Parents and teachers have voiced alarm about the treatment of children at three Essex schools after they were taken over by a high-profile academy trust which is under investigation.
The Mossbourne Federation, known for strict discipline and high grades, runs four schools and a sixth form in Hackney, and began a takeover of two failing secondary schools and one primary in Essex late last year.
Before the takeover, in December, Hackney council had announced it had launched an independent child safeguarding practice review into Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy, in Hackney, after an Observer investigation exposed allegations of emotional abuse of children.
Parents with children at the three Essex schools have now expressed concerns about the way the federation is running them. Last month, around 130 parents of children at the schools attended an emergency meeting to put their concerns to councillors, including allegations that children were suffering anxiety due to the tough discipline and shouting from teachers, that a child in the secondary school was left all day in wet clothes after being refused permission to go to the toilet, and that the schools were failing to make reasonable adjustments for children with special educational needs.
The first Mossbourne academy opened in 2004, with Sir Michael Wilshaw as its superhead. It has been praised for transforming attainment in one of London’s most deprived boroughs through famously strict discipline, and all its Hackney schools are currently rated outstanding by Ofsted. The academy was hailed in 2011 by then education secretary Michael Gove for “exceptional” results and for getting children into top universities, including Oxbridge.
After some parents came forward last year with complaints about the Victoria Park Academy, Hackney council recently confirmed that it has now received more than 300 separate accounts of alleged emotional harm at Mossbourne schools from parents, former students, teachers, local GPs and child psychologists.
Parents in Essex have now expressed similar concerns. A mother who said she removed her son from Mossbourne Port Side Academy in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, before Christmas told the Observer about an incident in which he was refused permission to go to the toilet during a lesson. “He wet himself in front of the class. They didn’t ring me. They left him for the rest of the day in wet clothes. He was traumatised by that.”
A teacher at the federation’s other senior academy in Stanford-le-Hope, Mossbourne Fobbing Academy (MFA), speaking on condition of anonymity, said that, since the takeover, some staff “humiliate” students and shout at them. “I have witnessed the year 7s go through fear every day. It is heartbreaking.”
The teacher described attending “threatening” assemblies in which students were told about a long list of rules and punishments. They said some students had panic attacks. “Since Mossbourne entered our school in September, student anxiety has gone through the roof.”
The teacher said pupils regularly came to them in tears, “begging to be sent home”.
One mother told the Observer that she saw a “dramatic change” in her son when MFA was taken over. He became withdrawn and anxious, often messaging her from the toilet at school, pleading with her to collect him. He said his maths teacher was shouting at him most days because he could not keep up.
“In one lesson, he asked her for help and she shouted at him because it was easy, and he should know it. He sat with his head in his arms, sobbing, because he felt so humiliated. He got up and left the classroom, crying, and she said nothing at all,” the mother said.
She said the school knew that her son was having treatment from Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services and had recently had a period of absence due to anxiety.
Mossbourne did not respond to a request for comment.
