UK's elite schools face a reckoning on rape culture | CNN WebTonbridge School rating: 4/5 by University of Oxford student. In this painfully honest report, writer Alex Renton confronts the demons of his past at Tonbridge School Tonbridge School aims to provide a caring and enlightened environment in which the talents of each individual flourish. Wells was also made subject to a Sex Offences Prevention Order for 20 years, which will control the access he has to both children and the internet. Tonbridge has a very strong house system and so a lot of security for boys and is strong pastorally.The arts are very well taught at Tonbridge and there are terrific opportunities in sport and music. One said: 'I was groped and had a hand grab up my skirt on multiple occasions by multiple different Tonbridge boys in one night. These schools each said they take allegations of harassment seriously and encouraged current and former pupils to come forward. Every night for some forty weeks of every year and for many a year I am to see the red, smarting imprint of those buttons in my flesh when I undress. We follow safeguarding policies and procedures in respect of all allegations brought to our attention, including notifying the relevant authorities. James Priory, the headmaster of Tonbridge School, reportedly read Moon's open letter and described the alleged behaviour as 'incompatible' with the schools ethos, according to the Times. Only this morning only two hours ago I was running wild in shorts and blazer and sand shoes. We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. The simple cast of brave, true sportsmen, of swots and of cowards, cads and bullies invented by Thomas Hughes in Tom Browns School Days marched on through hundreds of comics and novels for children; if you read accounts of British foreign policy before and after the second world war, it seems as though the playground precepts and stock characters of the schooldays novel have peopled the world. We did not even try very hard. 'Pupils have been encouraged to report any concerns they have about anything which has appeared online so that proper support can be put in place through our well established pastoral provision.'. Last year, there was the anonymous Instagram account (@standrewssurvivors) featuring students' allegations of sexual assault at the University of St Andrews, which prompted the university to encourage students who have 'experienced sexual misconduct to report details to the University or to the Police', reports The Independent. Rape culture scandal deepens with NEW dossier - Daily Mail Not all pupils made strong progress in reading and those who were struggling were not yet receiving the support necessary to "catch up quickly". WebTonbridge School recognises the importance of staff training to enable them to identify the possible signs of abuse and/or neglect, and to know what to do if they have a concern. Leaders must seek assurances that external support to check the quality of safeguarding in the school provides an accurate overview of record-keeping and associated follow-up actions.". WebTonbridge is one of the leading boys boarding and day schools in the UK for boys aged 13-18. Moon says that for far too long social media was a part of the problem, in allowing students harass each other online. With all its gothic filigree, this most exclusive college looks very like the 19th century Fettes College. WebThe School community supports a range of charity partners throughout the year. A number of further initiatives are in advanced planning. Connolly, Waugh, Betjeman, to name only a few, have pungently described the disenchantments of schooldays I do not wish to appear less competent than my contemporaries in making creep the flesh of the epicure of sado-masochistic school reminiscence. Inspectors said they had taken into account the impact of COVID in their evaluation of Bishop Chavasse Primary School, which included "deep dives" into subjects, the views of 17 staff and 46 parent. He was a head of year seven at Ravens Wood School, in Bromley, when arrested in February. We all like showing scars received in battle; the wounds of the ergastulum, less. About. The school was rated as good in areas of behaviour and attitudes, personal development and early years improvement. But now she believes it's time to 'fight back and use social media to our advantage'. Best schools in Tonbridge | School Guide Pupils say they are happy and safe at school. In seeming contrast, but in fact as reinforcement, there would be long and jolly periods where masters and boys would join in scenes of compulsory enthusiasm usually over the achievements of a sports team and would celebrate great moments of victory over lesser and smaller schools. Its relatively easy to see why people want to exert power over others, but what fascinated me was the way in which the victims colluded in the business. And fear of the all-powerful boss, too, combined with an awareness of all the blessings and forgiveness which it was in his Almighty power to bestow. Collective punishment was something I learned about swiftly: Until the offender confesses in public, a giant voice would intone, all your privileges will be withdrawn. There were curfews, where we were kept at our desks or in our dormitories under a cloud of threats while officialdom prowled the corridors in search of unspecified crimes and criminals. TONBRIDGE-SCHOOL.CO.UK TonbridgeUK @TonbridgeUK instagram Tonbridgeuk. Even my brother was not one of his favorite victims. Hugh Wortham, my huge and dominating headmaster and introducer to the dark arts of corporal punishment, was a lifelong bachelor, but some of the local mothers found him handsome, and Yvonne gaily said that he put her in mind of Rex Harrison. George Orwell and his schoolmate Cyril Connolly had a go, using and in Orwells case, fictionalising the baroque horrors of their south coast prep school, St Cyprians. