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

The principal of a top private school has issued a “sincere and unqualified” apology for any harm done to students following allegations of racism and harmful sexual behavior.

Dr Gary Savage said that Westminster School regretted the publication of two separate reviews.

In total, almost 70 recommendations were made.

The reviews were commissioned after the national Everyone’s Invited and Black Lives Matter campaigns.

The school in central London was one of many to appear on the Everyone’s Invited website, through which pupils, both current and former, posted testimonies of sexual abuse and harassment they had experienced at the school, mostly committed by other students.

The review of harmful sexual behavior at school, carried out by Fiona Scolding QC, said 44 Westminster-related posts on that website had been considered.

These behaviors include sexual harassment, comprised primarily of verbal or online comments, the sharing of sexual images without consent, abusive relationships, sexual and gender-based harassment, sexual assault, rape, and misunderstanding or ignorance of consent.

It also analyzed testimonies that described sexist and misogynistic attitudes.

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

Of the girls surveyed, 65% had experienced at least one such event.

Some female students and staff members said they felt male students were “taking opposing sides to provoke a reaction” and assert their status rather than encourage discussion.

“The students interviewed had a strong sense of a social hierarchy within the school where the status of some male students was dictated by family wealth, academic success and charisma,” he added.

He said the students had received unsolicited sexual images, as well as sexist, homophobic and racist bullying on social media, which was also used to spread gossip quickly.

Pupils also said that the impact of pornography was “vastly underestimated” by staff and parents.

Among its 44 recommendations, the school was advised to review its curriculum on relationships and sex education and put more emphasis on creating healthy relationships.

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

Students should also be trained in how to be an ‘active bystander’, while home teachers, tutors and midwives should be trained in how to deal with pastoral issues that are beyond the formal curriculum, particularly support for mental health.

A behavioral code of conduct for students should be introduced, with input from them.

Meanwhile, Race Review found: “Significant events, such as the spotlight on Black Lives Matter, led to heightened awareness of racism, but the continued denial of 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 they had ‘raised awareness’, so there is no need to ‘talk about it any more'”.

He said that international, Asian British, black British, Chinese and Jewish students “reported a lack of sensitivity and delays in responding to the emotions they experienced when they reported unacceptable behaviour.”

The low number of black students in the school meant that it was “emotionally draining” for those students to do anything to draw more attention to themselves, for example by challenging racist behaviour. They also felt a responsibility to shoulder the burden of educating other students about racism.

He added that staff were unsure how to effectively deal with incidents of racial harassment.

The report’s authors, led by Femi Otitoju of Challenge Consultancy, made 25 recommendations, including increasing its counseling offerings for victims, publicizing its policy on racial harassment and hiring a “more diverse teaching staff.”

Cleaning staff and food service assistants were to be “treated with dignity and respect at induction for staff and students,” it added.

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

“We certainly recognize that opportunities to learn have been missed in the past, and we welcome the advice in these reviews on how we can reflect on it and continue to improve.”