200 Years Of Edinburgh Academy
2024 sees Edinburgh Academy turn 200. The Scotsman's Education Corespondent, Calum Ross was invited for a tour and chat with the school's Chief Operating Officer, Samantha Byres.
2024 sees Edinburgh Academy turn 200. The Scotsman's Education Corespondent, Calum Ross was invited for a tour and chat with the school's Chief Operating Officer, Samantha Byres.
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00:39It's the 200th anniversary of the Edinburgh Academy.
00:43I'd imagine the last few years have been among the most turbulent
00:47as a result of the high-profile child abuse allegations.
00:51I wonder if you could describe what that's been like for the school
00:55and how the school is responding.
00:58It's been hard for the school,
01:00never, obviously, as hard as it has been for the survivors.
01:03So in terms of...
01:05Obviously, when Nicky Campbell's podcast came out in July 22,
01:09we didn't know...
01:11You know, I certainly had just joined in May.
01:13The current rector, none of us knew the extent.
01:16And following that, we had more and more academicals contact us
01:20and former pupils contact us.
01:22And then, kind of fast-forward a year,
01:26to keep it simpler,
01:28the Edinburgh Academy Survivors Group was obviously formed
01:32and they connected with us, which was amazing.
01:36So we met with them in May, June 2023,
01:41which is the first time they'd been back on campus
01:44for many, many decades.
01:47That was an incredibly moving and emotional experience for everybody,
01:52more so, you know, never more so than them.
01:55And they brought Panorama with them
01:58because they were recording their journey through all of this.
02:02And at the same... When we had that meeting,
02:05it was discussed about, obviously,
02:07the fact that Academy hadn't been at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry,
02:12not formally, anyway,
02:14and what their thoughts were on that.
02:16And then you had, in August 23,
02:18obviously, the Academy was called to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
02:21But by that point in time, we'd established...
02:24It was amazing relationships with some of the survivors
02:28in terms of being able to...
02:30I mean, it was difficult, clearly, for them
02:32and for us trying to work out the best way forward.
02:35But what we've always done
02:37is try to be as honest and transparent as we can be.
02:40We don't get it right all the time. Clearly, we don't.
02:43But it was about that openness
02:45and trying to understand and listen and learn
02:49from their experiences.
02:51And it was a dark time back then.
02:54And then coming out of the inquiry,
02:57again, we've been in regular contact with them
03:00and just moving forward from there
03:02and explaining to the school as well,
03:04keeping everybody as open with communications as we can,
03:07so our academical community,
03:09letting them know.
03:12What has been noticeable is, obviously,
03:14that some of the survivors had a really hard time,
03:17but other former pupils
03:19had a completely different experience at the school.
03:22And trying to marry that up has been very difficult.
03:24It's been a real shock to the entire community
03:27and an outpouring of support as well.
03:30But, yeah, trying to deal with everyone's reaction has been hard.
03:34For us, it's been emotionally challenging
03:37because you hate to think
03:39that any young pupil has ever had any problems.
03:42But that's the least of it.
03:44Our response is the least of it in all of this.
03:47But it's been a top-down from the court right the way through
03:50in terms of that openness and transparency.
03:52We've been in contact with the parents.
03:54We've been telling the students as well, our pupils,
03:57age-appropriate, about what's happened.
03:59And we're just moving forward with them.
04:01We're very grateful, very humbled, actually,
04:04by the relationships that they're allowing us to have with them.
04:07And how can the school ensure that it never happens again?
04:11I think society, for a start,
04:13we're a completely different society from back then.
04:15It doesn't make it right back then,
04:17but it's a completely different society.
04:19And I think the focus we have now as a society and as a school,
04:22all education sector, is on safeguarding.
04:25We have an extensive pastoral team as well, the way we're set up.
04:29So there's heads of years and then there's assistant heads of years.
04:32There's the ability, certainly when we were speaking to some of the survivors,
04:35they didn't have anyone to talk to.
04:37There was nobody to connect with.
04:39And if they'd been told off at school
04:41and then they went home to tell their parents
04:43that they'd been told off at school, then you'd get grief at home
04:46because, well, why were you being cheeky at school?
04:48So, you know, all doors, all avenues were closed,
04:51whereas now, you know, pupils,
04:53they feel that they know who they can talk to,
04:56but if there is something they want to do confidentially,
04:59they can raise that as well.
05:01And then it's taken forward from then.
05:03We're doing strict protocols, procedures, you know, sign in, sign out.
05:07I mean, it's, yeah, we're in a...
05:09It's a completely different world.