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? She said: So far, we have identified more than 100 locations where abuse of children is said to have taken place but we know that there are many more than that. There wasnt much food and we hadnt been given any water for quite a while. None of the charges relate to a child at the school. Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life WebTonbridge School recognises the importance of staff training to enable them to identify the possible signs of abuse and/or neglect, and to know what to do if they have a concern. Day: 341; boarding: 457 Ages: 1318 Term fees: Day: 11,212; boarding: 14,945 Oxbridge: 14% Admission: ISEB Pre-Test and schools own exam Alumni: EM Looking back, it is the masochistic element that impresses me more than the sadistic one. Tonbridge School Abuse in Britain's boarding schools: why I decided to confront my Asked if they were shocked by some of the testimonies from female pupils, Kian said: 'It certainly doesn't surprise me I'd say, I wouldn't be shocked by a story of a girl being groped at a party or overhearing some language being used by boys in the locker room. Moon says that some believe the issue of rape culture in schools is a countrywide issue, rather than solely affecting those who attend private schools. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. However, we must never be complacent and we are always seeking to learn.'. The inquiry team is currently investigating over 60 residential care establishments for children in order to gather, from those who ran them and others, evidence about how children who were being cared for in a range of different settings and by a number of different types of care organisations were treated. My brother never talked much about school in the holidays. Lady Smith speaking at a preliminary hearing of the inquiry at the Court of Session in Edinburgh last week also said that more than 100 locations where abuse is said to have taken place have been identified. For many years Joy (as I have defined it) was not only absent but forgotten. A former Eton pupil, Tom Oliver, recently spoke to the Financial Times about what he sees as a prioritising of reputation and achievement above all else at fee-paying schools. They said it was 'a joke' and then after called me a s**g even though I never asked or gave them permission to touch me. He also started to lecture the kneeling boy about sin and wrongdoing. We had scarcely the equipment with which to express the idea, and anyway what would this awfulthought make of our parents, who were paying as we were so often reminded a princely sum for our privileged existences? Following her open letter and the messages from alleged survivors she'd received, Moon set up an Instagram page @screengrabthem on April 1 to expose apparent screenshots of online harassment, misogyny and coercion that women experience daily. "Pupils know that they have trusted adults to speak to if they have any worries or concerns. To order a copy for 14.44 (RRP 16.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. My reading was now mainly rubbish; All security seemed to be taken from me; there was no solid ground beneath my feet. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. Gavin Williamson last night condemned the alleged abuses and vowed to take action to stamp out such 'sickening' behaviour. Decline and Fall features fictions first account of another traditional cast member of the boarding school drama, the predatory Captain Grimes. It wasnt until after the tragic murder of Sarah Everard last month, which sparked a national conversation about womens safety, that Moon felt compelled to share her story. WebHighgate School in north London where girls in Year 11 (aged 15/16) and above held a walkout in protest has commissioned an immediate external review of the sexual Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Investigation showed the place to be a minor hell of flagellation and abuse (such a pathetic euphemism for the real thing) so I was taken away and put in a nearer establishment named Camdean. The cricket field triumphs and the practical jokes, the floggings and the bullies of the traditional boarding school were by the 1890s the staples of a literary genre with an audience far beyond the class that used them, or even that aspired to them. These institutions were founded later there were only five public schools for girls by the end of the 19th century, all of them quite deliberately aping the boys ones. +44 (0)1732 365555. It seems that sick, twisted, sexual perverts have been drawn in large numbers to boarding schools. Tonbridge was a synonym for those Spartan schools where the empire, the church, the cricket field, the war memorial, and the monarchy were, well, sovereign. These behaviours have no place at Tonbridge and are incompatible with the ethos of care and respect for others which we do our best to teach and live by. She believes those who have been assaulted or harassed should be given counselling, perpetrators need rehabilitation so they dont re-offend and survivors should not be forced to share classes with alleged perpetrators. They were the boys who fell below a certain social status, the boys with vulgar accents. Former Tonbridge teacher jailed for child abuse - BBC News Document details. Nothing in my experience had ever suggested to me that it was nicer to be a schoolboy than a child or nicer to be a man than a schoolboy. And a few weeks ago actor Jodie Turner-Smith launched the account @sexismonsetuk, which shares anonymous allegations of sexual harassment, assault and everyday sexism experienced on UK film and TV sets in order to give fellow womxn a voice in a way where they feel safe'. Kevin Wells, 53, of Bishops Oak Ride, was jailed at These schools have a reputation to uphold as a great place for boys rather than a safe place for women, claims Moon. Novelists were telling of the dark and brutal times to be had at boarding school much earlier than the essay-writers. All this Yvonne saw, or I suppose I should say she somehow intuited, at a glance. