Child safeguarding watchdog lays out scope of Mossbourne inquiry

Hackney’s child safeguarding commissioner, Jim Gamble. Photograph: Julia Gregory. Free to use by partners of the Local Democracy Reporting Service

Hackney’s child protection watchdog has said its inquiry into behaviour policies at a local school demands “a different approach”, as officials set out the scope of the review.

The council last year received a dossier of allegations from parents at Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy (MVPA) who “felt that these suggested likely widespread and long-term abuse of children”, according to the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP).

In December last year, CHSCP triggered a rare Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review, following a “unanimous recommendation” from members of its case review group.

Reviews of this kind are normally reserved for individual cases of serious harm to children, such as the 2020 strip-search of a teenage girl, known as Child Q, while she was at school.

Child safeguarding commissioner, Jim Gamble, has now confirmed that, to date, the council has received more than 300 separate complaints about the experiences of children at Mossbourne.

While it is understood that some of these complaints relate to other schools run by Mossbourne Federation, a multi-academy trust, Mr Gamble confirmed that the independently-led review would “concentrate its activity” on the school in Victoria Park.

However, alleged incidents “either within or outside the Mossbourne Federation” would be considered if deemed necessary.

The evidence used for the investigation will be broadly taken from incidents or “episodes” that have occurred in the last five years, but other complaints could be taken into account by the review’s lead, Sir Alan Wood CBE.

The dossier of allegations submitted to the council was “anonymised on the basis that parents feared the consequence of direct engagement with MVPA”, according to CHSCP.

The inquiry will first set out to determine if the allegations can be substantiated, and from there will identify “any lessons” around the impact of the school’s policies on “students, families, staff and the wider school community”.

Sir Wood, formerly Hackney’s director of children’s services, will also seek to establish “why there appears to be no confidence in the MVPA complaints process”.

Though CHSCP has emphasised that its review is not meant to hold the school, trust or any individuals or agencies to account, it has recommended that Mossbourne Federation considers taking disciplinary action against any staff if their conduct is found to have breached “acceptable standards”.

Update: this article was amended at 2.14pm on 19 February 2025 following a clarification that not all of the complaints about the experiences of children at Mossbourne have come from parents.