Top London private schools unite to crack down on sex harassment

EXCLUSIVE: The two schools have committed to creating a ‘culture of openness, which encourages listening and discourse between our communities’
Stock image of pupils in a girls’ school playground
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Two neighbouring private single-sex schools have signed a charter pledging to crack down on misogyny and sexual harassment, and to hold joint sex education lessons.

King’s College School for boys in Wimbledon was accused by a former pupil at Wimbledon High, a girls’ school, last year of being a “hotbed of sexual violence” in an open letter.

The former school was also named a number of times on the Everyone’s Invited website, which was set up for students and former pupils to report claims of sexual harassment, and grew in prominence following the murder of Sarah Everard, which took place one year ago this week.

A spokesperson for King’s College School said at the time that the Everyone’s Invited testimonies “make harrowing reading” and any disclosures reported to the school were taken “very seriously”.

The two schools, which both charge around £20,000 a year in fees, have now committed to creating a “culture of openness, which encourages listening and discourse between our communities.”

The charter, signed by representatives from both schools, said: “We take collective responsibility to speak up and out against injustice, sexual harassment and misogyny.”

There will also be termly meetings between the schools and students will have some joint PSHE and relationship and sex education lessons.

Fionnuala Kennedy, head of Wimbledon High School said the two schools have been working together for the past year.

She said: “This is a joint agreement between the students and staff of both schools for how they are going to treat each other, and the standards and boundaries they have set for that, and how the two schools will provide for and support young people in their education around relationships and sex in particular.”

She added: “The girls would say that the sheer volume of testimonies on Everyone’s Invited shocked people into action and allowed them to have conversations with parents that perhaps wouldn’t have had before.

“For whatever reason, Sarah Everard’s murder did seem to shake people awake.”

But she admitted there has not been a drop in the number of women and girls facing sexual harassment or abuse.

She said: “I wish it was the case, but I don’t think society has suddenly changed. However, we are skilling up and equipping our young people far more explicitly than we have done in the past.

“Girls do feel more aware of their own rights and power. It has been aired so fully and conversations have been had about exactly what is and what is not OK.”

But Gillian Cross, deputy head of Streatham and Clapham High School, the school nearest to where Sarah Everard was abducted, said girls feel that nothing has changed in the year since her murder.

She told the Standard: “It seems that they continue to live with the worry of male violence and the lack of gender equality. In fact, parents are buying personal alarms from Amazon which many of the girls keep in their bags, these make extremely loud noises and have a flashlight too.

“Girls do not feel safe walking home, or on buses and boys continue to pressure them and cat call.

“As a teacher I would like to able to tell girls that there is effective change. But it is not possible for me to say this.”

One pupil at the school said: “I was walking on the street and there was a white van and there was a middle aged guy who was weird, he slowed down and stared at me it was very scary.”

Another said: “When I was going out with my sister to get some food in Tooting there were loads of men all around and it was 10:30pm and they were calling out. Men feel they can do anything and take advantage without consequences.”

Another pupil added: “Most girls carry around alarms in their bags and I have my keys in my hand in case I need to use them as a weapon. It makes me feel safer.”

A spokesman for King’s College School said: “We are delighted to be working in close partnership with Wimbledon High School on The Charter. The project has been led by the initiative and drive of the pupils at both our schools. Together, students and staff are ensuring that we have a shared culture where pupil voice is at the heart of our work.

“In the last year, King’s College School has put in place a series of initiatives to make the pastoral support of our pupils, and our safeguarding work, even stronger. This has included enhanced pastoral training, a fresh PSHE programme and appointing a new Director of Safeguarding.

“We are very proud of the work that our pupils and staff are doing, collaborating together to ensure that our schools provide the best possible support for every pupil.”

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