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

Maybe not, but certain posters on this thread seem so blinkered and unwilling to accept any criticism of the Mossbourne ethos that I can understand people getting frustrated. Wilful ignorance isn't a good look.

“What I’m gathering from the articles and the general reputation of the chain is that they extend their “authoritarian” ethos to the parent complaint process. Which is to say, they really don’t want to hear it, and you almost have go over their heads if you want to get anywhere.
in any situation where large numbers of people come to see ordinary channels as futile, they will turn to outside pressure. that means going to the press, organized protest, social media, etc. This is true generally, not just with regard to schools.”

@KillerTomato7 - interesting, but generally speaking, complainants would have to first prove they have exhausted the normal route and prove that did not get them anywhere in the first place. Or else they risk their complaint failing.
Unless this is just another general political campaign because Labour is back in and the ethos of certain academies is no longer “en vogue”. And the complainants need to be conscious that it can look like that from the outside.

The other complicating factor is that generally speaking causation is difficult to prove. Often children who have difficulties in any school, however liberal vs strict, it will be down to various factors like health, friendship issues, family breakdown, poverty, undiagnosed SEND etc and it can be difficult to prove that the school alone is to blame.

@TreeSquirrel I don’t think the ‘bootlicker’ terminology is at all or conducive to having a serious and considered discussion.

Come back to me when you or your loved ones will have had their lives wrecked by a toxic bullying environment, to the point that you will have become an emotional wreck, unable to sleep eat function, with devastating consequences on your professional, personal and family life.
Come back to me then.
But before then, don't criticise my choice of words.

I know what toxic environments can do to adults. The thought that this is being done to children doesn't let me sleep.

Would you criticise a rape victim for aggressive terminology not conducive to a serious and considered discussion???

Here it's emotional abuse, but the point is very similar.
Nay, it's mostly emotional abuse, because there have been allegations of physical abuse, too (like the kid forced to kneel).

@Araminta1003 Unless this is just another general political campaign because Labour is back in and the ethos of certain academies is no longer “en vogue”. And the complainants need to be conscious that it can look like that from the outside.

Enough with the conspiracy theories!!!!!
And don't forget that unaccountable academies aren't a Tory invention - didn't they start with Blair?

If allegations of abuse and impropriety started to emerge in a government department after a change of government, to the point that not 1, not 10, not 100, but ca. 200 people come forward all confirming the same, what would your reaction be? Would it be that it must all be made up and politically motivated? 1 or 2 allegations, maybe, but 200????
Or would it be that, sure, the presumption of innocence obviously applies, but for <@@@###@''!!!###> sake if 200 people come forward it's a serious thing which must be investigated thoroughly???

@Araminta1003 complainants would have to first prove they have exhausted the normal route and prove that did not get them anywhere in the first place. Or else they risk their complaint failing.

Academies are a backdoor privatisation of the state education. They are completely state-funded but refuse any accountability.

Someone posted a story from 2012, of how parents of special needs children had to take the school to court, because the school claimed that the law on special needs didn't apply to academies. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/may/24/academies-refusal-pupils-special-needs

Tell me again about an academy's complaint process?

You can view Mossbourne complaints policy here:
https://www.mvpa.mossbourne.org/governance/ -> find the complaints PDF https://www.mvpa.mossbourne.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Complaints-Policy-September-2024-onwards.pdf

Stage 1: informal
Stage 2: principal
Stage 3: Chief Executive Officer (why does a state-funded school even have a CEO?????)
Stage 4: Governing Body
Stage 5: Secretary of State

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/complain-about-an-academy/complain-about-an-academy
But note that the Department of Education cannot overturn the governing body’s decision, nor re-investigate your original complaint!!!

Steps 1 to 4 are the school marking its own homework; there is no intermediate step between the school itself and the DfE, and the DfE cannot overturn a school's decisions!!!!

is this your concept of democratic accountability?

Can you think of many other state-funded services that work like this?
How would you like it if your only options were to complain to a GP directly, or to the Department of Health, with nothing in between??

