Council urged to investigate Hackney’s schools following Mossbourne allegations

Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy. Photograph: Wikicommons

Hackney Council has been urged to probe “draconian” measures used in some of the borough’s schools – after parents accused a local academy of causing “serious harm” to their children.

On Saturday, the Observer revealed it had received a dossier of allegations from 30 parents against Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy (MVPA).

They gave accounts of first-year pupils being “screamed at” by senior leaders, along with five reports of secondary-age children “with no prior incontinence issues” soiling themselves.

Other claims include one parent who was “devastated” that concerns over their child’s suicidal thoughts were not taken seriously, and a pupil with an anxiety disorder, known to the school, being publicly berated by their teacher and sent home to have their fringe cut.

Educating Hackney, the campaign leading the charge against “draconian discipline” in the borough’s schools, has called on the Town Hall to carry out a safeguarding practice review — normally reserved for individual cases of serious harm to children — in light of the allegations.

The group includes two of the borough’s Independent Socialist councillors, Penny Wrout and Claudia Turbet-Delof, who say they have been inundated with “alarming” testimonies from over 200 parents, former pupils and staff.

At this week’s full council meeting, Cllr Wrout asked the Town Hall to work with the campaign, which has uncovered “children suffering under years of culture of fear and cruelty in some academies”.

She said that it was “extraordinary” that even the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) ombudsman is unable to investigate allegations made about academies.

Cllr Turbet-Delof added that her and Cllr Wrout’s focus had been on Mossbourne due to its location in their ward of Victoria, but they “fear the problem is more widespread, so we are keen to hear experiences from other schools in the borough”.

A spokesperson for the Mossbourne Federation said the multi-academy trust was “saddened to read these accounts” and that its members “do not recognise the characterisation of the school”.

“Whilst we have high expectations of behaviour and attitudes to learning, we are very proud of being a diverse and inclusive trust, in which children and young people thrive and go on to secure outstanding results,” they added.

“We take any issues raised by parents seriously and investigate them fully. We have also had external reviews by Ofsted, and the local authority — in none of these were any concerns raised.”

Parent Andy Leary-May, who is heading up the Educating Hackney campaign, said that before the Observer‘s story was published, Mossbourne’s principal sent a letter to all parents telling them to anticipate the reports.

The letter included “a range of assertions and opinions” about him, he said.

His post on the group’s website stated: “The letter describes a ‘vexatious campaign against the academy’. I am not campaigning against the school. I think in many ways it is an excellent school, with a great deal of brilliant teaching from kind and caring staff.”

Leary-May added that parents were “bewildered” and “generally shocked at the callous attitude from the leadership to the increasing distress this caused”.

“I don’t have a strong ideology on strictness in schools, nor expertise in education. But I do believe that a basic level of empathy and humanity must come first, and that our son’s experiences, and those of many other children I have heard about, are not okay.”

The Citizen approached MVPA directly for its response to allegations, as well as requesting a copy of the letter sent to parents.

The school provided the response from the Federation and declined to share the letter due to its being “private correspondence” between staff, parents and carers.

Independent safeguarding commissioner Jim Gamble. Photograph: Julia Gregory

On Monday, the council said that Jim Gamble, the Independent Safeguarding Children Commissioner for City and Hackney, had visited the school and “intends to revisit the issues raised at the next Case Review Sub Group”, which meets every month.

The Citizen understands this visit took place on 15 November.

Councils have limited means to influence academies, but campaigners have urged the Town Hall to use its extraordinary powers to intervene.

On Wednesday, Cllr Wrout told the Citizen that although she does not know what happened during the commissioner’s inspection of Mossbourne, and acknowledges the importance of confidentiality, deeper scrutiny would be required to understand the situation fully.

“I would certainly hope that [Gamble] wouldn’t draw too many conclusions from conversations he had on school premises during a one-off visit, given the nature of the allegations being made about the school,” she said.

Educating Hackney has warned that the case of Mossbourne, which is rated outstanding by Ofsted and known for both its stringent behaviour code and strong exam results, may be the tip of the iceberg.

While Hackney’s school results have come “a long way” after being the worst in the country in 2002, the group said there had been a price to the methods used to achieve this.

“The rigour and discipline has been criticised because of the high number of exclusions for persistent disruptive behaviour, and the negative impact that discriminatory behaviour polices are having on students’ mental health and well-being,” it argued.

Department for Education figures reveal that 3.6 suspensions per 100 pupils were handed out by schools in Hackney during the 2023/24 autumn term.

The campaign group claims it had a queue of parents lining up to recount “harrowing” experiences, including children being permanently excluded while awaiting a special education needs and disabilities (SEND) diagnosis.

Cllr Wrout said: “We are not anti-discipline, which we consider to be a good thing when based on mutual respect rather than fear.

“We recognise too that not all students are adversely impacted by the regimes in some of Hackney’s schools, but for too long, those who are harmed have gone unseen.”

The group wants the council to carry out a review of national policy and accountability around discipline and wellbeing in schools, and to make sure it collects, uses and publishes any data that may help identify patterns of harmful practice.

Parents have alleged that Mossbourne tries to deter SEND pupils from attending the academy, with one mother saying it “refused to offer any flexibility or reassurance” to her autistic daughter.

“They just kept repeating this mantra: ‘There will be no exceptions’,” she said.

Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Hackney’s deputy mayor and cabinet member for education, young people and children’s social care, said: “We take the council’s and all our schools’ safeguarding responsibilities seriously, and we expect everyone who works with children and young people to treat them with the respect, kindness and professionalism they deserve.

“We work with our partners to ensure we all play our role in preserving the wellbeing of our children and young people. The inclusion and the wellbeing of all school pupils in Hackney is a council priority.

“We work with schools across the borough, including academies, to ensure all children and young people in Hackney receive the right support and a high quality education.

“Should any parent or carer have any concern or complaint about a school they should first raise them with the school. Only once all complaint procedures have been completed can a local authority usually then also intervene.

“Should any school, or parent or carer in Hackney, ask for the Council’s support in resolving a complaint we will happily help all parties.”

The council did not clarify whether or not it would be triggering a safeguarding practice review.