Mossbourne: complaints review led by Anne Whyte KC expected to conclude ‘in the autumn’

Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy. Image: Google

An independent review into how complaints about staff behaviour and pupil welfare at Mossbourne schools are handled is expected to conclude “in the autumn”.

The announcement was made today to the Citizen by a spokesperson from Fieldfisher, the solicitors’ firm which is supporting the review led by Anne Whyte KC.

The review itself follows public attention that the Mossbourne Federation has received in relation to complaints about some of its schools.

Commissioned by the Mossbourne Federation itself, the inquiry is separate to the ongoing safeguarding review being conducted by the City & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership.

The stated aim is to examine what can be done to improve processes at Mossbourne schools and to increase public confidence in the management of complaints and safeguarding concerns.

Anne Whyte KC has previously told the Citizen: “The Mossbourne Federation has instructed me to undertake this review.

“I receive my instructions from a ring-fenced sub-committee made up of Daniel Flitterman, Tareic Alphonse, and Shedeh Javadzadeh.

“They have agreed that the contents of any submissions will be kept entirely confidential from the Federation.

“This is because they and I wish to ensure that as many members of the community as possible feel able to articulate any concerns that they may have candidly.

“I have been afforded complete autonomy over the way I investigate the relevant issues and over my findings, to allow for rigorous and constructive feedback.

“The report is intended to assist the Federation in understanding how the complaints processes and safeguarding procedures have been operating in practice and what can be done to improve them.

“It is appropriate that the Federation is permitted the opportunity to reflect on the recommendations and they may choose to make a public comment thereafter.”

How the review by Anne Whyte KC came about

On 27 December 2024, a DfE spokesperson told the Citizen: “The Department for Education has recommended that the trust commissions an independent investigation into Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy led by a King’s Counsel (KC).

“Mossbourne Federation is in the process of instructing a KC and this is due to begin imminently.”

Four and a half months later, Whyte announced that she was leading the review.

In her letter of 13 May 2025, she asked parents, carers, students and staff who had attended or worked at the Mossbourne schools from September 2023 onward to submit evidence for her inquiry by 27 May 2025.

“My role is to look at whether the complaints processes and safeguarding procedures are fit for purpose and whether they should be changed or improved,” she said.

“If I decide that people with a sense of complaint have chosen not to use the academies’ complaints processes, then my role is to understand why that has happened and what can be done to improve the processes for the benefit of everyone.”

Whyte added that a separate sub-committee, and not the Federation itself, would receive her findings.

The sub-committee includes Daniel Flitterman, a former director of the Federation and of CEO Peter Hughes’s company Progress Teaching Ltd; Tareic Alphonse, a governor at Mossbourne Community Academy; and Shedeh Javadzadeh, a trustee of Mossbourne Charitable Trust and a volunteer mentor.

“They are instructing me and I will report my findings to them,” Whyte wrote, before stating that the committee would have no influence over the report’s findings.

Mossbourne Federation was approached for comment but did not respond.

About the sub-committee

Mr Flitterman, son-in-law of the Federation’s trustee Lady Joy Bourne, was previously a director of the Mossbourne Federation for eight years until November 2020, and was also director of trust CEO Peter Hughes’s company, Progress Teaching Ltd, until February last year.

Tareic Alphonse has sat on the governing body of another of the trust’s secondaries, Mossbourne Community Academy (MCA), since 9 January 2022.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Shedeh Javadzade is a board member of Mossbourne Charitable Trust and has volunteered as a students’ mentor at MCA.