Where is it?I believe the ISI inspection took place in April. For publication of the report to be so far delayed is extremely unusual. Given the great problems that St. Benedict's has been having with safeguarding recently, which has resulted in the Trustees commissioning an inquiry by Lord Carlile into safeguarding failures there, I suspect that the ISI will be taking especial care over this report because of the association between St. Augustine's and Ealing Abbey. Father Gregory Chillman was until recently Chairman of Governors of the school and also Chaplain. The report has not yet been published on the ISI website, but when it finally does appear, you will be able to see it here.
I have delayed writing this letter to you in the hope that we would be in receipt of the ISI report. It has yet to materialise. When it does, the School will have the chance to correct factual inaccuracies and it will then go back to ISI for amendments and final editing and then be returned to us when we will have a fortnight within which to make it available to all parents.
And there is this odd statement about "factual inaccuracies" in the headmistress's letter. It is almost as if she is expecting that there will be statements in the report which she regards as factual inaccuracies. She is hardly likely to complain about factual inaccuracies which are complimentary about the school, so it would seem that she may be expecting adverse comment that she wishes to present to parents as being inaccurate.
And if there is adverse comment, given the sensitivity of the ISI to criticism about its ability to detect safeguarding problems, one can reasonably speculate that the ISI may have concerns about safeguarding at the school. Certainly the school's safeguarding policy is highly unimpressive, even though it has been comprehensively updated (in fact rewritten from scratch) as compared to the set of utterly useless procedure-free platitudes that the policy used to consist of at the beginning of this year.
The present version of the policy talks of "appropriate actions" far too often without defining what actions are appropriate, and doesn't specify that all allegations of child sexual abuse will automatically be reported to the LADO. According to section 2.4 of the policy, the EYFS Nominated Safeguarding Children Officer is supposed to report allegations to Ofsted and ISI. This is completely wrong, since those bodies are not investigating bodies and have no power to do anything with the report. The reports should go to the LADO. The latest version of the St. Benedict's Child Protection Policy (the third update published this year) has finally got round to making explicit reference to the LADO in its policy.
Father Gregory Chillman was Chair of the Governors at St Augustine's! No!
ReplyDeleteThe drunken old fool was a walking distillery when he taught me and my brother (and he was an old fool thirty years ago, he must be older than God now). The idea that he could be sober for long enough to chair a meeting defies belief. He could barely sit on a chair without falling off it. No inspection could do justice to this man. People simply wouldn't believe it. What on earth was he doing in a position of such influence over young people? Parents of children at St A's, you would have been better off finding a heavily bearded homeless person with a bottle in each pocket of their overcoat and placing your daiughter in their care.
Father Gregory! Just thinking about him makes me laugh.
It does seem to be taking a long time for this report to emerge into the daylight. The ISI does not want a repeat of the shame they experienced following their hopelessly error strewn November 09 inspection of St Benedict's.
ReplyDeleteWe might get an insight into reasons for the delay when the report is finally produced but we cannot depend on the ISI reporting the facts. They have little credibility for safeguarding because they are principally educationalists.
So St Augustine's was inspected by the ISI in April and the report still hasn't been published!!
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on?
If I had daughters at the school then I would be wanting answers from the headmistress.
It is normal practice for ISI and OFSTED to submit a draft report to the school in order that they can draw to the attention of the inspectors and factual inaccuracies. It always happens so no need for speculation on this. I agree the delay is curious!
ReplyDeleteYou won't get answers from the Headmistress, I suspect she is running scared from the contents of the report. As a parent of a pupil at the school I'd be surprised if it was to do with safeguarding issues, more like the inept management of the Headmistress and her husband (neither of whom are teachers).
ReplyDeleteAs parents we all know to keep quiet or Mrs G-M will make your daughter's life hell. She is protecting her place in "Society" and has surrounded herself with spineless "yes men" as governors. Why you ask do you keep your child there? She likes her teachers and has good friends, why disrupt that?
All I ask is that ISI publish now and out that fraud of a Headmistress.
21.35 let us hope you are correct that safeguarding is nothing to do with it. You have though described the perfect environment in which safeguarding is so easily compromised right down to the motivation of the principal.
ReplyDeleteΈβαλαν το λύκο να φυλάξει τα πρόβατα.
ReplyDeleteTranslation please? Some of us weren't allowed to study ancient Greek at St Benedict's, because we weren't considered clever enough.
ReplyDeleteA quick google suggests that it means something like "Set the fox to guard the sheep".
ReplyDeleteWell yes but who's the λύκο - the wolf?
ReplyDeleteMaybe you weren't 16:18. But, do have a go! All sorts of people - not τα πρόβατα of course - manage to learn languages off their own bat.
ReplyDeleteBat's, sheep, foxes, wolves; where to now?
ReplyDeleteFr. Gregory is a lovely man, please stop being rude about him.
ReplyDeleteOh throw away your rose tinted glasses,Gregory Chillman is as far as one can get from being a lovely man. He is a drunken vile man who cannot keep his hands to himself. Older girls were very aware not to be alone with him.
ReplyDeleteSo if this ISI report is delayed, its no surprise that there are probable safe guarding issues at St Augustines.
The fact that Father Gregory is no longer Chaplain and Chairman of Governors might be to do with the fact that he is eighty.
ReplyDeleteHas this occurred to any of the vindictive muck-stirrers on this overwhelmingly fetid little blog?
Considered and discarded. He was appointed a Trustee of St Benedict's in 2009, (and resigned only a year later, at the time of the Social Services investigation). And the fact that he is eighty doesn't prevent him from being at St. Augustine's on a regular basis, for instance conducting the carol service.
ReplyDeleteHe is no longer at St Augustine's Priory at all. The Carol Service is held in Ealing Abbey, not at the school.
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean he is no longer allowed at the school then?
ReplyDeleteseems to me like there was nothing wrong with him...
ReplyDeletehe was a bit odd...
As a pupil that used to attend St Augustine's, I can not express how happy I am that I had the oppertunity to leave the school when I did.
ReplyDeleteFor starters, Mrs G-M couldn't even say my name properly for the seven years I attended.
Many teachers were only there through personal connections with her, not through teaching ability, (eg having taught her when she was at school.) Many teachers had not obtained CRB checks and a few even thought it was ok to have physical contact with the girls; one teacher hooking a pupil around the neck with a hockey stick.
Many of the girls who stayed at St Augustine's who I am still friends with on facebook have obviously spent too much time having Latin drilled into them then being taught an appropriate code of conduct in every day life.
There has always been clear favourtism through personal connections of G-M's which resulted in appauling disiplinary actions against most of my peers and I, the claims for which we were punished (suspension/expulsion) were untrue and even with no evidence G-M would not back down.
I think it is great that this blog has been made and the truth is finally coming out after all these years of deception!
I am thinking of sending my daughter here. Should I be worried?
ReplyDeleteWould like to know about this school.If it is a right school for my 3 year old daugher.
ReplyDeleteYou should look at my more recent article about the school. I am now satisfied that safeguarding is given the priority it should be. As for any other aspect of the school, I'm not in a position to know what your daughter's needs are and whether the school would suit her, so I can make no recommendations. I suggest you contact the school directly.
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