, eg Church of England but I see most as being reasonable. The issue really comes into sharp focus when parents have no other realistic choice. In an urban area, you would expect choice.

That video re investigation into Haggerston school is heartbreaking. The kids are being asked to meet standards that adults would struggle with - including the happy-go-lucky 11 year olds arriving excited for Big School! We have a friend whose child has just started at Haggerston and they are really struggling with some of the rules. This is a child who would be very well behaved, very bright and able. The child is doing their best to adjust to this new world, but the standards are viciously rigid and punitive. And the rules on toilets use are really unjustifiable and abhorrent.

I'm glad that so many of the teachers have voted with their feet and resigned, at least we know many of the teachers in these schools understand full well the implications of these policies for developing brains and refuse to be part of it.

@tigger29 // @Daisydaisydoohdahday I'm a journalist from the Hackney Citizen looking into the allegations at Haggerston. If anyone would like to contact me please email [email protected]

@ClaudiaLee thank you for covering this, I have a child starting secondary soon and I had high hopes for Haggerston, I’m appalled at what Times Radio has uncovered.

@tellyonita I'm sorry to hear this, I understand hearing these allegations would be distressing. My email is in the chain above if you would be happy to contact me about this. Even anonymous background information would be really helpful. Thanks, Claudia.

Out of interest does anyone have a sense of the timeline of the Mossbourne investigations? When might they report their findings. I am really hoping that the tide will turn on the militaristic discipline but we need to see the outcome of the reviews.

Thanks for that video @tigger29 , really interesting. And how telling that despite the harsh discipline, the school's academic results have only improved marginally in some areas, and declined in others.

Thanks also Claudia Lee - the Hackney Citizen does good work in this field

Lmao Labour created academies

Expansion: The number of academies grew significantly after the 2010 general election, when the "mass academisation" programme was introduced, allowing many more schools to convert to academy status.

The whole system is a land grab by private operators funded by the Government.

This is true. And there are plenty that don't treat their students like criminals. They are not inherently good or bad. They are however unaccountable, and that should change. The previous government didn't change that; it's now on the current government to bring accountability back to academies.

Oookaaaayyy

Clearly you have evidence and links for this?

What exactly you want links for?

That academies are "backdoor privatisation to allow special interest groups - to push their ideas onto the young. This is from the rightwing playbook in the USA"

Where is the evidence for this statement?

Or that:."land grab by private operators funded by the Government". Evidence that their purpose is a land grab

https://insidecroydon.com/2024/08/19/academies-privatised-secondary-schools-are-putting-profit-first/

https://educationpolitics.substack.com/p/defend-the-schools-bill-end-the-privatisation

https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/schools

who benefits from academisation?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/28/the-guardian-view-on-multi-academy-trusts-one-direction

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/academisation-really-privatisation-another-name-evidence-suggests-it-might-be

https://world-education-blog.org/2022/03/30/making-all-schools-into-academies-in-the-uk-is-wrong/

https://revisesociology.com/2016/05/16/privatisation-education-neoliberalism/

https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/politics/government-policies-have-fragmented-the-uk-state-secondary-school-landscape

While government rhetoric states that academisation gives schools freedom and independence, the reality, the report sets out, is not so positive. In fact, Professor West argues, as a result of academisation, many schools now have much less autonomy than before as they are part of multi-academy trusts and it is the trust board that makes the key decisions.
"The system is now highly fragmented with different rules for different types of schools, and more autonomy from some schools than others," she says.

https://neu.org.uk/advice/your-rights-work/academisation/neu-case-against-academisation

Pupils in academies are more likely to be taught by an unqualified teacher
A 2019 study published in the British Journal of Sociology Education confirmed that academies are more likely than other schools to employ teachers who are unqualified and that the percentage of teachers without qualified teacher status (QTS) in academies is rising compared with LA schools.

Teacher pay is worse in academies, but MAT CEO pay is soaring
DfE data for 2021/22 shows that, on average, classroom teachers in both primary and secondary academies earned more than £1,300 less than their maintained school counterparts.
There is a growing layer of MAT leaders and chief executives being paid six figure salaries. In 2021-22, as teachers and heads faced a pay freeze, the average MAT CEO or headteacher was paid 10 per cent more than the previous year and more than half of the country’s largest MATs increased the salaries of their top earners.
A comparison of MAT and local authority finances for 2021-22 found that the largest MATs are spending eight times more per pupil on salaries of £130,000 and above than are England’s largest local authorities.

Now can you put forward evidence of why MAT are better for pupils, parents, teachers and the Government who funds it?

I never claimed anything. All I said was have you got evidence that they are evil landgrabbers who are trying to push their ideas"