Hundreds of parents back Mossbourne leadership but welcome chance to ‘suggest some changes’

Peter Hughes: CEO of the Mossbourne Federation, a multi-academy trust

Hundreds of parents and carers have spoken out in support of a Hackney multi-academy trust for transforming the lives of young people, while one of its schools faces a  safeguarding review.

On Sunday (22 December 2024), a letter was published in the Observer, backing the Mossbourne Federation amid allegations from more than 250 parents that the trust’s behaviour policies inflicts “serious harm” on their children.

The piece, signed by 314 individuals — including Sadiq Khan’s deputy mayor for planning, regeneration and the fire service and former Hackney Mayor, Jules Pipe CBE, seeks to provide a wider “spectrum of experiences and opinions of parents, students and teachers” they feel has been missing from the paper’s coverage so far.

“Based on DfE school performance data, MVPA and MCA ranked in the top 10 out of 6,542 schools for “Progress 8” [progress across eight qualifications for pupils aged 14-16]. For schools where over 35 per cent of students are disadvantaged, both academies are in the top five,” they wrote.

The letters also points to Mossbourne Community Academy (MCA) and Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy (MVPA) being in the top five for disadvantaged students, and argue that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and low prior attainers do “exceptionally well” at MCA.

But while the signatories assert that “Mossbourne can and does change the trajectory of young people’s lives for the better” and boasts “brilliant and committed teachers”, they also state that they appreciate the chance to offer their ideas about how the school can be run.

“While the rules can be strict and firm, and there is room for improvement in some areas, the vast majority of the children are well adjusted, happy and well cared for. No school is perfect, and we welcome the opportunity to suggest and support some changes in the way the schools operate.”

The trust has been in the spotlight since the Observer first published reports of “mass claims of emotional harm” to school pupils at MVPA.

Jim Gamble, children’s safeguarding commissioner for City and Hackney, recently announced an investigation into the Victoria Park academy.

The safeguarding practice review, normally reserved for individual cases of serious harm to children, is slated to be led by Hackney’s former director of children’s services, Sir Alan Wood.

The regional director for DfE in the East of England, Jonathan Duff, was reported on Friday as having said that the trust has itself commissioned another investigation into the school led by a KC (King’s Counsel), which is due to begin “imminently”.