Council insider on Mossbourne: ‘Leadership and culture are the problem’
Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy. Photograph: Wikicommons
This piece was written by a Hackney Council employee working in the Children and Families Directorate who wishes to remain anonymous.
There’s been a sense of relief from those of us working in the Children and Families Directorate at Hackney Council that, thanks to the recent publicity surrounding Mossbourne [Victoria Park] Academy, finally there may be an end to the culture and leadership which causes distress for Hackney children and families.
Those of us working at the touch points – LADO [Local Authority Designated Officer], social workers, WAMHS [Wellbeing and Mental Health in Schools] and CAMHS [Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services], et cetera – know all too well the draconianism of ‘The Mossbourne way’. The impact is detailed and documented.
Our disquiet is shared by many different agencies, but we are largely powerless to do anything to address them because of Mossbourne’s academy status.
Years of increasing concern have left us feeling frustrated and demoralised. Despite all of our work, the situation continues.
For the past few years, many of us have openly been asking: “Will it take a suicide of a child for this to change?”
There are, of course, children who thrive: the ones who get the grades and can cope with the pressure.
But what about those who don’t? What about the long-term mental health impact on them? It is unacceptable to ignore the effects that this has on them.
The parents and carers, we professionals, and other schools, are left to pick up the pieces.
When Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy was rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted, colleagues questioned why the system fails to properly take into account ‘pupil voice’.
The leadership and culture is the problem at Mossbourne. The leadership felt it was untouchable.
There are some fantastic teachers who really do care, however a number of former teachers have expressed discomfort about perpetuating the strict regime.
The complete denial by Mossbourne’s leadership that it is doing anything wrong is very clearly documented in its recent letters to parents.
So yes, we absolutely welcome this safeguarding review but feel angry and demoralised that it has taken years to get to this point.
The Mossbourne situation begs the question: if this is happening on our watch here in Hackney, what else is happening in academies up and down the country?
We hope this ends in a change both locally and nationally, and will enable local authorities to have more powers to help safeguard our children.
Mossbourne Federation was contacted for a response to this opinion piece, but did not reply.
This article was amended at 15:27 on Wednesday 12 February 2025 to remove a claim regarding an alleged increase in exclusion rates at Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy that we have not been able to verify. Structural and stylistic changes to the piece have also been made to clarify meaning, along with changes to descriptors. – Ed.
This article was further amended at 10:53 on Thursday 13 February 2025 (to remove claims based on confidential information, obtained by the author of the piece in the course of their work, that by its nature we cannot verify. However, we have no reason to believe that these claims were inaccurate. – Ed.
This is an incredibly tedious ‘insight’ into something that is so nuanced we really need to avoid generalising in this way and scapegoating schools when we have no experience of actually being in them or working in them. I’m going to put this really simply. I used to teach in schools in Hackney in the early 2000s and it was really really hard. Loads of kids couldn’t learn because the classrooms were so disruptive and lots of them seemed afraid because the environment didn’t feel safe. I also worked at mossbourne some years later and I’ve never seen such a group of committed teachers who believed that they were doing the right thing by the children. I did question some of the overriding principles and the rigidity of the structure and I’m sure that as time changes and our knowledge evolves, the management there do too. However, the local authority wringing their hands over the state of things is just ridiculous. Do you remember schools in Hackney in the early 2000s! No mental health issues to see there… honestly. It’s so so hard to get secondaries ‘right’ for everyone. Go with the principle of warmth with structure. It’s not hard- but mossbourne aren’t the only school not doing this ‘right’ – you’re just jumping on the bandwagon of chastising them when there are issues in every school, that speak to unrealistic national targets and a generally broken education system
You’re saying that raising a structural issue that leaves a council fearful for years of a child suicide and powerless to prevent it is ‘incredibly tedious’? Would a suicide need to have actually happened for you to feel it warrants discussion?
No of course not. What tedious is the idea that the structural issue only applies to Mossbourne. Pre Mossbourne there were also students in Hackney dying because of other safeguarding concerns but we have shifted the focus so it’s too narrow, is what I’m saying. It feels like a witch hunt and that feels concerning as ultimately, the people at the centre of this are the students. It’s important to hear their voices and I would be interested to hear from a good, diverse cross section of them in all schools about the challenges- not just focusing on one federation to blame when in reality the staff there are working extremely hard.
An accurate picture, with not at all 'tedious' insights into the truth of the schools approach. Nor, indeed a witch hunt. I have a child currently at MVPA who now has an anxiety disorder due to the school's antiquated approach to schooling. They aren't successfully teaching these young people if all they are instilling in them is fear. In any other circumstance, I.e., the workplace, the behaviour of these teachers towards students would be classed as bullying.
I'm surprised at the Citizen allowing a public employee to write an article like that and yet remain anonymous. Particularly as they claim to speak for other council employees.
Why did you send your child there? And why have you not removed him/her?
Is your child still at MVPA since you attribute their anxiety disorder to the academy?