“The bullying in the main school was particularly shocking. It was rife. There was a ‘lord of the flies’ culture. As I’d grown up moving around with my parents I was quite mature in some ways. I remember I had been back chatting to prefects in Rogerson. I woke up in the middle of the night with two of them holding me down and punching me in my bed. I think they had decided that I needed to learn my lesson. They were sixth formers but I don’t remember who they were.”——Mark (CCY), pupil from 1981–1987, SCAI Witness Statement (11 September 2018)
Former pupils at a Scottish boarding school have told how they were touched inappropriately and received brutal beatings in scenes akin to Lord of the Flies. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard evidence that teachers at Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh, one of the country’s most expensive private schools, mistreated the children.
