580. All Saints Academy, Plymouth

The All Saints Academy was founded in 2013. As a private religious based school they have their agenda. However the state also have theirs and it is to secure that schools in the country deliver a good quality and the Ofsted inspection found that the school didn’t deliver. Especially the quality of teaching was too variable and teachers’ expectations of pupils were too low.

Teaching the students the bible and exclude parts of the evolution history which does not fit what the bible claims does not ensure good quality.

However the schools have not addressed this. Instead they focused on punishing the understimulated students isolating them for 24 academic hours and sending them home with proper communication to the parents. Does that improve the student material? Of course not.

It cannot be fun to be there as student. There are properly other schools in the area. The parents should move their children away from this school.

Sources:

• Plymouth headteacher vows to get school out of special measures within a year (Plymouth Herald)
• ngry parents say school ‘breaching human rights’ with rules ‘stopping pupils drinking water’ (The Mirror)

558. Hawthorne-Cedar Knolls RTC

During the last few years this residential treatment center has spiralled out of control. Residents assaulting people in town, riots and a number of runaway resulting in the local police to have responded to 827 calls.

Now the enrollment has been ordered to stop.

But the question people should ask themselves were: Is it fun to be there as a teenager?

The number of runaways and all this acting out is a clear signal that is not a fun place to be.

Sources:

• After assaults, no new students at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls (Lohud)
• Residents Complain About Trouble at Local Youth Center (NBC New York)
• Student Charged in Strangling of a Schoolgirl (New York Times)

557. Catholic Agricultural College

Catholic Agricultural College in Bindoon Australia was constructed using imported children who received no salary for their work. Combined with a level of abuse which was organized by Brother Paul Francis Keaney continued for too many years.

It could not have been fun to arrive in a foreign country as a child only to be put into work without pay.

Sources:

• Bindoon Boys Town: The sad truth behind Britain’s lost children (The Independent)
• Paul Keaney (Wikipedia)
• Christian Brothers raped and tortured boys in WA, commission told (The Guardian)

556. St Francis’ Boy’s Home

The boys home was founded in 1868. Maybe it saved the lives of many childrenbefore it closed in 1974. However some ended up being abused and now the authorities are trying two retired employees for the alleged abuse as we have to call it until the court can rule.

Some children were even sent out of the country to an uncertain future.

It could not have been a fun place to be as a child.

Sources:

• St Francis Boys’ Home sex abuse inquiry: Two men charged (BBC News)
• Children from St Francis Boys Home in Shefford sent on to a life of ‘torture’ in Australia
  (Bedfordshire News)

555. The Joy House

This so-called facility located in Jasper, Georgia is marketed as a Christian facility. However the way it is run does not sound like it is following the general concept of Christianity.

Testimonies from former residents sound like this:

I wish verbal abuse was as far as it went with the joy house but unfortunately physical abuse was present as well. Overall this was a completely deflating and saddening experience that will hopefully teach our family how to NOT act. Extremely disappointed in the judgement, abuse and heartache that was cause by this establishment. The path to Christ is not through these doors.

I was in a center for “troubled teens” in Jasper, Georgia known as The Joy House. They practiced physical punishment, conversion therapy on the lbgt community, and believed mental disorders were demon possessions. They fed stale, moldy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to residents that caused trouble and locked them in the bathroom for hours, sometimes days. After I attempted to run away I was locked in the bathroom for two days in nothing but my underwear. They ignored my complaints of pain which resulted in me landing in the hospital and having to have surgery for a kidney stone that was stuck. I was unable to urinate at this point and had a severe kidney infection. They refused to give any form of pain medication. They also ignored my need for birth control which resulting in me becoming anemic. I would have my period for 14 days and be off it for three before starting over. I went through a box of super tampons every three days. This is just a basic overview.

I was placed in there for good reasons, and I had requested a treatment program. I had severe ptsd after losing my virginity to rape and began to drink heavily and use substances (adderal and cocaine). I missed four months of school due to hospitalization and skipping school. My mother chose The Joy House for me and did not involve me in the decision. Her choice was made purely because it was Christian.

The Joy House has sense banned children with substance abuse issues or severe mental disorders. I use quotations around troubled teens because to be honest, most of us in there just had middle class parents that didn’t want to deal with them. One of my close friends was placed in there because she discovered her father was into some unsavory things (off limits because I do not wish to divulge her issues) and attempted to confront him. My roommate was in there because she got caught smoking weed.

