‘I would have already resigned’ – Mossbourne senior leadership and chair of governors should ‘reflect’ on positions says safeguarding commissioner

Jim Gamble said Mossbourne leaders should ‘reflect’ on their positions. Photograph: Supplied

Mossbourne’s most senior leadership and the chair of its governing body should ‘reflect’ on their positions following the publication of a damning safeguarding review into behavioural policies at one of its schools, a safeguarding commissioner has said.

The review, which was made publicly available last month, backed up a number of concerns raised by parents, former pupils and staff about practices at Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy (MVPA). The author of the review, Sir Alan Wood, found reports of public humiliation and other damaging practices could “be substantiated”.

The review also found certain groups of students, including pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and children from certain ethnic groups, were “disproportionately impacted by sanctions”.

At the children and young people scrutiny commission on Monday (12 January), the children’s safeguarding commissioner for City and Hackney Jim Gamble — who led on the report — said he would have “already stepped down” were he in a leadership role at Mossbourne.

“If I were the chair of the governing body that was dealing with this, I would have already resigned,” he said. “I would have already stepped down to let fresh eyes take over with regard to the job that needs to be done to drive forward the actions and through the recommendations that Sir Alan has identified.

“And if I were in the most senior leadership role, I would be radically reflecting on my position.”

The report’s author, Sir Alan Wood CBE. Photograph: Supplied

Sir Alan, a former director of children’s services in Hackney, added: “Essentially, this is about leadership. It’s about accountability and governance. And children have been let down.”

He said the “excellence” of the school and its outcomes for some attendees could not be overlooked. “I made clear from the outset, we weren’t challenging the expertise of the excellence of the school’s academic results or the levels of attendance in school,” he continued.

“We wanted to understand […] how they were implementing the behaviour policy of the school, and how that impacted on children in the school. 

“The failure of governors on this specific issue around behaviour at the local level and at the federation level is significant, and I believe that the members [of the governing body] whose role is to ensure that the school is effective, is the body that should lead the response to the review, and in doing that, they will decide for themselves how to deal with the leadership challenges the review has identified.”

Sir Alan encouraged school governors to accept the findings of the review and recalled what he described as “unwillingness to cooperate during the period of the review”.

Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy. Photograph: Google

“The constant negativity in terms of the review, the unwillingness to cooperate during the period of the review, and now what looks like further attempts to question the review have to stop,” he continued.

“Because unless the leadership […] can accept there are issues they have to address, it will be very difficult then to move on, and it will be very difficult to change the culture of the employment, or the implementation of the behaviour policy in the school.”

Sir Alan said he was “very confident” in the school’s intention to move forward, taking onboard the findings of the review.

“To me, it is very clear that unless the executive can accept and respond to the report, nothing will change.”

Hackney’s deputy mayor and cabinet member for education, Anntoinette Bramble, said the council was considering the safeguarding review in “great detail”.

She added she had spoken with Mossbourne chief executive Peter Hughes, who confirmed the school’s senior leadership team is also considering the review’s findings. However, he said the Christmas holidays had delayed a formal response. 

But Gamble argued the school had had plenty of time to respond, having been given access to the review on 26 November. “I want to know what priority comes before addressing [these] serious concerns,” he said during Monday’s meeting. “It is not good enough.”

He continued: “I understand we want to give people time to reflect and consider, but families are back, children are back at school, and I think we need to provide a level of reassurance.

“What I’m hoping for is that the members from Mossbourne take a firm leadership position, and rather than delay any further, come out with a statement that they […] embrace the findings and commit moving at pace to address these issues.”

Gamble said the Department for Education had confirmed that day they “are taking a very firm view on” the report and its findings. “They will be engaging and if they find themselves in a position where they’re not satisfied that steps are being taken to address the actions and the recommendations, I think we will see more forthright application of the limited powers they have in this area,” he continued.

Bramble added that she expects the multi-academy trust to accept the findings of the report, something she said she has communicated to the executive head.

Cllr Sophie Conway, chair of the children and young people scrutiny commission, says the council committee had been hearing reports from the community about “these schools…for some years”.

“A concern that I have is that there is a sense […] that parents have attempted to approach various different means to communicate their concerns around their children’s experiences. And it feels as though there are a lot of dead ends that people seem to keep bucking up against,” she said.

One of these parents is Andy Leary-May who, in an open letter from Educating Hackney — founded in 2024 to “draw attention to links between the way behaviour policies are implemented in some schools and potential consequences for children’s wellbeing” — urged the council to ‘go further’ following the publication of the report.

“While the safeguarding review has very effectively shone a light on harmful practices, the council now has an opportunity to go further by examining their long-term impact. Many testimonies come from former students now in their mid to late twenties, who reflect with considerable insight on both their academic success and the cost to their mental health, confidence and personal development. A significant number still describe ongoing trauma.

“Hackney has a unique opportunity to inform national understanding and policy by giving these former students a voice. Mossbourne pioneered practices that have since been widely copied, and two decades of lived experience is available to highlight the potential long-term impact that, until now, has gone largely unmonitored.”

Penny Wrout, a ward councillor for the school, told the Citizen: “I believe parents at Mossbourne Schools can take comfort that there will be action following the child safeguarding review into Mossbourne Victoria Park.

“I am relieved and reassured by evidence provided by the safeguarding experts, Jim Gamble and Sir Alan Wood, to Hackney’s children and young people’s scrutiny commission, that there will be action to address failings at Mossbourne Victoria Park (MVP) and the Mossbourne Federation more broadly.

“Prior to that, with no clear word from either the school, the Academy Federation nor the Department for Education, in the wake of a highly critical review, I feared the report’s recommendations could go unheeded. Jim Gamble and Sir Alan Wood made a compelling case for the need for change, at pace, in the Mossbourne Federation.”

Mossbourne Federation and MVPA have been contacted for comment.