Anecdotal this and from a few years ago now as DS is in his 20's now, but he was at a Hackney comp several Mossbourne kids transferred in when he was in years 7 & 8. I mentioned this earlier in the thread and others have said similar, but Mossbourne have a rep for telling parents who complain that if they don't like something they can take their child elsewhere. The complaints system is like walking into a brick wall, so many parents try to complain but get nowhere and lots feel pushed out. The school's inarguably amazing results means there's always a waiting list, so they refill with new kids and the churn continues until they have a cohort who fit their regime. I have zero proof, but it is very well known locally.

I think your criticism of academies and use of the term ‘privatisation’ has given away the ideological motive of this campaign.

Not every academy has been successful (just as not every LA school) is but many academies and free schools have transformed education in some very deprived areas.

Poor behaviour is a significantly more widespread issue in UK education as a whole than over-strict discipline. I sincerely hope far-left activists are not allowed to sabotage DC’s education in Hackney or anywhere else.

On your point about ‘physical punishment’,
im not sure kneeling qualifies. DS3 went to a school that would certainly not be described as strict and chairs were regularly removed from those misusing them. The only issue here is that the consequence was allegedly applied to a DC not causing trouble.

I’m very glad you point out that causation is difficult to prove. Most of the people supporting Mossbourne have insisted that the draconian discipline policies alleged by hundreds of former students and staff are directly responsible for the “great outcomes” achieved by students, despite offering no evidence in support of this.

Since, as you point out, we can’t definitively prove that the school’s harsh policies are the sole and direct cause of the negative consequences experienced by many students, the same must hold true for positive outcomes as well. But then again, we all would like to believe that it’s down to our brilliance when things go well, but down to fate when they go poorly. “Victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan.”

And as to your observation about complaint policies, this is true, for the most part, with regards to escalating complaints to higher authorities. However, there is obviously no such requirement when it comes to informally escalating a complaint via media etc, since anyone has the right to do this. It’s true that parents should ideally exhaust all formal channels prior to going that route, but heads don’t exactly help themselves they state outright that their authority is absolute and all complaints will be disregarded. Most people consider child abuse an especially urgent matter, and are not going to go through a pointless time-wasting exercise if their child is a victim.

@Treesquirrel you keep seeing gotchas that aren't there. Mentioning privatisation in the context of Academy schools isn't about ideology, it's about fact. These schools have less oversight and accountability than ordinary state schools. That cannot be denied.

My NHS Trust is scrutinised by the ICB and the CQC. And yet a school has no accountability to anyone but the Secretary of State, and has it written into their contract that their decisions cannot be overturned by anyone? That is a license for nefarious behaviour. No major tax payer funded organisation should be so unaccountable. It's clear that this school can do no wrong in your eyes, and you are unwilling or unable to see the potential for abuse and corruption. I wonder why that is.

My borough has a number of Harris schools.

A number of years ago a local newspaper did an investigation and found out the 3 Harris schools at the time off rolled more children before year 11 than the other 20 schools put together.

Lots of parents like these types of schools because disruptive children don't go to them.

Of course many of these children may have additional needs or a chaotic home life but these schools don't tend to be interested in the cause of behaviour.

I suspect these schools don't really do much for those children who don't achieve, join gangs etc.

Hopefully any enquiry will actually look into what they achieve.

Any school which only allows well behaved children to attend is going to do well.

My son attended a poor performing school in London which I read on here was the type where kids either ended up in a gang or involved in crime.

This hasn't happened to him or any of his friends and his school wasn't that strict.

The reality is well behaved children are going to do pretty well wherever they go to school.

The idea that children need the sort strict discipline on offer at some of these schools reminds me of what you see from some parents and managers at their kids football matches on a Sunday morning.

I suspect it's probably part of the reason for the alleged rise in mental health issues for young people.

The Mossbourne schools have a much higher proportion of SEN and FSM students than average; so not sure much of your post is relevant/

@TreeSquirrel define average? Hackney itself has a higher % of SEN than the country as a whole and than other regions.

