Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Dozens of county schools named in pupils’ accounts of sexual abuse
A whistleblowing campaign by website Everyone’s Invited has thrown light on the sexual harassment suffered by young people across the country. Rebecca Cook looks at how the issue is affecting pupils in Somerset schools
MORE than 30 schools and colleges in Somerset have been named among accounts on the sexual assault whistleblowing website Everyone’s Invited.
Contributions to the online campaign rocketed in April, with thousands of anonymous testimonies shared as young sexual abuse survivors were urged to share their stories of assault and harassment.
The testimonies often named the school or college the alleged assailants attended.
Everyone’s Invited co-founder, Soma Sara, has pointed to the testimonies as evidence of the “rape culture” rife in the UK education system.
The whistleblowing campaign subsequently released a list of all the schools named among student allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.
The list totalled 2,962 schools in the UK, with 2,556 secondary schools and 406 primary schools.
Thirty-six are in Somerset. This list contains senior and junior schools, academies, private schools and colleges in the county.
It comes after Ofsted published its report into sexual harassment in schools and colleges this month. The Government had asked the watchdog to look at safeguarding policies earlier this year.
The review described how sexual harassment was becoming “normalised” among schoolchildren.
Ofsted’s inspectors visited 32 state and private schools and colleges and spoke to more than 900 children and young people about the prevalence of sexual harassment in their lives and in the lives of their peers.
Around nine in 10 of the girls Ofsted spoke to said sexist name-calling and being sent unwanted explicit pictures or videos happened “a lot” or “sometimes”.
Inspectors were also told that boys talked about whose “nudes” they had and shared them like a “collec
I would urge all children to report any unwanted sexualised behaviour to members of staff in their schools so any concerns can be addressed quickly. By reporting incidents, we can help change society ALUN WILLIAMS
tion game” on platforms like WhatsApp or Snapchat.
The review has recommended that school and college leaders act on the assumption that sexual harassment is affecting their pupils, and take a whole-school approach to addressing these issues, creating a culture where sexual harassment is not tolerated.
The Somerset schools named among the testimonies are in locations across the county, from Yeovil and Taunton to Weston-super-Mare, Burnham-on-Sea and Midsomer Norton.
In response to the published list and speaking on behalf of the schools they are responsible for, Somerset County Council said it was “considering the implications of the Ofsted report together with the regional schools commissioner.
A number of Somerset schools and colleges mentioned in the list have responded with details of what they are doing to tackle the reported normalisation of sexual harassment.
Headmaster of King’s College Taunton, Richard Biggs, noted that the Everyone’s Invited website had done “a great deal of good in bringing to light a growing national and cultural problem”.
Mr Biggs described reading the testimonies as a “sobering experience” and urged parents and school leaders to do so.
He said: “Our young people are increasingly influenced by factors outside the control of parents and schools, not least by social media and the internet, and it is up to parents and schools to counter that influence with increasingly vigorous affirmation of the values that we want to instil: of respect and kindness, of the absolute right of each individual to privacy and of the absolute sovereignty of each individual over their own body.”
He described the school’s “robust” PSHE programme and said several relation and sex education modules had been brought forward this term in response to the campaign.
A number of schools in the Midsomer Norton Schools’ Partnership Trust were named among the testimonies, including Norton Hill School and Buckler’s Mead Academy.
Trust chief executive, Alun Williams, maintained that when incidents of unwanted sexualised behaviour occured between students, regardless of whether they took place outside of school hours or not, they acted “quickly and robustly using all the sanctions available”.
Mr Williams said they followed guidance from the Department for Education in such matters and that they also “support perpetrators through supplementary education so that they can learn from errors they have made”.
He continued: “Additionally, we have comprehensive support mechanisms in place for those that are victims of unwanted sexualised behaviour.
“I would urge all children to report any unwanted sexualised behaviour to members of staff in their schools so that any concerns can be addressed quickly. By reporting incidents, we can help change society so that everybody can feel safe and valued.”
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Court Fields School in Wellington, which was included among the listed schools, described some of the Everyone’s Invited testimonies as “harrowing”. However, she added that such alleged abuse “cannot be verified and do not necessarily detail if and what action was subsequently taken by the school or other authority”.
She also noted that “many” of the
experiences detailed happened “some time ago”.
The spokeswoman said the Ofsted report was an eye-opening review and raised a number of issues that schools were prepared to address.
She said: “It is clearly important that we break this culture and enable young people to feel confident in reporting concerns, know that they will be taken seriously, and that action will be taken.”
However, she also stressed that this was not a burden that schools could bear alone, particularly given the part that social media had to play in the circulation of explicit material.
This issue was addressed among the recommendations Ofsted issued to the Government. It said its findings should be considered when developing the Online Safety Bill so it could “strengthen safeguarding controls for children and young people to protect them from viewing online explicit material and engaging in harmful sexual behaviour using social media platforms”.
The Court Fields School spokeswoman added: “There is obviously work for us all to do to counter the abuse many young people are experiencing.
“Schools in Somerset will seek ways to strengthen the systems and structures to support young people in all our settings and to work with other agencies to improve practice to address this problem.”
The headmaster of Millfield School in Street previously responded to an alleged sexual assault involving a pupil described on the Everyone’s Invited website.
Gavin Horgan described being “shocked and distressed” when reading of the “completely unacceptable” behaviour at the boarding school detailed on the website.
A helpline run by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was set up in conjunction with the Ofsted review to support potential victims and provide advice to children and adults. Millfield School is encouraging young people to contact this newly launched Report Abuse in Education helpline, which is available on 0800 136 663.
Headmaster of Wells Cathedral School, Alastair Tighe, said he was aware his school also featured on the list and that it was “of concern”.
However, he said the school was not aware of the context in which it was mentioned and so was unable to comment in detail.
Mr Tighe continued: “In general, I can say that we welcome the recent publication of the Ofsted report into these matters in all schools nationally, although clearly some of its findings are troubling and concerning.
“We are making sure that we comprehensively respond to and implement all of the recommendations made in this report.
“We will continue to maintain a culture at Wells Cathedral School where staff, parents and pupils are all alert to the risks of peer-to-peer harassment; where pupils have the awareness and confidence to speak to any member of staff about any concerns or experiences they have had; and where pupils can expect to be listened to sensitively, with appropriate actions taken.”
Mr Tighe said he encouraged any former pupils to contact him directly with any “matters of concern”.
Chris Hildrew, the headteacher of Churchill Academy and Sixth Form in north Somerset, responded in robust terms to the school’s inclusion among the testimonies.
He said: “We know that sexual harassment, misogyny and everyday sexism are problems in wider society and in our communities.
“We are absolutely committed to working tirelessly with students, staff and families to ensure that there is no place for sexual harassment, discrimination or prejudice of any kind at Churchill Academy and Sixth Form, in our communities, or in our society.”
Richard Huish College in Taunton was among the further education and sixth-form colleges included in the Everyone’s Invited testimonies.
In a statement issued by the college, it pointed out that one of its core values was to “care for all individuals and promote inclusivity, equality and mutual respect”.
It described a tutoring programme in place that aims to aid young people in understanding topics such as consent, healthy relationships and personal safety.
The statement read: “We train every member of staff to be alert to such things as peer-on-peer abuse, sexual harassment and sexual violence so that they know how to spot potential warning signs and can support students should they have concerns about themselves, another or are a victim of abuse.
“We have a really strong student support team in place which enables students to disclose their concerns in confidence.
“They will continue to work with our students as well as work with external agencies such as Somerset Wide Integrated Sexual Health to ensure they are well looked after whilst they progress with their education.”