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. WebIt is not clear from the 16 anonymous testimonies concerning Tonbridge School pupils, when the alleged incidents happened. For he had his favorite victims, boys who could do nothing right. C.S. Admires strong sporty top grades types, but a surprisly high percentage of boys from Tonbridge are total assholes. The education watchdog Ofsted visited Bishop Chavasse Primary School earlier this year and has published its findings today. I have read of boys in the same predicament who welcomed such things as signs of growing up; I had no such feeling. All Rights Reserved. I was 17 and in a tank top, standing next to the head boy who did nothing.'. Kory Daniel Young women share their experiences on the platform in the hope to end the stigma of discussing sexual abuse and rape, which many say is rife in schools. His actual crime is only hinted at in the novel; the BBCs current rollicking TV adaptation is much more open about the peg-legged pederast. Yes, I think that must have been it. Ofsted warns some children could be 'at risk of harm' at Read about our approach to external linking. A boy home from school (especially during that first week when the holidays seem eternal) likes to cut a dash. Then came the third crack of the cane At the end of it all, a basin, a sponge and a small clean towel were produced by the headmaster, and the victim was told to wash away the blood before pulling up his trousers.. After the murder of Sarah Everard last month, activist Zan Moon is on a mission to protect young students from harm, He followed me everywhere, grabbed me by the neck, choked me, and then proceeded to put his hands down my pants.. There was no bathing except ones weekly bath in the bathroom. WebTonbridge School Policies October 2021 _____ _____ 2G.AB Last Amended October 2021 - 1 - ANTI-BULLYING POLICY AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Bullying, especially if left unaddressed, can have a devastating effect on individuals. Hitchens, report yourself at once to the study! Report myself for what, sir? Dont make it worse for yourself, Hitchens, you know perfectly well. But I didnt. Some of them as one mother, forced by her daughter to allow her to board, told me will pack Harry Potter wands too. ), strong fear of a repeat offense that I could not predict or avoid, the emotion of relief colliding with the feeling of unworthiness. Audens suggestive line in one of his greatest poems [ 1 September 1939]: And helpless governors wake / To resume their compulsory game, It was indeed Auden who had been a master at such a school as well as having been a pupil at one who had said that the experience had given him an instinctive understanding of what it would be like to live under fascism. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. we are in a four-wheeler rattling over the uneven squaresets of the Belfast streets through the damp twilight of a September evening, 1908; my father, my brother, and I. I am going to school for the first time. A study by the Sutton Trust and the Social Mobility Commission published in 2019 found that people who hold top jobs in politics, the judiciary, media and business, are five times more likely to have been educated at private school than the general population. Her dossier includes more than 90 shocking testimonies from pupils and ex-pupils. I myself was rather a pet or mascot of Oldies a position which I swear I never sought and of which the advantages were purely negative. The school for 269 pupils aged four to 11, opened in 2017 and is a Church of England School, thus part of the Diocese of Rochester. A serial molester, certainly, but also, according to Waugh, a resourceful and witty man of shining candour, and they remained friends until Decline and Fall was published. Silence is compliance, far too often people are bystanders in this, she continues, citing her Instagram initiative as a way to hopefully combat that secrecy. Behaviour was positive and respectful in classrooms and around the school and pupils were confident leaders would address it in the right way, said inspectors. So thousands of men and women who had suffered awfully, by their own admission, sent their children off for just the same. If we had not been certain that we were better off than the oafs and jerks who lived on housing estates and went to state-run day schools, we might have asked more questions about being robbed of all privacy, encouraged to inform on one another, taught how to fawn upon authority and turn upon the vulnerable outsider, and subjected at all times to rules which it was not always possible to understand, let alone to obey. WebAs was recently picked up in the press the private school, Tonbridge in Kent has been been sued and lost in an Employment Tribunal for sexual discrimination. WebTonbridge School in Kent denies allegations that laboratory technician Hannah Miller, 38, suffered sexual discrimination when she worked there By Agency 03 March 2015 One claimed to often feel pressured into sending nude pictures of herself to Eton schoolboys, who were always older. 'When your parents are paying 35,000 a year, you dont feel you can complain about your welfare,' he told the FT. 'A lot of money has been spent on our education they want to see results, and everything else gets sidelined.'