“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)
A report into the exclusive Merchiston Castle School has concluded that for 60 years, “abusers were protected by tradition”. Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry chairwoman Lady Smith has published her findings on the provision of residential care at the Edinburgh boarding school, concluding that over almost six decades, there was a “more or less continuous line of indecency” from two named perpetrators.
Abuse at a boarding school for boys in Edinburgh was “normalised for generations”, the chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has said. Lady Smith published her findings on Wednesday relating to the provision of residential care for children at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh.
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.
The head of a boys-only independent boarding school has told an inquiry that concerns of a “predatory culture” are an issue for all schools. Jonathan Anderson, headmaster at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, said it was “not fair” to single out boys-only schools over the issue. Giving evidence at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, Anderson said his school had done a “harrowing” review of files and accepted there may have been abuse between 1930, when the school moved to Colinton, and 2014.
