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

Can I just clarify that because I pointed out that you made a serious and unfounded accusation against certain headteachers and then complained about other people making serious and unfounded accusations, and that I agree with you that serious and unfounded accusations are not ok, that I should be stripped of parental responsibility?

@noblegiraffe Stop putting words in my mouth. I have clarified multiple times what I think and why.
If you want to play this game of twisting words, putting nonsense in my mouth etc etc, you will have to play it alone, not with me.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/don%27t_feed_the_troll

Personally, I think it is the rise of PE teachers in management, rather than more academic types. The irony being that many of these schools fail to actually exercise the children adequately. If all children were given plenty of fresh air and exercise and good nutrition, behaviour may actually be better.

Given where Michaela is, EHCP numbers are low. I made no comment on what persistent absence shows. Mossbourne has 5% EHCP so a stark difference and DC take more exams. With DC at Michaela taking 7 GCSEs, how does progress 8 work? Are these dc’s results not counted?

Michaela might be oversubscribed in y7 but it seems to have vacancies higher up when looking at capacity. Whatever the case, it’s not full.

It’s not racist to say different cultures approach education differently. Stats show this and some parents value a strict school. Lots don’t. It could be parents whose dc have send swerve Michaela. Some really should!

The bigger problem faced by parents is where this type of school is the only school and others are not catchment and possibly difficult to get to. Many dc would not thrive in a strict school but they are not always avoidable.

@TizerorFizz "Michaela might be oversubscribed in y7 but it seems to have vacancies higher up when looking at capacity. Whatever the case, it’s not full."

I suppose the interesting point to understand is how Micaela compares to other schools in terms of places available.
To be honest, in London even terrible schools are oversubscribed.

If all schools in the area are not full in the other years, it may suggest some demographic trend of families moving away.

If only Micaela is not full in the other years, or is emptier than other schools, it may suggest many families flee the school as it's not for them.

@ParentOfOne The PAN is 120. So 7 x 120 is 840. That’s capacity. The school according to the government web site, has a roll lower than this. I’m not local so I don’t know other schools.

You should try looking up the word disingenuous. Everyone can read what you have written and trying to slime your way out of it won’t wash.

And it is why I said at the start it is fruitless trying to have a serious conversation on this thread.

@kesstrel ? For a 11-18 school, the number on roll includes 6th form. The pan is 120. So 120 x 5 is 600 plus 6th form of 240 is the capacity. So the latest figures on the government web site show just over 700 on roll. So a tiny 6th form at that time? Might be different in 23/24 and this year. However as a school, it doesn’t appear to be full.

https://x.com/AnnaFazack1

For those who claim writing two articles on one federation constitutes activism, let me explain how this sort of journalism works. I am often approached by one or two parents who are very aggrieved at what has happened at their school.
It is isn’t usually possible for a national to take these any further.

I looked into Mossbourne because 30 parents coming forward saying similar serious things was unusual. I followed the evidence & interviewed many at length. After that article there was an immediate response.

Within 2 days the number of people wanting to add their stories had gone over 100. It was shocking & unexpected. You can argue that two people have an agenda, but 140 people, with themes recurring over & over again? That doesn’t feel likely. I ran the evidence past experts -some are quoted in the piece. They confirmed my instincts. I am sorry that some people feel I am wrong to give these people a voice. But I think you are wrong. Once again this week many people have cried sharing their stories. Their allegations will now be investigated. I am glad.

If you read the stories here they are almost entirely not to do with disruptive behaviour.
...
So your analysis is that over 100 parents have just been misled by their kids? If you’d read the evidence you might think differently. And the teachers who have spoken out were there. Plus professionals like GPs seeing the fall out.

Also

Nick Morrison
It's a sad indictment of where we are that some people are more outraged by a journalist writing about teachers screaming in children's faces than they are about teachers screaming in children's faces.

I am genuinely interested in this phenomenon - that people are more outraged by a journalist writing about teachers screaming in children's faces than they are about teachers screaming in children's faces. On Mumsnet posters are more outraged that anyone would dare criticise abusive educators than by the actual abuse that has taken place.

Why?

But you have no idea what people are more or less outraged about.

To be honest, in London even terrible schools are oversubscribed.

No, they aren't.

A decrease in the birth rate, families moving to their home countries post-Brexit/not returning after Covid and the housing & living costs means that there was a significant oversupply of school places in London (along with many other areas) for September 2024.

But we do have an idea of what you choose to yammer on about.

But we do, have you read the article by the journalist linked to above? It highlights the systemic abuse taking place such as teachers yelling in children's faces and isolating 10 and 11 year olds for hours as part of a policy for transition day, simply because they placed their bags incorrectly.

This isn't just something families have reported. Teachers themselves have come forward with accounts of these harmful practices. In fact, some teachers left the school because they couldn't in good conscience comply with such policies.

These practices aren't just harmful to students; they harm teachers as well.
A school that relies on fear and intimidation as its key pedagogical approach is unlikely to be looking after the wellbeing of its staff. Bullying among staff would almost certainly thrive in such a toxic environment.

@noblegiraffe are you saying that Anna Fazackerley is lying? A bad journalist? So a reputable journalist publishes this story and then engages with her critics with good arguments yet we are saying there is nothing to see?

I didn't say anything about Anna Fazacerley, I was responding to your specific assertion that "On Mumsnet posters are more outraged that anyone would dare criticise abusive educators than by the actual abuse that has taken place"

I'm saying you don't know what people are more outraged by or not. Some posters on here have certainly been throwing around accusations of 'people not caring about the abuse of children' but that's not the same thing as those things being true.