My first job out of college (I have a psychology degree) was at a group home for teenage girls and we had two clients from the same rehabilitation center. They both reported similar situations to mine despite not knowing I had been a resident there. After receiving this information I issued a report to the Department of Family and Children Services. I was told DFCS cannot intervene due to them being a private organization.
What can you do?

It doesn’t sound like a fun place to be as a teenager.

Source:
The Joy House in Jasper Georgia trys to hide the truth (Fican Network)

553. Chetham’s School of Music

Chetham’s School of Music is a day and boarding school located in Manchester. It is a school for special gifted students with interest in music. Many of the students are in need of the approval of the teachers and some teachers took benefit of their power and abused students.

After a former student came forward and testified a teacher and his wife were convicted. However the defense attacked the victim in such a degree during the trial that the victim committed suicide.

An article names the school a kind of cult and we have to ask ourselves if it is a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

• rances Andrade: A culture of abuse, denial and cover-up (The Daily Telegraph)
• Chetham’s School of Music abuse inquiry: Charges against ex-teacher dropped (BBC)
• How Chetham’s teacher groomed pupil for abuse: ‘He made me feel like it was my fault’ (The Guardian)

552. Talmud Torah Yetev Lev school

The school is mentioned in local newspapers because the school cannot comply with local regulations and prevented the students from talking to officials sent by the authorities due to the gender of the officials.

Also local newspapers revealed that the building itself does not live up to standard which would provide proper safety for the students and proper living conditions taken into account that it is a boarding school.

It seems that the local laws allows the school to escape proper supervision. It should be changed so the students experience an education with complys with the standard set for the country.

It cannot be fun to be there as a student.

Sources:

• Stamford Hill Jewish school ‘scribbled out women’s faces in textbooks and barred female Ofsted inspectors from talking to kids’ (Hackney Gazette)
• Boys at Stamford Hill Jewish ‘boarding school’ left ‘without proper toilets or water for three months’ (Hackney Gazette)

551. Sunshine Boys Hostel

Sunshine Boys Hostel – founded in 1959 – was housing boys who were ‘not normally acceptable in the hostels conducted by voluntary organizations, who have no interested parents or other relatives, and who require something more than the usual help and supervision, as regards employment and leisure’.

It sounded very beutiful. However David Whitcroft who also was employed at Geelong College was sentenced for five counts of sexual penetration with a 14-year-old ward of the state at the hostel.

It could not have been a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

• Former Geelong College staff member under investigation after ex-students report alleged sexual assaults (Geelong Advertiser)
• Convicted paedophile had access to Geelong College students for almost 20 years (The Age, Victoria)

550. Trinity Grammar school

January 2017 it was reported that a former teacher at Trinity Grammar school was sentenced to 11 years in prison for this actions as teacher at the school.

The administration of the school slept instead of doing their job allowing the victims to suffer so much. It is not clear what the school will do in order to prevent such things to happen again if they will do something at all.

It cannot have been fun to be there as a student.

Sources:

• Former Trinity Grammar teacher Neil Futcher jailed for ‘predatory’ child abuse (The Sydney Morning Herald)
• Trinity Grammar school official puts rape claims down to boys ‘rumbling’ (The Guardian)
• Child abuse royal commission: Trinity Grammar School students raped other students, inquiry hears (ABC News)

549. Odsherred Efterskole

The boarding school Odsherred Efterskole was mentioned in the second criminal case against people employed at the school in 2017 when a former teacher got a suspended prison sentence for inapropiate touching of girls aged between 14 and 16. A group of parents have announced that they intend to sue the school for not reacting to complaints in time. Numerous newspaper articles read that the management was warned against the actions of the teacher.

Some years before the school was fined for putting about 10 students into danger when they took the students on a boat trip which ended when the engine stopped and the boat started to take water in. Pure luck prevented disaster as a ferry passed the boat and saved everyone onboard. Both the teacher and the school was fined back then.

The lack of management makes it safe to claim that it can be both dangerous and not that funny to be student at this particular boarding school.

Sources:

• Efter krænkelser: Forældre sagsøger Odsherred Efterskole (Berlingske Tidende)
• Efterskolelærer får betinget straf for at beføle piger (Sjællandske Nyheder)
• Kritik af efterskole efter speedbådsulykke (Jyllands-Posten)
• Kritik af efterskole efter forlis (TV2 Oest)
• Bøder til efterskole og lærer (Sjællandske Nyheder)