A school can go to great lengths to disincentivise SEN kids from joining, all the way to (illegally) offrolling them, and still have a higher % of SEN than the country for a variety of reasons, ranging from higher % of SEN in the area, to other local schools being terrible, etc.

Your flawed reasoning is a bit as if a woman told you she was discriminated as a woman at company X, gave you very strong evidence substantiating her claim, and you told her that no, it cannot be true because that company hires more women than is the national average!!!

These logical fallacies are the kind of nonsense that an education fostering sceptical, logical, analytical, original, critical thinking would help children spot.
An education based on terrorising children into submission and giving them detention if they dare question anything will NOT develop these skills.

You might want to read this excellent book (not specifically about education):
callingbullshit.org/

Children on free school meals can do well at whatever school they go to especially those who are pushed by their parents.

It is known that children from certain ethnic groups do much better than others and therefore if you are only taking well behaved children on FSM's then a school is probably going to do a lot better than schools which cater for everyone.

It's the same for SEN which is a large umbrella of needs.

Some children will do better with strict structure and rules but others won't.

What do you do with children who can't adhere to these strict rules especially if the allegations of emotional abuse and racism are true.

A logical fallacy is believing only individual anecdotes rather than objective statistical evidence. What we know is that Mossbourne has a higher proportion of SEN and FSM students than average. If its intention is to discourage or off roll such students, they are clearly not doing a very good job.

@TreeSquirrel I don't believe only individual anecdotes.
I simply pointed out that a higher % of SEN is not sufficient to rule out any wrongdoing, just like noting that a company hires more women than the national average is not sufficient to rule out discrimination against women.

The logical fallacy is believing that a higher % of SEN, in an area which has itself a higher % than the national average, is sufficient to rule out the allegation. It is not.. The allegation may be false, but the simple fact of having a higher % of SEN does not rule it out.

Reading these posts concerning Mossbourne Academy I felt compelled to add a comment. By background I have a child in Year 7 who experienced a high degree of anxiety at the start of term and I am a teacher in the state sector with some 20 years plus.
Reading the comments I am struck by the personalised and ill informed attacks not only on the school itself, but also in some, an attack on the ethos of the school and the teachers, senior staff. A more nuanced response is required before becoming judge and jury.
As I stated my son did experience a difficult time at the start, it is such a huge leap from primary and the expectations are very much raised. By the second half of this term he had settled down to the routine and the more draconian rules and is enjoying his time there. However he is academic and is able to keep up with the pace.
In my long career to date I have never been in a school where teachers have not shouted at some point in the day, week, year. This may seem to some a terrible failure but the alternative can on some occasions be a class wher two children disrupt the learning of the other 28.
I remember the terrible days of Hackney schools failing their pupils, where disruption was routine and failure was accepted. If one wants to talk about long term damage to a child, then surely there is no larger term damage than a lack of education and all that it brings in terms of future mental well being.
Please don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Great post.

What those who are ideologically opposed to the Mossbourne model fail to consider is that there are significant harms from the no-rules approach they advocate.

Schools where this is constant disruption and worse are not conducive to a good education and do not provide a supportive environment for many pupils with SEN.

Again: nobody is advocating a no rules approach on this thread. We are advocating a balance between discipline and pastoral care. When 200 + complaints come out, something is wrong. Can someone please give me a good reason why Mossbourne should be exempt from accountability?

There is a difference between a teacher occasionally losing it in the classroom and the structural intimidation of children before they have even done anything. If Mossbourne is found not to have engaged in the latter, all is well. Why are you so afraid that they are now under scrutiny?

I'm not sure where these no rules schools are.

My son's poor performing school had rules.

The issue is that allegations of abuse have been made which some are happy to ignore because the school gets good results.

The other issue is what happens to children that due to additional needs or home life can't adhere to these strict rules?

Is there any evidence that there are better life outcomes in boroughs which have these schools

According to a BBC article from a few months ago Hackney has one of the highest incidents for knife and gang crime in London.

