Ed: many of you send me texts, letters and messages written by yourselves, for publication. You also send me the answers if you received any. I’m always happy to publish them, especially those answers which illustrate nicely the mindset of our alleged ‘betters’. Yesterday I was sent the copy of a letter written by a School Principal. Like the reader who sent me this … this epistle – words failed me! I’m therefore publishing it, with names and designations removed to keep the school anonymous.

If you want proof of why our educational system is so disastrously failing our children and grandchildren, then look no further:

 

Message from the Principal – School’s Response to Recent Events 

 

Dear pupils, parents, colleagues and former pupils 

Less than a year ago, I wrote to the school community about the way in which the School was responding (and continues to respond) to matters of diversity, particularly in respect of ethnicity. That letter was brought about by an increased level of disclosures from members of our community whose narratives had not been adequately heard in previous years. I am confident the community will continue to take action, as we have since last summer, to continue to make the School actively anti-racist. 

In recent days, the tragic death of Sarah Everard, the dignified response of those calling for greater safety for women in our communities, and the policing of the vigil afterwards have brought greater attention to another area of diversity and inclusion where systemic failings are evident in our society. It’s therefore appropriate that we should reflect on how the School has dealt with matters of gender, sex and consent in the past, to consider how we can do this better now, and do all we can to improve the way in which the XYZ Schools Group educates young people in respect of the safety and dignity of girls, women, trans women and non-binary people within our community, and our country.

Readers will no doubt be aware that websites are collecting the testimonies of those whose experience, including at school, has been painful. As a school we do not tolerate mistreatment or prejudice of any sort, whether on the basis of gender, sexuality, ethnicity or religion. Uninvited or unwelcome intrusion into others’ personal space is not appropriate – especially in a school context. We are extremely sorry where any such experiences may have happened to anyone in our school, and – of course – even more so if the School may not have dealt with them thoroughly and carefully at the time.

We benefit greatly from the breadth of the pupil and family body that attends and supports the XYZ Schools Group. We celebrate diversity, and promote equality and inclusivity; however, we still have room for improvement. We are aware that similar questions are being asked of independent schools across the country, and believe this is an important opportunity for all institutions to continue to improve their practice in this area.

Our Standing Equality Diversity and Inclusion Committee (SEDIC) has been working this year on matters of ethnicity, drawing up a code of conduct for pupils, and producing a template for the resolution of infringements of this code. It’s clear from recent events that we need to ask them also to consider the priorities for us in responding to a greater understanding of the ‘ground truth’ which recent events are likely to bring out around the treatment of girls and young women.

Healthy and wholesome relationships between boys and girls are promoted, we believe, by the diamond structure of the School. This is not, in any sense, a complacent community however, and in recent years we have introduced talks from The RAP Project, merged Girls and Boys Sports departments, introduced HumanUtopia to Year 9, and made PSHE a department of specialists. Sixth Form Prefects and Sports Captains have used their voices to outline their vision for a culture characterised by respect and equality, and have worked with staff to make improvements in this area. We have made progress in reducing the gender pay gap, and it’s a source of satisfaction to the School that half our most senior team is female, and that our governing body also has a good gender balance.

We have made some positive steps, but we can do more. The School’s leadership and governors invite and welcome the perspectives of the whole of our community to help us reflect on everything we do. We will endeavour to ensure that our school is a place where a holistic education includes a critical examination of issues relating to gender and sex, and where all are welcomed and supported with sensitivity. We recognise that we need the support of our pupils’ parents and families, and the limits of the application of the School’s disciplinary code into the homes of our pupils, and we therefore appeal to parents and families to support a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination, unwelcome sexual attention, and any infringement of consent or threatening behaviour.

Finally, we would like to reiterate: any current pupil who witnesses unacceptable behaviour from either pupils or staff should contact their Form Teacher, Tutor, or Head of House in the first instance. If pupils, former pupils or colleagues believe that they have evidence that a crime has been committed, we would encourage them to speak to the police, and are happy to support them in doing so.

Any pupil is also welcome to approach (instead of or as well as) any of the following: the Heads and Deputy Heads of our schools, the Deputy Head Wellbeing, the counselling team, the Chaplain, the Vice Principal or the Principal. Similarly, anyone employed by the school affected in this way should feel encouraged to speak to their line manager, the Chief People Officer, the Chief Operating Officer, a trusted colleague, or the Staff Consultation Committee. If a former pupil wants to help us and/or tell us about any aspect of their experience at the school that they feel we should know about or act upon, then please write to Miss ABC, PA to the Principal, at XYZ Schools Group [Ed: address withheld]

I have confidence that, as a community, we will all reflect and take action to play our part, both individually and collectively, in making sure that everyone feels safe, secure and respected as an individual within XYZ School.

Best wishes,

The Principal 

 

Ed: It seems to me that the above Principal and his various ‘officers’ have too much time on their hands – time they waste in pushing woke ideology rather than properly teaching the kids entrusted to them. It seems however that the parents who send their children to this school must be fully satisfied with this Principal’s way of running it. Is it too late already? Can we do no more than sigh ‘God help us’ and walk on? Mightn’t ‘post lockdown’ be the time to call those wokeists to account?

 

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