Yet another teacher caught engaging in inappropriate behaviour and abusing his position of trust. This time it’s John Cope, an ICT teacher at Brighton and Hove School, a top independent school for girls in Sussex. His crime? For grooming a vulnerable, female pupil.
Texting a young girl with hundreds of flirty text messages and talking to her about his sexual fantasies and flavoured condoms – and asking for sex – is only ever going to land one in very deep, deep trouble. In his defence, Mr Cope said that he had only wanted to help the girl through a troubled phase. Poppycock!
The teacher, who worked at the school between September 2007 and May 2008, was handed a sex offences prevention order which banned him from the classroom or from unsupervised contact with anyone under 16 for 10 years. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register, given a two-year supervision order and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.
This case leaves one asking just one very simple question…..
Yet another case of alleged child sex abuse by a teacher at a leading independent school.
This time it’s Hannah McIntyre, 25, a classics teacher who has worked at Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School, Crosby, Merseyside, since September 2007. Arrested in January 2009, she is accused of intentionally touching a 17-year-old boy while in a position of trust.
Miss McIntyre, of Waterloo, Merseyside, has pleaded not guilty to a single count of engaging in sexual activity with a child, a charge brought against her under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Her trial is scheduled to begin on February 1 2010 and will last up to five days.
During the Christmas holidays, the findings of an official inquiry regarding a Benedictine monk who abused children at an independent abbey school in West London were published. The inquiry found that the monk, Father David Pearce, was allowed to strike again against young children at St Benedict’s School in Ealing, despite senior officials in the Catholic church and regulators being warned about his record as a paedophile.
So, yet another case of a known paedophile being allowed to continue working at an independent school for a long period of time, before justice caught up with him. Allegations of paedophilia against the monk went back as far as 1984 when he was head teacher in the junior section of the school but, despite these allegations and his known history of abuse, the monk was allowed to continue to have contact with young boys.
Finally, time caught up with the monk and he was arrested in January 2008, ending 18 months of abuse of a pupil who was hired to wash up for monks in the school. Then, in October 2009, Father David Pearce was jailed for eight years for abusing five boys at the school.
Situations such as this constantly drip-feed into the national press.
So, how many more paedophile teachers like this are out there in independent schools, waiting to be uncovered?
And how many of them will remain unreported until the day comes when their victims can stand the pain no longer and expose their abusers?
Remember – once an abuser, always an abuser.
Shame on those individuals in authority who allowed this man to continue sexually abusing young boys!
Don’t you just love journalists? I do, with a passion. Without them, important and contentious issues would never have the airing they deserve.
In our normal daily lives, we all just get on the best we can. When something is wrong, we instinctively log it but because we are just ordinary people our only outlet for discussion is at home, in work, or with friends – or even on a blog like this, albeit a small voice in the cacophony which is the Internet.
And then, out-of-the-blue, an article in the national press which puts a sharp finger on the very issue in question. In the Daily Mail today, it’s pushy mothers – that dangerous breed of females which can make your very life a living hell when you are on the receiving end of one – especially if you happen to be a teacher in an English public school.
The aforementioned article on pushy mothers in today’s Daily Mail is based upon the scathing attack by Kirsty Young, Desert Island Discs presenter and former newsreader. Speaking ahead of her new BBC2 show, The British Family, Kirsty Young condemned the way children are forced to live out their parents’ dreams. How right she is! There have always been pushy mothers around but they are getting worse – and, they are increasing in numbers.
As I see it, there are several aspects to this issue.
Firstly, as Kirsty Young quite rightly points out: ’Most women don’t have careers. They have jobs that they have to do – to pay the electricity bill or buy school shoes. Choosing to work or not to work is the ultimate luxury and it’s also a mark of how far women have come.’
She is right, of course, especially when it comes to many of the mothers of those children who happen to attend independent schools. This breed of pushy mother is either trying to make up for the fact that they never had the chance to get a professional career for themselves and/or, because they are paying a lot of money for their children’s education, they want blood in return.
It must be remembered that back in the 1970s, only 5% of all 18 year-olds in the UK went to university; now the figure is much nearer to 50%. The result of this is that many mothers in the older age bracket, who also had their children at an older age, did not go to university and therefore do not have professional careers. They might have jobs, as Kirsty Young takes care to point out, but not careers. Hence, their lives are dominated by the pursuit of the success of their children.
Then there is the argument that some children need pushing and others don’t. It’s a case of ‘horses for courses’.
