I cannot be sure bullying is not happening, admits head

The headteacher of Loretto’s boarding school has said he can not say with 100 per cent certainty that peer-on-peer abuse and harassment is not happening within the school.

Dr Graham Hawley, the headmaster of Loretto, in Musselburgh, has said it is not possible to completely stamp out bullying in schools. He told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that it was something he was always concerned could be happening.

He said: “As a head, you always have this concern that there are things that are going on that you’re unaware of, that could materialise years, or decades down the line, and its impact on victims is so acute, that we do everything we can do to prevent it. It is difficult to say that with 100 per cent certainty that it is not happening.

“Because the impact is so profound, it’s something as a head, I don’t think ever leaves us and therefore informs the practice.

“We absolutely have to be on our guard. I don’t think it’s ever a battle which is going to be won, it’s always something that is going to be in society.

“Unkindness that can grow and, at its worse, is something that, with huge regret, has occurredatlorettointhepast.”

When asked by Mr Andrew Brown QC, counsel to the inquiry, if peer-on-peer abuse had got worse in recent years, Dr Hawley said it was more the scope of bullying had changed.

Dr Hawley said: “I think there has been a difference with the advent of digital and social media. That’s something that didn’t exist when I first started. It’s a whole new sphere of bullying behaviour.

“Boys, in my experience, were less well supervised. There was probably more bullying then than there is now. I think there has been an ebb and flow – I’m not sure it’s got any worse in depth. When it’s bad, it’s very bad.

“We saw that as a school when we read some of the very harrowing accounts of peer-on-peer abuse. But at a level I’ve experienced myself, social media has increased it, increased supervision has decreased it. It is something that is always evolving.”

The latest phase of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is focusing on alleged abuse carried out in Scottish boarding schools.