No sign of action by academy trust on recommendations of reviews triggered by parental concerns about its behaviour policies
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Mossbourne Federation appears yet to make any changes to its governors, trustees or members, or to amend messages discouraging emails from parents, with local children’s safeguarding commissioner this week describing lack of detailed reaction so far as “not good enough”.
A traditionalist academy trust has offered no sign as yet of any concrete reaction to two separate reports which had criticised aspects of its behavioural management policies and its interaction with parents, Education Uncovered can reveal.
Weeks after the publication, separately, of a damning safeguarding review, and a report it itself commissioned from a King’s Counsel into handling of parental complaints and safeguarding, public evidence of any move in response from the Mossbourne Federation appears absent.
Mossbourne became the focus of a national debate before Christmas on strict behaviour policies in schools, after the safeguarding review of Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy (MVPA) in Hackney, East London, concluded that its excellent academic results had been achieved “at too high a cost for some pupils”, with the school instilling a “climate of fear” among pupils. The school had handed out 77,000 detentions in less than four years, it found.
Sir Alan Wood’s report made many criticisms of the federation, including that “there was little evidence of effective scrutiny, challenge, or evaluation of behaviour policy and practice,” by governors. Meanwhile, the report by the King’s Counsel Anne Whyte recommended changes to the way Mossbourne’s schools communicate with parents, including a suggestion that a section of its websites discouraging contact by email should be changed.
However, more than a month after the publication of Sir Alan’s report, and approaching two months since Ms Whyte’s, not a single governor appears to have changed on the federation’s board or at MVPA, while the school’s message to parents about not communicating by email remains unaltered.
The apparent lack of action by the federation comes after Jim Gamble, the children’s safeguarding commissioner for City and Hackney, said this week: “If I were the chair of the governing body that was dealing with this, I would already have resigned.”
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By Warwick Mansell for EDUCATION UNCOVERED
Published: 16 January 2026
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I wish I could say that any of the above caused any surprise. The general arrogance and dismissal of any criticism is something that is very common in these "traditional" schools. The children are seen as there do the bidding of the staff (mostly senior staff) without any inout or agency and parents are seen as irrelevant nay intrusive in the process. the fact that the MAT has no parents in governance shows this - we can only assume that governors are appointed not to monitor and scrutinise (be critical friends) but to rubber stamp. Will the DfE do anything? It is doubtful the current HCMI was in charge of the "flattening the grass policy" no significant action took place. Will the school do anything again probably not if the likelihood of Ofsted or the DfE take no action or put no pressure on the MAT to chance. Appalling, yes - surprising, sadly, no.