Former boarding school apologises for sexual, physical and emotional abuse

provision at the school between 1945 and 2007.

It found pupils who spoke about about abuse could be punished by their peers, and older pupils perpetrated “fagging”, where younger pupils were forced to do chores for them and often bullied.

Some older pupils subjected younger children to sexual violence, while a culture of different boarding houses being run as individual “fiefdoms” according to the whims of the staff overseeing them was prevalent, it was said.

All three of the main boys’ houses, Academy, Dalmhor and Glenearn, were places where physical and emotionally abusive cultures were allowed to flourish between the 1950s and the 1980s, the inquiry found.

The residential units were founded in 1880, about 20 years after the school, but were only subject to “adequate oversight” in the 1990s, the inquiry found.

A statement from Morrison’s Academy commended the “bravery” of ex-pupils, and said it had co-operated with the inquiry since 2017 in a bid to “learn from the past” and improve safeguarding.

Inquiry chairwoman, Lady Smith, said: “Children who boarded at Morrison’s were exposed to risks of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. That abuse had longterm impact.

“For decades, Morrison’s harboured a culture of violence and emotional abuse. The abuse was primarily physical and emotional, but also sexual abuse.

“Some members of staff at Morrison's abused children, both in the school and in the boarding houses.

“Corporal punishment was used excessively and inappropriately by staff. It was even used in advance of misbehaviour taking place. On occasion, teachers indulged in mass beatings.

"Morrison’s response to excessive and inappropriate corporal punishment was inadequate.”

David Glen, chairman of the board of Morrison’s Academy said: “Morrison's Academy sincerely apologises for the historic failings during its time as a boarding school.

“We accept the findings of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in full. Morrison’s Academy would like to reiterate our gratitude to the former pupils who came forward and gave evidence to the inquiry.

“We were deeply saddened by their accounts of historic abuse and we commend them for their bravery and strength in coming forward.”

A prominent Russian dissident is to officially visit the Scottish Parliament today.

Ekaterina Schulmann, who has been labelled a foreign agent by the Kremlin, is set to give a presentation to Mspsonthestateofpolitical opposition of Russia.

This comes just days after thefuneralofrussianopposition leader Alexei Navalny, which saw thousands of Russians queuing up outside a Moscow church to pay their respects.

Ms Schulmann is a political scientist who specialises in modern authoritarian regimes, with an emphasis on Russia. As well as being a scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre in Berlin, she is an associate fellow of Chatham House and has 1.2 million subscribers to her Youtube channel where she commentates on Russian affairs.

She teaches political science at Maqsut Narikbayev University in Kazakhstan, having previously taught at Moscow School of Social and Economic Science and the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

Ms Schulmann will be hosted at Holyrood by Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-hamilton, who has been banned from Russia by Vladimir Putin.

Mr Cole-hamilton said: “She represents the many brave men and women of Russia, both at home and overseas, who stand in defiance of Putin and do not recognise his legitimacy.”

Mr Cole-hamilton is also using her visit as an opportunity to put pressure on both the UK and Scottish governments to do more in opposition to the Russian regime.

He said the UK government must widen sanctions against those on the “Navalny list”, which he described as a “group of Russianhumanrightsabusers, kleptocrats and corruptioners who were involved inthepoisoningandimprisonment of Alexei Navalny”.