St Chris - Telegraph article

[ElieM9]

So... I came across yesterday's Telegraph article on St Chris this morning: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/09/st-christophers-dark-secret-boarding-school/

For those who don't have a subscription, it basically lists a series of allegations of sexual assault by staff on pupils between the 1970s and 1990s, amidst a culture of drugs around the school. It makes for pretty harrowing reading.

I was considering sending my child there, and whilst this took place a while ago, it is clearly offputting. I was curious of what the feeling around the school from current parents was; and how other prospective parents felt.

I'm assuming that no-one thinks anything like what is described in the article is still going on today; but was interested in the extent to which the culture which permitted these events to take place has endured (or whether these issues were dealt with decisively a while ago, and the culture has changed completely - if so, how and in what way); whether people felt there was a cloud hanging over the school which would affect current students; and also whether the seemingly permissive attitude historically around drug use was still an issue (it often seems a problem in private schools, but some are more successful than others at dealing with it).

Any insights greatly appreciated as we consider applying - I'm hoping for constructive responses. Many thanks!

Hi Elie
St Chris parent here. I understand your concerns and all I can say is we chose the school as so many other parents do for its nurturing, safe, kind and caring ethos one that sets it apart from so many other schools. And we have not been disappointed.
Nobody can dispute the allegations in the article are deeply distressing. The fact remains they date back over thirty years ago tragically at a time when safeguarding was without the scrutiny we have come to value today. A recent inspection report provides an accurate reflection of the school as is today. I hope that helps.

https://www.stchris.co.uk/inspection-reports-affiliations

I would strongly advise you to visit. It’s a very special place that needs to be experienced first hand. All the best.

@ElieM9 I have two dc at the school and happy to share what the majority of parents in my dc’s classes seem to be thinking about this. The article is incredibly sad in what it says about those past experiences. I think most current parents were very moved reading it. Certainly the people I have spoken to were.

You asked about the school today and how people are feeling about the ethos. I would say the current culture at the school is almost the exact reverse of what is mentioned in the article in that the staff care a lot for individual pupils and an enormous amount of care is taken (rightly) about processes in ways which mean children’s wellbeing is placed at the centre. For example, I have a child who has severe travel sickness and the school has always been incredibly careful to ensure the protocols are followed with medication etc.

There is no permissive approach to substance use at all in the current school. In terms of teens and behaviour I think the non uniform and values emphasised in the school probably do help the dc there navigate peer pressures and encourage good personal decision making.

Thank you very much both - very helpful and useful input for us as we consider applying.

@ElieM9 I have just sent you a message as well in case you would prefer to ask anything over pm.

@ElieM9 It has now come out that a paedophile was working in the St Chris Junior School between 2018 and 2023. Search "St Chris Jim Sands" and you can read the articles. He was caught for crimes outside the school, arrested by police and then sacked. The school is also being sued by the complainants of the historic crimes after apparently sending "aggressive lawyers" after them last year.

Yes, and the school instantly suspended him as soon as his crimes came to light. And they were not related to his time at the school.

@HertsMumZC I think you might have tagged the wrong ‘Letchworth mum’ here but I agree with what you say.

My dc were taught by the staff member who was convicted and as you can imagine it has been very hard to tell them about the conviction, but I don’t think any blame can attach to the school for employing him.

He had been working at a very well regarded traditional indie school in Herts when he came to St Chris and the school have shared transparently that all appropriate checks were carried out. He had a clean DBS and had 3 appropriate references. This is all the checking that any responsible school would do.

This individual was very plausible as many of these individuals in schools across the world sadly are. I certainly never had any suspicions at any stage myself and I spoke to him many many times over the years. I can’t see what the school could have done differently in relation to him.

@Letchworthcoffeemumoops sorry, thanks for confirming. And agree with all you have said

@ElieM9please see my other comments on this thread. Sorry, techphobe newbie to Mumsnet lol

It's really worrying how many parents genuinely think a school running a DBS check is all they need to do with regards to safeguarding. A DBS check simply tells you that someone hasn't been caught. Also none of the comments on this thread explain why supposedly caring staff used aggressive lawyers to go after people who had been raped and abused as children at the school. Maybe read the information about the call for witnesses from Lime Solicitors who are specialists in this area.

Unfortunately I can’t access the Telegraph article.
But I was at st Chris in the late eighties and dont recognise the description of the OP.
It Was a rife with drugs as much as the next private school.
Its liberalism didn’t mean that kids were feral.
The worst I saw was after prep sneaking down to McDonalds and finding several teachers huddling in the corner ticking into their quarter pounders, or pupils sneaking ways to get out of the morning walk.

From what I have seen as a parent the modern school at St Chris operates exactly the same safeguarding approaches that any responsible school would do. What can any school do more than take up references, do a DBS and interview. I had parents evening with this person and talked to him about my children many times and there was just no sign that he was anything other than a safe person. I can’t fault the school for employing him.

I think we all want to believe these people stand out in some way but the reality is that these people are a persistent small minority in every country and they will seek out roles at our schools and hospitals and they are good at hiding their true identity and avoiding detection.

@drivinmecrazy that’s interesting because this sounds very much like what current parents in my kids’ year groups who also went to the school themselves have said. These are parents who were there across different bits of the 1980s and 1990s, but they are all saying they personally were not aware at all at that time of anything like the incredibly sad testimonies in the article. These parents have all said they would never even have considered sending their own children to the school if what was described in the article was what they had heard about as pupils.

There were definitely a lot of historic issues in schools across the UK and elsewhere including at all sorts of schools faith and non faith and private schools of all different kinds when regulation of school recruitment and safeguarding rules generally were weaker, which is why they have been tightened up nationally.

@LetchworthMum22 with all due respect, claiming staff have commissioned aggressive lawyers to ‘go after’ people is the kind of headlines that sell newspapers. Rightly so, the civil case is being managed by lawyers. The fact remains, the events in question happened decades ago when safeguarding lacked the scrutiny it rightly has today. And to conflate those events with a recent isolated case whereby the contents of the charge are pertaining to events outside of the school is an unfair, inaccurate representation of the school today.

I was a pupil at St Chris from the age of four until I left aged eighteen. This was during the '60's and early '70's. As at so many schools there was a certain amount of bullying between pupils and I witnessed some members of staff losing their tempers from time to time but I was never aware of the kinds of abuse described in the Telegraph article. On the basis that there's almost never any smoke without fire I presume that, very sadly, it did go on, but for me, on the whole, the school was a reasonably happy place.