Everyone’s Invited: Westminster School apologises after sexual harassment claims

The headmaster of a top private school has issued a "sincere and unreserved" apology for any hurt caused to pupils following allegations of racism and harmful sexual behaviour.

Dr Gary Savage said Westminster School was sorry following the publication of two independent reviews.

In total, almost 70 recommendations were made.

The reviews were commissioned following the Everyone's Invited and Black Lives Matter national campaigns.

The school in central London was one of many that appeared on the Everyone's Invited website, whereby pupils - both current and former - posted testimonies of sexual abuse and harassment they had experienced while at school, mostly committed by other pupils.

The review into harmful sexual behaviours at the school, conducted by Fiona Scolding QC, said 44 Westminster-related posts on that website had been considered.

These behaviours include sexual harassment - primarily made up of verbal or online comments, the sharing of sexual images without consent, abusive relationships, sexual and sexist bullying, sexual assault, rape and the misunderstanding - or ignorance - of consent.

It also looked at testimonies which described sexist and misogynistic attitudes.

It found 25% of pupils surveyed said they had experienced sexual discrimination, unwanted sharing of images or physical/verbal harmful sexual behaviours.

Of the girls surveyed, 65% had experienced at least one instance of these.

Some female pupils and staff said they felt male pupils "adopted contrarian positions to provoke reaction" and assert status rather than foster debate.

"There was a strong sense from pupil interviewees of a social hierarchy within the school where some male pupils' status was dictated by familial wealth, academic success and charisma," it added.

It said pupils had received unsolicited sexual images as well as sexist, homophobic and racist bullying on social media which was also used to rapidly spread gossip.

Pupils also said the impact of pornography was "widely underestimated" by staff and parents.

Amongst its 44 recommendations, the school was advised to overhaul its relationships and sex education curriculum and put more emphasis on how to create healthy relationships.

There should also be discussion and teaching on gender stereotypes, tropes and equality.

Students should also be given training on how to be an "active bystander", while housemasters, tutors and matrons should receive training on how to deal with pastoral issues that were beyond the formal curriculum, in particular mental health support.

A behavioural code of conduct for students - with input from them - should be introduced.

Meanwhile the Race Review found: "Significant events, such as the spotlight on Black Lives Matter, led to an increased awareness of racism but the continued denial of the racism and the invisibility of the issue as part of the school environment led to a dichotomy between those for whom this was very important and those who felt that they had 'done awareness' - so there is no need to 'keeping talking about it'."

It said international pupils, British Asian, British Black, Chinese and Jewish pupils "recounted a lack of sensitivity and delays in responding to emotions they experienced when calling out unacceptable behaviour".

The low numbers of black pupils in the school meant it was "emotionally draining" for those pupils to do anything to draw additional attention to themselves, for example by challenging racist behaviour. They also felt a responsibility to take on the burden of educating other pupils about racism.

It added staff felt unsure how to effectively deal with racial harassment incidents.

The report authors, led by Femi Otitoju, of Challenge Consultancy, made 25 recommendations, including increasing its offer of counselling for victims, publicising its racial harassment policy and recruiting a more "diverse teaching staff".

Cleaning staff and food service assistants needed to be "treated with dignity and respect in induction for staff and pupils", it added.

In response, Dr Savage said both reviews "acknowledge the issues described are not unique to Westminster but also make it very clear that aspects of the culture and structure of Westminster have, in the past, contributed to unacceptable words and deeds that have caused harm to some members of our community. For this, I would like to reiterate our sincere and unreserved apology. We are sorry.

"We certainly acknowledge that opportunities to learn have been missed in the past, and welcome the advice in these reviews as to how we might reflect upon those and continue to improve."