That those accusations are being thrown around, and others by the OP, certainly reinforces my opinion of this thread as not one suitable for serious discussion of this topic though.

@Araminta1003 I think you have a point. PE teachers weren’t likely to be SLT back in the day. Ex army types - our boys’ PE lead was nicknamed “bullet”. For obvious reasons. I think quality of slt and ethos does matter. Governors now appoint the hard nut types and hope everything falls into line in terms of exam results. If dc are upset along the way it doesn’t matter as they weren’t in the team anyway.

My children attend /attended this school. My DS had SEND which wasn’t picked up at primary school. This school proactively pushed for a diagnosis and the process was incredibly smooth (not the nightmare I hear others have to go through) and accommodations made. My children feel happy and safe at this school as do hundreds of other children that attend. They do not go in in fear (so scared children learn?!?!)

Not every school is right for every child but this school does work for hundreds of children who reach their full potential. The person who initiated this actively chose to send their second child there which does bring into question why would they do that if so awful.

In understand and feel terribly sorry for the children that this school did not work for. I do find though that often parents have more of an issue with the rules than the children and dissenting voices at home can’t help. I said to my children if you get a 20 min detention for forgetting something it’s not a big deal but it is the rule. My daughter would love to wear her hair down but she can’t. But you know the children aren’t getting bullied for having crap hair like I was in the 90’s. (Sun in has a lot to answer for 🤣)

@RicottaAndHoneyCake

Anna Fazackerley is known to be ideologically in favour of a ‘liberal’ approach to schooling, and has been caught misusing statistics and selective reporting previously https://andrewold.substack.com/p/how-bad-could-an-observer-article

She is particularly anti-exclusion and anti-punishment, so I wouldn’t be surprised if similar has gone on here.

@Boldly, I'd be interested in your opinion as a parent at that school.

Do you think the story was entirely made up?

Do you think that the cases of teachers shouting at children were isolated incidents? Have you and your children never heard of or witnessed any of those?

Do you think that the seminar on 'healthy far' was made up? Or maybe it covered the importance of kids associating breaking rules with a punishment but never anything even only remotely to do with shouting at children?

Based on your experience, how would you describe the school to a parent like me, who supports mobile phone bans, hates lax schools with no discipline, absolutely supports the school when the school punishes their child for misbehaviour, but at the same time dreads petty capricious rules like banning bicycles (Ashcroft), forcing kids to wear blazers in a heatwave or preventiing them from wearing one more layer in the winter, forcing kids to speak standing up with their arms crossed (Micaela) etc?
Would you say that the school is tough but fair, and has none of these petty capricious rules?
Or would you say that it has some of these more questionable rules, but for you it's no big deal?

@TreeSquirrel Yours seems to be a textbook example of confirmation bias https://www.britannica.com/science/confirmation-bias

I have my own issues with the Guardian and the Observer, and there are plenty of cases where I found that what they wrote was at best lacking and at worst utter bull.

But, when 100 parents, 30 former students and multiple (I forget how many, maybe a dozen/) former teachers all come forward, my instinct is to keep an open mind and at the very least give the journalist the benefit of the doubt. I would do this regardless of the newspaper in question, I would do it for the Pravdian, the Torygraph, the Daily Fail, etc.

You, instead, seem to display a textbook example of confirmation bias: you wouldn't like it if the story were true, you don't want it to be true, so you cling onto anything that can help you discard the possibility that it might be true.

Again, we're talking about 100 parents, 30 former students, and multiple former teachers.

@ParentOfOne

There is no school in the UK that forces kids to wear blazers in a heatwave.

Boldly, this isn't a situation of one disgruntled parent "initiating" something.
Nor is it about hairstyles and school uniform rules.

Do you think the government would call the allegations "deeply distressing" if it was?

As I've said previously, we're not looking to condemn Mossbourne Federation. We are however collectively hoping for certain improvements.

@TreeSquirrel **
There is no school in the UK that forces kids to wear blazers in a heatwave.

And you know this... how exactly? You know this... because you have personally reviewed the uniform policies and their application in practice at every single school in the country?

Surely you speak because you are well-informed, and not out of the confirmation bias we were talking about, right?

I know a few examples myself from direct experience - but I don't have a news story to quote on those.

There were these stories in Stoke on Trent: https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/its-joke-you-react-school-8738659

This is North Lincolnshire https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/19190728/parents-fury-school-forces-kids-wear-blazers-heatwave/

Trafford: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1630455/UK-weather-heatwave-Sale-High-School-blazer-row-Manchester

The BBC asking readers if their uniform policies were sensible in a heatwave (spoiler alert: many were not) https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/65876519

A thread on mumsnet https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4826794-being-expected-to-wear-blazers-today

Detention for not wearing a jumper under a blazer during a heatwave https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/girl-12-given-detention-not-30933881

Need I go on?

Or might you be inclined to apologise, admit you got it wrong, and recognise that you are biased?

@ParentOfOne

I suspect those examples all relate to DC being asked to wear their blazers in the corridors so they don’t get load. No DC is going to be refused permission to take them off on class.

@TreeSquirrel again with the confirmation bias! I ask again: how do you know? How can you be so sure? Do you realise how you come across when you behave like this?

I know of at least 2 cases of close friends who told me the exact opposite of what you "suspect" happened to their children. Direct experience, not hearsay.