05:11How has the school today explained to the current generation of pupils
05:15how have they been impacted
05:17by the kind of high-profile nature of the allegation?
05:20Absolutely, the rectors kept everyone informed
05:22through assemblies, talking to them.
05:24Their initial reaction,
05:26which at first you were worrying about,
05:29was the sheer shock, horror that this could happen at their school
05:33because the current school is just light years on
05:38from what it was, you know, back then.
05:40And they don't...
05:42It's an anathema to them, an absolute anathema to them.
05:45So there's... Anger's the wrong word.
05:47I mean, just that disbelief that this could happen.
05:49I think disbelief is a more appropriate word for them.
05:52And that in itself is actually incredibly heartening
05:55because you think, well, actually, you know,
05:57the last thing you want is for anyone to be able to empathise, yes,
06:01but understand two different things when you're a child too.
06:04But then what we have been doing as well is, as I say,
06:07we've been as transparent as we possibly can been.
06:10So the broadcaster and a former pupil, Philip Dundas,
06:13he approached us about a concept called Breaking the Silence.
06:17And we'd obviously met him up at the inquiry.
06:20And he and some other survivors, they wanted this idea.
06:24It wasn't about going over the specifics of what had happened,
06:27but it was about the impact of who did they talk to?
06:31Why didn't they speak to somebody?
06:33Why didn't they reach out to somebody?
06:35What was the barriers to them?
06:37How did they then cope? How did they not cope?
06:39How, you know, just the coping mechanisms going forward,
06:43how can you ensure, just as you've asked, you know,
06:46about what happened in the past isn't going to happen again.
06:49You're never going to be able to 100% ensure everything.
06:53But what can we do?
06:55And the rector invited and Barry invited and we came to assembly.
06:58He presented to thirds up,
07:01explaining that he wanted to run this workshop over a two-day in-house
07:05and that they were going to, they were looking at what,
07:09explaining everything that was going on,
07:11but also explaining that they'd like the pupils
07:14to have creative responses to it,
07:18be it film, music, media, written.
07:23The world was their oyster, whatever they thought they wanted to do.
07:26So at the end of that assembly, we pulled out an area,
07:30the pupils could come and meet Philip with the rector
07:33and discuss it in more detail.
07:35So they all came back and we ran a two-day workshop
07:38in the La Rue auditorium, which was the most amazing experience.
07:43So they'd, in the meantime,
07:45Philip had gone off and recorded some transcripts with some survivors,
07:48again, not about their individual experiences,
07:51but about their issues that they'd coped with over life.
07:55There was music written for an orchestra, which was played,
07:59the pipe music, they did documentaries.
08:02Gosh, they were so engaged.
08:05And at the end of it all, they came back and did a special assembly
08:09and the three groups presented at assembly
08:11and the survivors joined us for that assembly.
08:14And that being the first time they'd seen it all put together as well.
08:17I think everyone was in tears.
08:19It was just the most incredible experience.
08:21And as we came out of assembly, because it was the end of term,
08:24there's what we have called the hails match.
08:27Now, obviously, the clackam has been a real issue within this period.
08:31It was effectively the taz that was used in the house, in the school.
08:36And to be completely honest, some former pupils, survivors,
08:40have asked that we ban the clackam,
08:42which obviously we can understand and we've thought about it.
08:45But the school is very much about education,
08:48educate on it rather than archive it.
08:51So again, the rector has spoken to all the pupils
08:54and said what this was used for during this period
08:57and how wrong that was.
08:59But explaining to our survivors,
09:01and we'd written to our survivors as well,
09:03saying that the hails match is going ahead, but it's sevenths.
09:07So it's the RFers, which is our prefects.
09:10It's the sevenths going out, dressing up in fancy dress.
09:13They hit a ball around the main yards.
09:15You never know who wins.
09:17And they just have fun.
09:19And then the people mark, you know, they write their names.
09:22And the survivors came from the assembly,
09:24the Breaking the Silence assembly,
09:26and they came and stood and watched the game with us.
09:29And I remember Philip saying, it's a whole different world.
09:32It's a completely different world.
09:34This is not the school that they knew,
09:36and, you know, a completely different school.
09:38But how could we as a school mark this period?
09:42What we'd found was the library was an area of comfort and solace
09:48for an awful lot of our survivors.
09:50So we've got, clearly, historic buildings.
09:54There's not an awful lot of space in the school,
09:56but we have an area behind the library
09:58which we thought would be the most appropriate area for it.
10:02So we've created a little memorial garden,
10:05which is not just for the survivors, it's for anyone that can sit,
10:08because we're very keen for pupils alike
10:10to be able to go and get areas where they can just sit
10:13and, you know, quietly have some downtime.
