‘Culture of fear and favouritism’ at Holland Park School
AN INDEPENDENT investigation into Holland Park School found there was bullying, racism and inequality in the west London school comprehensive, where education secretary Nadhim Zahawi once studied.
The board of governors of the school hired an external HR company to look into historic allegations made by students, parents and staff about the conduct of some senior leaders at the school, which was once dubbed as “socialist Eton”.
Its investigation report, made public last Wednesday (4), found that “on the balance of probabilities, every complaint is found to have happened”.
“There was discrimination against protected characteristics including overt sexism, Islamophobia and racism, while there was also a lack of knowledge around mental health and medical and physical issues for both staff and students,” it added.
There had been breaches of safeguarding concerning both students and staff, which included failure to support students who had been victims of peer-on-peer sexual abuse.
Very little support appeared to have been provided to students following traumatic events such as Grenfell [Tower fire] and the suicide of a student, it said.
According to the report, there was a culture of fear, favouritism and inequality.
“Some students were subject to favouritism and singled out for special attention, and there was a grace-and-favour system in place for staff,” the report said.
“There were inappropriate responses to the case of a teacher who was found to have had a relationship with a pupil,” adding there was exploitation in some teacher-student relationships.
“The behaviour policy for students was unclear, with shouting being the preferred option, combined with public humiliation. There was, on occasion, inappropriate use of the isolation room.”
Some former staff and students were “still traumatised by their experiences at Holland Park School” and “at times interviewees were extremely distressed in having to revisit their time at Holland Park School and were visibly shaken”, the report said.
Staff were subjected to changes in their working structure and to detriment when they took steps to leave the school and try
and seek employment elsewhere, it said. The investigation also found that there was questionable expenditure and Ofsted inspectors were misled.
Sarah Newman, executive director for children’s services at Kensington and Chelsea council, said the situation “has now escalated to such a level that the council is calling for immediate intervention by the Department for Education”.
The board of governors has been reconstituted since the events contained in the report occurred, with almost all governors appointed since September 2021, officials said.
The current board at Holland Park School said it “deeply regrets” the findings and vowed to ensure that necessary steps were taken to resolve the issues and prevent any recurrence of such failings in the future.