Personally there is nothing wrong with having strict schools but they have to be able to adapt and address needs of children whose backgrounds and additional needs make it difficult for them to follow the rules.

If they don't then it's just selection through the backdoor which means they aren't really helping those struggling the most in my opinion.

@pointythings

No one is arguing Mossbourne should be exempt from scrutiny. It should be and is accountable via Ofsted and the DfE. What we should not have is ideological campaign groups trying to shut down a successful school for political reasons.

The 'no rules' schools are a strawman set up by people who have no answers. A false dichotomy is such a nice toy to play with.

It has already been explained to you that schools game OFSTED inspections. The complaints process has been posted here, including the fact that even the Secretary of State can't overturn the school's decisions. That is not accountability, that is a charter for corruption. If Mossbourne were to change their complaints process to include some genuine oversight, I might be a little kinder towards them, but they haven't, have they? That tells me they have things to hide.

Parent groups have formed because of the school's obdurate insistence on refusing scrutiny. Let's hope things change now that they're going to be held up to the light.

@Odyeseus, it's genuinely good to hear that your DS has settled. I know a lot do, but I think what a lot of us are trying to point out is that though the Mossbourne regime works for some, for many it's a very different story. You're right, there's shouting in every school, but the odd outburst is very different to the Mossbourne complaints. We'll have to see what the investigation comes up with, but surely it's never right for a teacher to scream in a child's face or for any child to be so scared that they soil themselves.
And @TreeSquirrel, why do you insist on going to extremes? I don't think anyone on here's advocating for a 'no-rules' approach. Discipline and structure are important, but good schools manage to provide a calm, safe, nurturing environment where all children feel safe and can thrive.

Your use of the words ‘some’ and ‘many’ is very instructive in the way you have then the wrong way round.

Mossbourne is clearly very successful for the vast majority as shown by its progress 8 score. At most, we have 200 complaints (many emanating from an ideological campaign group). At the same time, thousands have gone through the school with no issues.

All campaign groups are ideological . Ideological doesn't mean bad. It just means they disagree with the more extreme aspects of the school's ethos. Just because people disagree with you, that doesn't make them wrong.

Trivialising the complaints of parents, former teachers and former pupils isn't a good look. Maybe you should accept that there are things Mossbourne gets wrong and should improve?

@Odyeseus Reading the comments I am struck by the personalised and ill informed attacks not only on the school itself, but also in some, an attack on the ethos of the school and the teachers, senior staff.

Yes, shame on me. How dare I oppose a culture of fear, which terrorises children, organises seminars on 'healthy fear', gives children nightmares, etc? How dare I state that, after seeing the effect toxic environments have on adults, I certainly wouldn't want that for children?

A more nuanced response is required before becoming judge and jury.

Ah, you don't like it when someone is judge and jury? Good.

Then I suppose you will have my same objections to a complaints process (details and links posted previously) where the academy marks its own homework, because the first 4 steps of the complaint process involve the school only, while 5th and last involves the Secretary of State, but even they cannot overturn a school's decision!! Is that not judge and jury? What do you think of this perverse unaccountability? I think it's recipe for disaster

In my long career to date I have never been in a school where teachers have not shouted at some point in the day, week, year

You either don't know what you're talking about, or are a bad faith troll.
This isn't about 1 or 2 families angry that a teacher dared shout at their little Johnny who was misbehaving.
This is not 1, not 10, not 100 but ca. 200 people coming forward to denounce a pervasive climate of fear and emotional abuse. A tad different!

@TreeSquirrel What those who are ideologically opposed to the Mossbourne model fail to consider is that there are significant harms from the no-rules approach they advocate

At this point I can only assume you arre a troll acting in bad faith. No one here is advocating no rules. It's such a textbook strawman. The fallacy of this false dichotomy is tiring.

Plenty of school are strict, ban phones, punish misbehaviour etc without the batshit crazy excesses which have been discussed here.