Parents have accused an academy school in east London of causing serious harm to children’s mental health, with teachers humiliating and “screaming” at pupils, and have urged the local authority to exercise extraordinary powers to intervene.
A group of nearly 30 parents and former teachers has spoken out about treatment of children at Mossbourne Victoria Park academy (MVPA) in Hackney.
The secondary school, rated outstanding by Ofsted and known for its high examination grades and tough discipline, is in the same federation as the acclaimed Mossbourne Community academy, also in Hackney and originally run by Sir Michael Wilshaw, the former chief inspector of schools for England who led Ofsted from 2012 to 2016.
A dossier of allegations about children’s experiences at the academy, shared with the Observer, includes first years being “screamed at” by senior leaders and five accounts of secondary-age pupils with no prior incontinence issues soiling themselves, or menstruating through their uniforms, because they were not allowed to go to the toilet or were too scared to ask.
A number of parents said their children had suffered anxiety and depression as a result of the school’s treatment.
All the children’s experiences took place within the last four years. Seven of the children have been removed from the school by their parents.
Local authorities have little power over academies but the campaign group, which includes two local councillors, are demanding Hackney council launches a safeguarding practice review – more commonly used for serious individual cases of child abuse.
As well as calling on the local authority to investigate MVPA, the group wants it to review all Hackney academies and is asking other parents with concerns to come forward.
Earlier this month, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, told a conference of educational trusts that children feeling a sense of “belonging” at school was just as important as attaining good grades.
Andy Leary-May, the parent leading the campaign, acknowledged that MVPA gets “great results” and “works well” for many pupils. He has one child at the school himself, but took his other child out after they had negative experiences.
He said: “I believe it should do this without throwing a significant number of pupils under the bus – children who struggle to fit in through no fault of their own.”
A former teacher who left the academy recently and asked to remain anonymous said other colleagues “threatened and humiliated children” and “regularly screamed at them”.
They said: “I watched new year 7 pupils lined up on the field while senior leaders were shouting at them and threatening them about what would happen if they broke the rules. It was scary.”
When the first Mossbourne academy opened in 2004, with Wilshaw as its superhead, it was celebrated for transforming attainment in one of London’s most deprived boroughs through rigid discipline.
Its rules – including no special handshakes, no hugging and no gathering in large groups – became well known and influential, and the academy was lauded in 2011 by then education secretary Michael Gove for its “exceptional” results and for managing to send children to top universities such as Oxbridge.
MVPA opened in 2014 and the former teacher who spoke anonymously said they were initially impressed by how well behaved and engaged its pupils were, but added: “I soon realised the price for that was too high.”
Many of the complaints put forward by the parent group relate to children with special educational needs. One mother said her “conscientious” daughter was “terrified” at the academy. The mother liked the idea of a school with strict boundaries but said: “Teachers yelled and even swore at students. They took pleasure in having power. It was psychological abuse.”
Her daughter was referred to the child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) for self-harming, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts. The mother asked MVPA if her daughter could drop a GCSE subject, as she was “overwhelmed”, but her request was turned down.
“They said it might give her the idea it was OK to give up on a commitment,” the mother said. “They did not take her suicidal ideation seriously. It was devastating.”
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Another parent whose child attended the school said: “To watch my son walking into that school in fear was awful. I deeply regret every single day I sent him in.”
She had noticed that her son, who was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, was repeatedly rewriting words in his schoolbooks. She said he had been “utterly terrified” he would get a detention for messy handwriting and struggled to write his homework in his planner in time at the end of the lesson.
“He was terrified about getting a detention for packing up too slowly, or for being late to the next lesson,” she said. “Then he was terrified he would get a detention as he didn’t know what the homework was.”
The boy’s psychiatrist and psychologist advised he drop one GCSE subject to reduce his anxiety. The school refused.
His mother said: “There is this cookie-cutter mentality. They don’t care if it destroys your child.”
Another father said his son became “obsessively fearful” of getting detention for having the wrong pens. He often got up in the night to check his school bag and stopped sleeping.
His anxiety became so bad that he was unable to go to school for a year. When he attempted to reintegrate, his parents said a teacher publicly reprimanded him and sent him home to have his fringe cut.
“They knew he was under a psychiatrist, on medication, had only just made it back in and was scared, but they still pulled him out,” his father said.
The group alleges that the school tries to deter special educational needs children from attending. A mother said that she and her autistic daughter attended the MVPA open evening but the school “refused to offer any flexibility or reassurance”, saying her daughter should expect shouting and would not be given somewhere to go if she was feeling overwhelmed. “They just kept repeating this mantra: ‘There will be no exceptions’,” the mother said.
Dan Rosenberg, partner at law firm Simpson Millar, who is representing the parents, said: “Failure to make reasonable adjustments is discriminatory, and given the state of Camhs waiting lists, schools cannot hide behind the lack of a formal diagnosis.”
A spokesperson for the Mossbourne Federation said: “We were saddened to read these accounts as we do not recognise the characterisation of the school. While 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.
“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.”