But it’s not the pushing which is the problem – after all a parent is entitled to push their children if they choose to do so – it’s the nature in which it is done. At boarding school, one hears many a cringing tale of pushy mothers making trouble, usually based on their ignorance of who their children really are, especially if they have been packing off their progeny to boarding school since an early age. On the other hand, some of these youngsters are very good at lying, especially when parental pressure is on them to work and the parent suspects they have been wasting their hard-earned money.
The result?
Mayhem and long-lasting professional damage for the hard-working teacher in question!
Believe me; it is happening all of the time.
One female colleague, in particular, comes to mind who suffered badly for such a state of affairs, with several pushy mothers. In one of these instances, after having told the mother at a parents’ evening that she was having difficulty getting any written work in from her lazy son, the mother’s response was to not only accuse the teacher of having a personality clash with her son but she also made an official complaint against that teacher, too – for upsetting her son!
Ideally, of course, children should be left to find their own level in life, without the pushing and only with gentle encouragement and support. How many young people do we know who were pushed into professions which their parents demanded of them and are unhappy in return? Surely happiness and health should be aspired to above personal wealth?
Independent schools in the UK are rather unique places of learning. Some are many hundreds of years old; others have their roots in more modern times. Almost without exception, these schools are usually beautifully crafted and well-resourced buildings, and either geographically isolated or built in populated areas frequented by the middle class well-to-do. Pupils, and indeed the teaching staff, are often described as existing in their own little ‘bubble’, leading lives which are eons away from any of the harsh realities of normal life the average man in the street is forced to endure.
Wall Street Shuffle
The whole independent school system is based upon the premise that parents possess vast amounts of money, which they willingly donate in the belief that they are buying into a secure future for their children. Many parents pay out sums of money to the tune of six figures per child over a period of several years, especially for the more prestigious of these schools – the public schools. Many parents find little difficulty parting with this mound of cash but what of those parents who struggle financially to make these payments and yet still wish to invest in private education for their offspring? Will their hard-fought investment pay off in the end?
As a result of the wealth of their parents and a private school education, particularly if the school in question is a high-profile, high-achieving public school, there is no doubt that the privileged life which youngsters from a well-to-do background lead will in the main continue throughout the rest of their lives.
But what of the future lives of those youngsters from less well-to-do families, whose parents struggled to send them to private school? Will they have the same golden future as their rich counterparts? These youngsters might get to go to good universities and land themselves better jobs than if they had gone to a state school but what will become of their school friends once school days are over? Will these relationships dry up because the less wealthy youngsters cannot possibly keep up with the rampant materialism of the rich Joneses? Of course, they will!
The reason is because the English Establishment still remains inextricably dependent upon privilege, money and who one knows. If these less well-to-do parents think they can break into such a society and get a slice of the same privileged cake as the Joneses, then they have to think again.
The monied classes only ever look after their own!
Sad though this case may be, the plight of Jemima Phillips is typical of so many ex-public school boys and girls in this country.
After her privileged education at Hereford Cathedral School, one would imagine she would have had everything she ever needed to give her a good start in life. And as Royal Harpist, appointed by Prince Charles himself and invited to play at almost every castle in the land in front of high profile celebrities, a promising and successful career ahead of her, too. Sadly, this was not the case as her descent into major drug addiction – heroin and crack cocain – and a life of deceit and abusive relationships clearly illustrate.
History is littered with tales like this. And every public school in the land has its own tale(s) to tell where illegal drug use by its pupils is concerned, whether at school or beyond.
Honour: Jemima receives the Royal Harpist's brooch from Prince Charles in 2004
Although Jemima Phillips may not have touched drugs at school, it is the negative influences of such an environment that can turn the heads of such vulnerable young people.
Their daily brushing with people with money to burn – whether through their parents or through their school friends – is often the reason why they get sucked into the abyss which is drugs.
The truth about Jemima Phillips’s troubled double life emerged only when she was arrested and charged with four counts of burglary, fraud and possession of stolen goods.
People like this have it all right from a very early age but they never seem to be satisifed with what they have got. A criminal record will do nothing for her career.
Recently, the death of Michael Mavor was reported in the national press. As the ex-headmaster of Gordonstoun (1979 – 1990) in Scotland, Rugby School (1990 – 2001) in Warwickshire and Loretto School (2001 – 2008) near Edinburgh, he achieved great heights in his career.