. I have known Oldie enter the schoolroom after breakfast, cast his eyes round, and remark, Oh, there you are, Rees, you horrid boy. Again I stress the matter of sheer scale: the teachers were enormous compared to us and this lent a Brobdingnagian aspect to the scene. "Leaders are working to develop the expertise of all adults who teach reading," said inspectors. After that there was a pause. "There are clear routines in place and pupils are polite and kind to each other. It is continuously evolving and partly delivered by external organisations. This means that their actions are not always providing the help that pupils require when they need it.". Organized games, except for endless rounders in the flinty playground, had long been moribund and were finally abandoned not very long after my arrival. Tonbridge School. Copyright Todd Wilhelm, 2018, All Rights Reserved, "'Speaking the truth in love' has come to mean that you more or less praise everything, but above all, that you never criticise any view strongly, because, after all, there is a certain amount of right and truth in everything." One of the most awful reproaches in the schools arsenal of psychological torture Orwell catches it very well in his essay Such, Such Were the Joys was the one about ones sickly ingratitude: the selfish refusal to shape up after all that had been done on ones behalf. . 'We continue to encourage current or former pupils with concerns to come forward with the confidence to know they will be taken seriously and that we can provide support. This curious scene took place in the dormitory, though I cannot remember why. The Princes Trust charity worker, who attended the all-girls Benenden school in Kent, herself says she was assaulted by a boy from another school aged 15. The only stimulating element in the teaching consisted of a few well-used canes which hung on the green iron chimney piece of the single schoolroom. This moral blackmail is based on a quintessential servility. My poor parents. Geometry and some pages in Wests English Grammar (but even those I think I found for myself) are the only items on the credit side. I think it's a toxic environment to try to be an upstander rather than be a bystander.'. Stephen Burrows, 65, a former English teacher at Tonbridge Grammar School, could face jail after he admitted engaging in sexual touching with a 17-year-old pupil. All these ushers (except the one who stayed less than a week) were obviously as much in awe of Oldie as we. There were other manifestations, too. I've never felt more uncomfortable in my life', Another said:Boys from Tonbridge would rate girls out of ten to your face. The recent attention that has been focused on the alleged abuser John Smyth and the subsequent claim by his son, PJ Smyth, that he had no knowledge of the abuse caused me to think of two books I have read, one by Christopher Hitchens, the other by C.S Lewis, in which they spoke of the abuse they encountered while they attended boarding schools in the UK. The ushers succeeded one another with great rapidity; one lasted for less than a week. During my infancy in Scotland I had had to be taken away from one school, with the forbidding name of Inchkeith, when it had been noticed at home that I cowered and flung up a protective arm every time an adult male came near me. Soon, the cane was picked up again and a second tremendous crack was administered upon the trembling buttocks. -John Smyth, Why Choose Heterosexuality. On my first day there I was hit between the eyes with a piece of slate during an exchange of views with the Catholic school across the road, with whom our hardened Protestant gangs were at odds. Like other children, we had no standard of comparison; we supposed the miseries of Belsen to be the common and unavoidable miseries of all schools. Detective Sergeant David Shipley, of Kent Police's Public Protection Unit, said: "Wells was in contact with a number of vulnerable children, for his own sexual gratification. The report said: "this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.". All rights reserved. The school in Baker Lane is run by The Tenax Schools Trust and was inspected in January. Tonbridge School Churchills headmaster was another clergyman, the Rev Henry Sneyd-Kynnersley. Child Abuse - Courthouse News Service Read more:'Massive' increase in cost of Kent school bus pass to go ahead. After the Website. We run workshops about healthy relationships and educate our pupils about consent. WebParish & Town Cllr Russell Douglas Tillson (72) appeared at Sevenoaks Magistrates court today Tuesday 22.03.22, and was charged with 5 counts of historical sexual abuse A Charterhouse spokesperson said: 'Like many others, Charterhouse has been distressed by the many testimonies of sexual harassment by pupils and alumni at schools and colleges across the UK, and we are deeply saddened to know that pupils from Charterhouse have been affected. Grimes is acclaimed as one of the centurys greatest comic creations. Kim flaunts her taut tummy as she arrives in New York for the big fashion event - with her nine-year-old daughter in tow, Experts are recommending 'Swedish death cleaning' - and they say it's your duty to your children, Man with micropenis reveals how he broaches the topic with potential sexual partners, State of emergency is declared as devastating tornado rips through Virginia Beach: Twister destroys up to 100 homes, capsizes boats and downs trees, It's Kim City! The machinery of the Garuda Stone really serves to bring out in their true colors (which would otherwise seem exaggerated) the sensations which every boy had on passing from the warmth and softness and dignityof his home life to the privations, the raw and sordid ugliness, of school. Freddie saidcalling classmates out on such behaviour can be 'difficult' because of peer pressure. Christopher Hitchens Alex Rentons Stiff Upper Lip: Secrets, Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Senior MP Rob Halfon today condemned the 'Lord Of The Flies culture' within classrooms, while another, Maria Miller, demanded Ofsted be tasked with leading an independent probe. For one thing (and this will become clearer in the sequel) he was a man not easily informed. The cane was put down and the headmaster began filling his pipe from a tin of tobacco. Tonbridge School Read about our approach to external linking. All new staff, Governors, part-time staff, volunteers and Praepostors will receive appropriate Safeguarding and Child Protection My laughter at this, for all its brilliant timing and understatement, was very slightly awkward. 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Your heart breaks for them still.