Residential Schools Investigation Music And

Confidential- Check against delivery RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS INVESTIGATION MUSIC AND SPECIAL SCHOOLS OPENING STATEMENT BY COUNSEL TO THE INQUIRY 30 September 2019 at 10am 1. Good Morning. I am Ms. Fiona Scolding and I am lead counsel to this investigation into the institutional response to child sexual abuse in residential schools in England and Wales of which this is the first substantive hearing due to last for the next two weeks . Next to me sit the other counsel to this investigation: Ms. Zoe Nield, Ms. Anna Bicarregui and Ms. Mary Robertson. 2. Chair, there are a large number of individuals and I will introduce them. To my right : (1)Representing victims and survivors RS-A1-A5 in respect of Chethams School of Music, representing RSA6 in respect of Appletree which is a special school , RS-A7 in respect of Stony Dean, which again is a special school - Mr. Richard Scorer and Ms. Kim Harrison of Slater and Gordon Solicitors (2)Representing Southlands School, which is a residential special school - Ms. Fahrina Maharaj, Solicitor. 1 Footnotes for internal use only Confidential- Check against delivery (3)Representing the Seashell Trust, which operates the Royal School for the Deaf, Manchester, a residential special school, Ms. Kate Gallafent QC. (4)Representing Purcell School, Ms. Reka Hollos of counsel. (5)Yehudi Menuhin School and Wells Cathedral School, Ms Genevieve Woods of counsel. These are all specialist residential music schools or residential schools with a choral foundation. (6)Representing Chethams School of Music, a specialist residential music school, Stephen Ford QC . (7)Representing the Ecclesiastical Insurance Office, which insures many of these institutions, Ms. Anna Senter, Eversheds Sutherland solicitors (8)Representing the Independent Schools Inspectorate, which inspects the music schools - Mr. David Wolfe QC. (9)Representing the Office for Standards in Education, more commonly known as OFSTED, Ms. Sarah Hannett, Counsel. (10) Representing the Secretary of State for Education, Ms. Cathryn McGahey QC. (11) Representing the National Police Chiefs Council, Mr. Stephen Morley 3. The focus of this hearing concerns two types of residential schools – specialist schools for those who are gifted in music, and residential schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities. In some of these schools allegations have been made of child sexual abuse by staff. In other cases, there are criminal convictions of staff. And in yet others, there have been concerns 2 Footnotes for internal use only Confidential- Check against delivery about harmful sexual behaviour between children. In all of them, the complexities of trying to keep children safe in the light of 21st century technology is a large concern. In all of them, the complexities of trying to manage burgeoning sexual development is a nuanced and sensitive balancing process. 4. Where we are considering allegations, we will be using these hearings examine the nature of the allegations, how they arose and what was done about them by schools, local authorities, the criminal justice system and those who inspect and regulate schools to look to see: a. Have lessons been learnt? b. Has change occurred, and c. Most importantly in these hearings, what does the current system look like and where are its strengths and weaknesses? 5. Many of the issues we are raising are ubiquitous and can help tell us about managing safeguarding across all school settings whether day or boarding . I will refer generally to those who have made allegations of sexual abuse as “complainants”, except where there has been a criminal trial which has resulted in a conviction, or where the fact of abuse has otherwise been formally established, in which case the description “victim” and/or “survivor” will be applied. 3 Footnotes for internal use only Confidential- Check against delivery Background and introduction 6. School should be a place where children are protected, and where they learn, as the great 1944 Education Act identified - “instruction for life”. It is more than a place where you learn to undertake quadratic equations. It transmits and reinforces the values and ethics of our society: It is where one learns to think. 7. It is also where one learns social skills- how to interact with one’s peers. It is where one learns to play, how to debate, how to disagree, how to share, and to see that one’s actions have consequences upon others. 8. Teachers and school leaders create and sustain the environment in which children can thrive. They are role models and have the capacity to transform lives, to inspire and to nurture. The need for a school environment which is safe and caring is an essential prerequisite to the learning of children. 9. Countless studies show that children turn to teachers to tell them their worries and fears if they can’t (or don’t want to) confide in their family. Schools often spot the signs of familial abuse, and provide a safe haven from homes where neglect, violence, addiction and sexual degradation has taken place. 