Child protection

Discussion of the children's schools in the UK.
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non-conformist
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Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:37 pm
Location: London

Child protection

Postby non-conformist » Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:37 pm

Does anyone know if St James has any sort of child protection policy in place? Are teachers at the school vetted in any way, for example CRB checks etc? As they work with children, and following on from lessons learnt through Soham, surely it is a legal requirement for all teachers to have clearance. There are some teachers (naming no names) who should not have been in placed in a position of responsibility 15-20 years ago and yet I know for a fact they are still teaching at the school. Answers on a postcard, please.......

mm-
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 12:32 pm
Location: LONDON

Postby mm- » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:26 pm

Teachers and anyone helping with the children (e.g parents helping with reading) are all police checked.

bluelight
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Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:02 am

Postby bluelight » Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:07 am

Unfortunately the Criminal Records checks only cover persons who have been bought to the attention of the relevant authorities by way of an allegation.
The suffering I went through and witnessed others go through would, in a normal school setting, have attracted this attention very quickly. Because the school was , in effect, a closed society, with the parents complicit in the abuse meant that these allegations have only now surfaced. Any parent whose child comes home after being whipped or punched in the face by a teacher has a responsibility to make sure the matter is investigated by the relevant authority, at the time this never happened.
I know at least one teacher who operated in this way is still teaching at the "school", a matter of the gravest concern to me.

mm-
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 12:32 pm
Location: LONDON

NSPCC

Postby mm- » Sun Dec 11, 2005 10:14 pm

I am a little confused.

A friend of mine has approached the NSPCC regarding St James. They have been told by the NSPCC that they have no information regarding St James and neither have they received any complaints of abuse in the past. Also the local authority have no complaints regarding the school either.

Does anyone out there know why this is the case, seeing that so many people can identify with either physical or mental abuse at the school?????

As a parent trying to find out the truth this is very perplexing.(I apologise in advance if this has already been answered in an earlier thread)

Thanks

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non-conformist
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Location: London

Re NSPCC

Postby non-conformist » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:10 pm

Hi mm

While this a very sad state of affairs, I can't say I'm surprised. It merely bares testament to the inherent secrecy with the SES and the schools. Add the fear experienced by children when telling others about the abuse they have gone through (emotional, mental and physical), and you will be greeted with a wall of silence. If this website has shown anything, it is that the children who did go through it did not suffer alone, even though it felt like it at the time. Hopefully the experiences recounted here will count for something when the inquiry finally comes out.

Sorry, mm, I know this is not very helpful and I just wish I had some answers....

sugarloaf
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Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2004 11:40 am

Postby sugarloaf » Mon Dec 12, 2005 1:10 am

MM,

I?m surprised by this as I?ve heard of at least one fairly recent direct approach to the NSPCC about st James. It wouldn?t be surprising if there had been others.

David Boddy, the current Head, recently said that he had invited relevant authorities in to the school to let them know about the inquiry and discuss the issues around it. This isn?t quite accurate and some PR spin is obviously being applied (funny that ? most unlike the SES).

My understanding is it was actually the other way round: Police, and social services officers visited the school following complaints being made to the Education Authority. The Met Police Child protection unit, and Social service departments in a number of boroughs do currently have files on st james.

I believe the NSPCC don?t have resources, or any authority to investigate complaints, they merely pass on complaints to the relevant authorities, and provide support services, which might be why they couldn?t provide any info on St James to your friend.

The SES have had 40 years experience of covering up & dodging complaints and controversy, their version of events is never the whole story.

ross nolan
Posts: 184
Joined: Fri May 20, 2005 5:10 am
Location: Melbourne Australia

child protection

Postby ross nolan » Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:01 am

for what it is worth I have had a couple of PM's indicating both damaging treatment of children at the Erasmus (SES) school in Melbourne and apparently no response from approach to the educational approval authorities . This is consistent with other bureacratic behaviour particularly where the approving authority investigates it's own actions -- it is a closed loop -- if they are operating they must be approved - therefore they have been OK'd, (by fellow civil servants if not "US")
therefore no need to investigate..

Has anybody had a response from the authors of Secret Cult (Hounan..) and would the London Evening Standard be interested in doing a follow up on their original investigation ? (public exposure generally helps to get civil servants moving )

Ross.
Skeptic


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