At Rugby School, he is best remembered for his tireless work in getting rid of fagging – something which had no place in a modern day boarding school. He also appointed the first female head of school and although this girl suffered a well-publicised degree of chauvinism from her male peers, there was no doubt that this was a landmark appointment in the eyes of public schools.
'I say, Rupert.... Hold your chin up and put your hands in your pockets, old boy. We're having our photo taken to show those scruffy commoners how to dress properly.'
If you have never experienced an English public school, then you will never be able to grasp how much this photograph (taken from the recent TV programme on Boris Johnson and David Cameron’s time at Eton College and Oxford University) reflects the arrogance and privilege of young public school toffs.
But butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths, you might say!
I would say in reply: ‘Don’t be fooled!’
These toffs have been drilled to be quite the charmer with anyone they meet, especially when dolled up in their expensive suits and with a bottle of bubbly in their hands – right from their school days.
But, when push comes to shove, that is, when they want their way, they will use any dirty means to get it – lies, embroilments, back-stabbing, stamping on people, incorrectly reporting back incidents to housemasters or parents when at school…….the list goes on.
And what is worse, these toffs will remain like this throughout their lives as leopards never change their spots.
One might therefore agree that Gordon Brown is right to target the Tory Party as a party of ‘toffs’ in today’s national newspapers. After all, the House of Commons and the House of Lords is littered with them – and that does not include the rest of the English Establishment.
So, where does this selfish, two-faced, Machiavellian outlook on life come from?
Why, from the toffs’ rich mothers and fathers, of course! Remember – like begets like!
The toffs at Eton College are willing to share their boating lake and sports’ facilities with the common lads from the local scruffy comprehensive school?
And – according to their headmaster – they are quite happy to be involved with other schools, too. As if they have been thinking about it! And for a long while! After all, mutual links between independent and state schools are not new – and it is 2009, after all!
Wow! So what’s going on at Eton College? Do I detect a warm wind a-blowing through them fausty old schoolrooms?
Or is there something more sinister behind this seemingly wonderful act of benevolence?
So, is this sharing being done out of the goodness of their rich little hearts?
Or is it because the Charity Commission is after their rich little …..?
A Charity Commission who would not hesitate to remove the charitable status of any independent school who dares not to engage positively with the community around them.
So what would it mean to independent schools if they did lose their charitable status, you might innocently ask?
Well, the schools would have to pay more tax, that’s what! Something they don’t do as much as you think because they are all charities – you know, like Oxfam, Mencap, Mind……except without the good works for the benefit of mankind! You get the message – a charity in name only……but with all the tax benefits.
So some charity these schools then, you might exclaim! Greedy, eh?
Yes, I would cry!
And who would benefit from all of this charitable status?
Well, there’s only one answer, isn’t there? It’s the monied, priviledged middle class of this country, the ones who send their Ruperts and Hermiones to posh schools and who want to ensure that these schools continue to thrive for centuries and generations to come.
It’s been known for a long while that it can take the authorities in the UK several years to ban teachers who are paedophiles, for a variety of reasons.
Teacher's Pet
In the meantime, these teachers can continue to work in schools where the pupils are of a different age and sex to those whom they desire.
An example of such a situation is recorded in one of my previous posts – ‘Alex the Flirt’ - whose dabbling with female pupils having been discovered at one school is now conveniently working at another school: a boys’ boarding school in South London.
There are also details in this post of the character ‘Justin Rupert, the main character in my book ‘The Grim Rupert’. His headmaster at the time offered to get him a job at a famous boys’ independent school in the north of England, knowing full well that ‘Justin’ had committed sex offences against his female pupils.
‘Alex the Flirt’ and ‘Justin Rupert’ were teachers at the same boarding school. The teaching staff at the school all knew that the headmaster did not report these two men to the relevant authorities at the time, as indeed he failed to do with other teachers at the school who either preceded or followed these instances.
Such unacceptable behaviour on behalf of the headmaster, and clearly others like him, is borne out in recent research published in the national press last month. This research revealed that dozens of teachers disciplined for sexual misconduct are never reported to the police. And I am not surprised as the consequences for the school and its headteacher are enormous as the Rev Tim Hastie-Smith at Dean Close School recently learnt to his own cost.
Blowing the whistle?
So, what is the way forward in such situations? As a teacher, how do you ensure that the colleagues you know to be sexually dabbling with their pupils are found out and correctly dealt with by the authorities?
Why, by going over the headteacher’s head and anonymously reporting your colleagues to the authorities!