10:16And we've just had a plaque made
10:18where we'd put some wording together and sent it to the survivors,
10:22and they thoroughly agreed with the wording, which was great,
10:26and felt that we'd encapsulated as much as we possibly could
10:29on a slate plaque.
10:31And we've just had that put in
10:33because the new build's just been finishing at Snagwick.
10:36So that's going in, and then we'll get some more planting done as well.
10:39There have been reports that the school has taken out a £4 million loan
10:42to cover costs relating to the inquiry and the allegations.
10:47Is that true?
10:49You're absolutely right. We did take out a loan,
10:51but it's good sound financial management just now.
10:55The nature of our insurance, because it's so historic,
10:59there's ongoing... We've said, obviously, openly as well,
11:02about the challenges of...
11:04But it's tracking down documentation from 50, 60 years ago,
11:09and that's the ongoing process.
11:11But in order for good, sound financial management,
11:13we need to make sure it's all about the focus on the current school
11:16and the future school.
11:18So that's why we've done that.
11:20But for us, it's, as I was saying, it is about this current...
11:24Our financial stability is about the current school going forward,
11:27and we're strong, we're robust.
11:30It's an amazing place with some amazing kids.
11:32We need to ensure that that maintains it,
11:34and we've got some fabulous teachers to do that.
11:37The Labour government have come in.
11:39One of its most high-profile policy changes
11:43has been the ending of the VAT exemption on independent schools.
11:48What kind of impact is that going to have on Edinburgh Academy?
11:53The speed at which this is coming in has taken us all by surprise.
11:561st January, that's seriously taken us by surprise.
11:59You can imagine every single school in the independent sector.
12:03That's literally been our work since scenario planning since July.
12:08Obviously, consultation period only finished on 15 September.
12:12There's a lot of unanswered questions,
12:14which makes it very difficult to scenario plan,
12:16the whole drilling down as to where we're going.
12:19We've been transparent with the parents
12:21in the basis of, yeah, we'll be passing.
12:24We know we need to pass on some of the cost of this tax.
12:27But at the moment, we don't know what that cost is going to be.
12:30Up until the time that this comes into fruition,
12:34that will be, or prior to that, we'll be explaining to them.
12:38Do you expect to see a fall in enrolments? Is that in your planning?
12:41We don't know.
12:42We honestly, absolutely, scenario planning across the board.
12:46But we don't know.
12:47I mean, I can't speculate at the moment.
12:49There's just, there is no answer.
12:51Is Edinburgh Academy's finances generally in a good position?
12:54Yes, we're in good position, yeah.
12:56Firmly, firmly, absolutely.
12:58Another 200 years?
12:59Another 200 years and beyond.
13:01But I'm quite glad I'm not going to be here planning the next 200.
13:05The dark times that we've had, it's important,
13:07they're never leaving us, absolutely.
13:09They're with us, they're part of our history,
13:13they're part of our future,
13:14and they're part of the present and the future.
13:16We're only 200, and some of the schools around here,
13:18we're just a baby compared to them.
13:20But any 200-year period,
13:21you're going to have peaks and troughs, aren't you?
13:23And it's just, it's who we are now.
13:25And that's really important, we take that going forward,
13:28but the real, learn from it,
13:30and then just keep growing the school
13:33and just keep the positivity going.
13:35As you say, you know, we've been walking around campus
13:37and the kids love it there.
13:40We've got, I think the biggest thing we have
13:42is Garba Aki's value,
13:44which is what we instil in our pupils.
13:47It's about ambition, collaboration, compassion,
13:51integrity, and engagement.
13:53But it's not just in our pupils,
13:55it's in the staff as well.
13:57And those values is what we're wanting to give to everybody.
14:01And if we don't live them,
14:03then how can we expect our pupils to live them?
14:05And we're just moving them forward.
14:07And so we've got the slogan of
14:09Grounded in Scotland, ready for the world.
14:11It's about developing the whole child.
14:14And the one thing since I've joined the academy
14:16is seeing us developing that whole child
14:18to be the best that child can be.
14:20It's not about, you know,
14:22some of them exceptionally academic,
14:24some of them exceptionally sporty,
14:26some of them creative, some of them just, you know,
14:28lovely, honest, wonderful pupils.
14:30But it's whoever can leave this school
14:32happy and successful
14:34in what they view as success.
14:37Like I said, I do speak to the sevenths
14:41before they become Akis
14:43and saying to them the biggest gift they can give us
14:45is leaving.
14:47And the biggest gift we can give them
14:49is the strength to leave happy going forward.