Now primary pupils tell of sexual assault

Allegations of abuse involve children as young as five

PRIMARY schools are the latest to become embroiled in the ‘rape culture’ storm after former pupils posted claims of sexual assaults.

The website on which thousands of older children have reported harassment and abuse now has allegations involving pupils as young as five.

The 11,000-plus claims on Everyone’s Invited include one alleged assault by a child at the £22,000-a-year Fulham Preparatory School in west London.

It came as head teachers urged anonymous victims to come forward and speak to teachers so they can respond, saying staff were struggling to ‘act effectively’ because many of the testimonies have no named victim, aggressor or date.

In addition, the leader of the secondary school head teachers’ union said schools alone should not bear the burden of dealing with the issue, as much of the abuse detailed happened away from school premises, such as at parties.

The latest claims involving primary pupils included one which read: ‘In Year Four I had to change school because this older boy in Year Seven who was [on] my school bus was harassing me. He tried to

‘Tried to stick pencils up my skirt’

apologise by offering me a Haribo. A couple [of] weeks later I told my mum – I was so young and clueless of the situation that I thought it was because he liked me because he thought I was pretty, how naive.’

The alleged victim claimed Fulham Prep, where the boy was a pupil, did ‘very little’ when her family reported it.

Another former pupil at an unnamed Roman Catholic primary school told how a boy would ‘try and stick pencils and his hands’ up her skirt.

And an ex-student at Meersbrook Bank Primary in Sheffield told how of ‘years of sexual abuse during primary school between the ages of five and ten’ by older boys. They subjected her to ‘kissing, genital touching and manipulation’ but she was afraid of ‘snitching’ on them.

The allegations follow an explosion of claims against pupils of top private secondary schools, including Dulwich College and Highgate School.

Yesterday, the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, which represents heads at such schools, urged victims to make themselves known to schools so teachers can provide support.

General secretary Dr Simon Hyde said: ‘Our members are listening and willing to act, but it is more difficult to act effectively on anonymised allegations, and we urge those affected to seek support and redress through their schools.’

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the claims should also be dealt with by parents and social media platforms. He added: ‘This is a wider issue. Parents have a responsibility to talk to their children about how they behave towards others. Social media companies have a responsibility to take more care about how their platforms are used.’

In response to the allegations, Fulham Prep head teacher Neill Lunnon told the Telegraph the school takes safeguarding ‘incredibly seriously’. He added: ‘We fully support the open dialogue that is currently taking place in the media about sexual assault and harassment. We are fully committed to doing our part in educating our children about what is acceptable and what is not.’

Gemma Harvey, head teacher at Meersbrook Bank, said: ‘ We do not tolerate abuse of any kind. We have robust safeguarding policies to protect our children and maintain clear and effective procedures for reporting any incidents.’ nMINISTERS stripped schools watchdog Ofsted of its role overseeing inspections of private schools after ignoring chief inspector Amanda Spielman when she raised concerns over ‘potential safeguarding issues’ in 2018 and 2019, it was reported last night.