A TOTAL of 30 Scottish primary schools have been named by a whistle-blowing website which is dedicated to exposing “rape culture” in education.
Everyone’s Invited is a website which aims to be a safe place for survivors to share their stories in their own words completely anonymously.
It has had thousands of entries from young people as they told their stories about times they endured sexual assault and harassment at school.
The site has now released a full list of every school it has been contacted about—a total of 3,000 schools across the UK.
Out of these, 133 were Scottish schools—which was made up of 103 secondary/high schools and 30 primary schools.
The primary school list includes independent schools that cater to and educates children between the ages of four and 18.
Not all of the stories on the site publicly identify the schools involved, however each and every school, university or college is recorded and noted in Everyone’s Invited’s own records, which is how they have complied a completed list.
PRIMARY SCHOOLS NAMED
The full list of Scottish primary schools noted in the report are:
- Aberlour Primary School (prep school to Gordonstoun) - Moray, Scotland
- Camperdown Primary School - Dundee, Scotland
- Craigclowan Preparatory School - Perth, Scotland
- Dalgety Bay Primary School - Dunfermline, Scotland
- Dunblane Primary School - Stirling, Scotland
- Edinburgh Rudolf Steiner School (now Edinburgh Steiner School) - Edinburgh, Scotland
- George Heriot's School - Edinburgh, Scotland
- Gordonstoun School - Moray, Scotland
- Hermitage Primary - Helensburgh, Scotland
- Hutchesons’ Grammar School - Glasgow, Scotland
- Jordanhill School - Glasgow, Scotland
- Kirkcudbright Primary School - Kirkcudbright, Scotland
- Kirkliston Primary School - Edinburgh, Scotland
- Knowepark Primary School - Selkirk, Scotland
- Lathallan School - Angus, Scotland
- Lomond School - Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Loretto School - Edinburgh, Scotland
- Lorne Primary School - Edinburgh, Scotland
- Merchiston Castle School - Edinburgh, Scotland
- Scotstoun Primary School - Glasgow, Scotland
- St Columba’s School - Inverclyde, Scotland
- St Columbkille's Primary School - Rutherglen, Scotland
- St Denis' Primary School - Glasgow, Scotland
- St Gerardine Primary School - Moray, Scotland
- St. Cadoc’s Primary School - Newton Mearns, Glasgow, Scotland
- Strathallan School - Perth, Scotland
- The Community School of Auchterarder - Auchterarder, Scotland
- Tulliallan Primary School - Fife, Scotland
- Wellington School - Ayr, Scotland
- West Kilbride Primary School - Kilbride, Scotland
The entries allege a range of harassment, from girls in primary school being made to feel uncomfortable with inappropriate cat-calling, to older students being sexually harassed, groped and sexually assaulted.
In some cases the girls recall how they were told to simply “ignore” the harassment.
'COMPLETELY REPREHENSIBLE AND MUST STOP'
Others say they were advised to feel flattered by it, or to take the harassment as a compliment
The entries on the site are not time specific.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Harassment or abuse of any form whether in the workplace, schools, in the home or in society is completely reprehensible and must stop."
"We are determined to ensure children receive high-quality relationships, sexual health and parenthood education in schools as an integral part of the health and wellbeing of the school curriculum in Scotland."
“Through our Equally Safe delivery plan and review of Personal and Social Education we are taking action aimed at preventing sexual harassment and gender-based violence, in order to develop positive relationships amongst children and young people."
"Rape Crisis Scotland provide a national sexual violence prevention programme to secondary schools and we are funding the Equally Safe at School pilot project which is aimed at tackling sexual harassment and gender based violence in our schools.”
'MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE'
Joanne Smith, NSPCC Scotland policy and public affairs manager, has said more work needs to be done to protect children from experiencing this in schools.
She said: “Sexual abuse is for many pupils a part of everyday school life they should never have to tolerate."
“It’s crucial that schools are confident to spot and deal with this unacceptable behaviour, and work closely with partners, including local authorities, the NHS and, in some cases, the police, so all young people involved can get specialist support to help them recover."
“It is also so important that work is done to protect children from experiencing harm in the first place, and we would like to see further roll out of preventative campaigns such as our partnership in Dundee, Oor Fierce Girls, which promotes healthy relationships among young people.”
For the full list published on Everyone’s Invited, click here.
