Head teacher’s drive for perfection left pupils suicidal

A head teacher of an ultra-selective London grammar school left sixthformers feeling suicidal and staff feeling bullied with a “constant emphasis” on perfect exam grades, a report has found.

Aydin Önaç’s focus on his pupils at St Olave’s Grammar School in Orpington achieving A* grades and Oxbridge admissions left one student feeling he “might as well kill himself ” after his offer of a place in Year 13 was withdrawn when he missed the three-bs target in Year 12 exams.

A report by Bromley borough council concluded that Mr Önaç, 66, who left his £200,000-a-year post last year, was wrong to enforce the policy, which it said had left some children “medically diagnosed at risk of suicide”. An investigation into the fee-paying school found its safeguarding policy was in place and implemented. However, “issues of well-being, mental health and emotional abuse” were found, including an “adverse effect” on the well-being of less academic pupils.