Head resigns at school where rapper filmed explicit pop video
THE headmistress of a private school where a rapper hired out the grounds for an explicit music video has resigned, it emerged yesterday.
Governors at the £33,000-a-year Mill Hill School in north London have apologised and launched an inquiry into how the “highly inappropriate” video was allowed to be made on site.
In the Pretty Girl video, singer and rapper Stefflon Don appears in a suggestive nude shower scene, while in another sequence actresses dressed as schoolgirls appear to be smoking marijuana in a dorm room. The rapper – who is also dressed as a schoolgirl – is also filmed making obscene gestures, swearing and writhing on the floor.
The school, whose alumni include Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick, broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, and Sir Denis Thatcher, is now seeking legal advice. It said its hire agreements include a requirement that parties should not bring the school into disrepute.
This week, the school announced that Frances King will step down as head of Mill Hill following “a difference of views between the governors and head about the most effective way to lead and manage the foundation”.
The school denied that her departure was related to the music video, adding that a change in leadership “would be in the best interests of the school and the students”.
The video was filmed earlier this year and has been viewed almost a million times on Stefflon Don’s Youtube channel and other social media sites.
Mill Hill School was founded in 1807 on the outskirts of London so that boys could be kept away from the “physical and moral” dangers of a “large, crowded and corrupt city”.
The 150-acre site, which caters for both day pupils and boarders, began accepting sixth form girls in 1975 and became fully co-educational in 1997.
Its website has information about how to hire its facilities and grounds, advertised as a “tranquil location in the heart of London”.
It says it is “a popular location for wedding receptions, christenings, corporate functions, dinner dances, filming and photographic shoots”.
It adds that all events “will be managed and can be catered by our highly skilled staff ”. A spokesman for Mill Hill School said: “The head and the governors are investigating how a highly inappropriate film was allowed to be made at the school. We include in all hire agreements the requirement that parties should not bring the school into disrepute, and we are seeking legal advice on the matter. The foundation does grant permission for location shooting to raise funds in accordance with its charitable objectives, but strict controls are in place on the suitability of the content. These controls were breached in this case. We sincerely apologise for the offence caused.”
Birmingham-born Stefflon Don, whose real name is Stephanie Allen, signed a £1.2million deal with Polydor last year. She has previously said she does not drink alcohol or take drugs.
Her spokesman declined to comment on the music video.