10. In the next two weeks we will see examples of good practice in safeguarding and examples which go beyond statutory minimums in an attempt to create safe organisations. Southlands school will 4 Footnotes for internal use only Confidential- Check against delivery give evidence on the complexities that arise when managing sexualised behaviour between teenagers with ASD. New challenges are emerging for schools in an era of social media and easy access to the internet. 11. However, these next two weeks will also consider a number of examples where institutions failed to protect children whilst they were at school. In some cases, this was by omission, by a failure to heed warnings or by not noticing what the children had seen – children often being much acuter observers of the failings of adults than we like to recognise. Sometimes, this was by wilful blindness – by shutting one’s eyes to the truth standing before them. And sometimes, those responsible for caring for children perpetrated abuse. 12. Until 2001, it was legal for a teacher to have sex with a pupil over the age of consent, with their consent, even if the pupil was under the age of 18. In the case study concerning music schools, we see numerous examples of the school either not knowing of the relationships between sixth form students and their teachers or other staff , or not taking steps to know. These relationships, although not illegal, certainly violated staff/pupil boundaries. We want to explore how far such relationships set a culture or tone of permissiveness for other sorts of sexual activity which was criminal. 5 Footnotes for internal use only Confidential- Check against delivery 13. Whilst sex with children, or between children has been a criminal offence, it has often been ignored, or swept under the carpet, or excused. It has been seen as a minor blemish on someone’s character – just something that they do. It has not always been reported to the police or civil institutions. Distasteful, but not something which always leads to admonishment, let alone justice for those subject to it. We have submitted to you, Chair and Panel, numerous examples of this in the closed schools narrative which shows a culture at some schools in the past where brutality, sadism and sexual violence was routine. 14. We will hear from men and women who were the subject of sexual abuse at the schools covered by this investigation: we thank them for coming to speak to us and recognise the pain and anguish that this may cause them. They are using their experience as a way for us to learn. The more that these matters can be spoken about openly and honestly, the more that society as a whole can change and understand the life-long difficulties and problems that can be caused by such abuse. We also thank family members who have come forward – again, the ripple effect of sexual abuse has an impact far beyond the victim and can disrupt families and their lives for many years. In particular we remember the family and friends of Ms. Andrade, a former student at Chetham’s School of Music, and all those others who have found the pain of sexual abuse too much to bear; and we hold them in our thoughts today. 6 Footnotes for internal use only Confidential- Check against delivery 15. There have been a number of reviews of the actions of such schools . There have been prosecutions, and civil claims, and disciplinary tribunals. We will use the material from these, but our focus is not upon the finding of fact, or the apportionment of legal liability. Our focus is to examine the themes and issues which emerge from them, to synthesize them and to examine the extent to which individual schools, and the sector as a whole, has been able to change the deep rooted governance and cultural problems which have been identified by those reviews. 16. This is just the first phase of our investigation into residential schools and, as I have said, will be focusing upon special and music schools. Nonetheless many of the issues raised in this hearing may apply to all residential institutions. Whilst there are particular features of music and special schools that make the protection of children within them more complex on occasions, many of the failures acknowledged by some of these schools could have happened in any institution. There is nothing particularly awful, or atypical, about these institutions. They replicate the failings of schools as a whole. 17. We will be examining a further three schools in phase 2 and the issues raised by them. At that stage, we will be also be hearing for the first time, or further from a number of organisations, including OFSTED, the ISI, the Department for Education and other governmental bodies, as well as the teaching unions about issues concerning safeguarding in this sector more generally.

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