1970s’ Sidcot ‘a hellhole’, says Justin Webb
'The board of governors, the headmaster, the senior teachers, all of them – abrogated responsibility.'
The Radio 4 presenter Justin Webb has made a number of historical allegations about his time at the Quaker-founded Sidcot School. The BBC Today programme host told the Friend that, while he has heard that the Somerset school is a positive place now, when he boarded there in the 1970s from the age of eleven it was ‘a hellhole’.
His account from his forthcoming memoirs are being serialised in the Mail on Sunday. ‘When you look at reviews of this school today, they make happy reading,’ he says in the newspaper on 30 January. ‘It wasn’t like that when I was there, though. It was grim. It was lost. A place of despair. A wrecker of already damaged lives. It was a place where children were tortured.’
The sixty-one-year-old goes on to say how, despite he and his mother’s happy hopes for the place, on the first full day the teacher gave the new boys a warning: if you were being bullied, ‘don’t come running to me, if you get hit as a result of being cheeky’.
This notion of being ‘cheeky’, he says, became a ‘standing joke’ when the older boys would punch the younger boys until they cried. His second year was the worst when bullying was rife in the dormitories: pillows put over heads, bells rung in ears to interrupt sleep, and heads stuck down toilets. ‘On a grand scale, the Quakers, a peace-loving religious group who ran Sidcot – the board of governors, the headmaster, the senior teachers, all of them – abrogated responsibility. They knew, but they didn’t care.’
Sidcot School said: ‘We have read Justin Webb’s memoir account of his time at Sidcot School during the early 1970s, and are deeply sorry to hear that his experiences here fifty years ago were not always positive. We thank Justin for acknowledging that times have changed and that the School today is praised for its “considerate, altruistic atmosphere”.…
‘Sidcot School today is a thriving, dynamic school that promotes and lives its Quaker values. Our students are encouraged to think independently, live adventurously, and to actively engage in social and ethical subjects such as peace, sustainability and social responsibility. Our Centre for Peace and Global Studies brings 21st century Quakerism to life, encouraging pupils to engage with global issues such as human rights, social justice and care for the environment.’
The Friend will be reporting further on this in future issues. If you would like to talk, please get in touch.
Comments
I don’t know what psychological damage was done to me when at Sidcot (1941-48). I met one of my bullies years later at an Easter reunion and questioned him about his experiences. My parents were splitting up, he said, and I had no support from the school whatever. I don’t think he remembered bullying anyone.
I wrote years later to explain why I was not joining the OS, but no-one acknowledged my letter.
John Southern
By john0708 on 3rd February 2022 - 10:40
In 1950s I attended Leighton Park School in Reading, also a Quaker school.
There was a boy in my class who attempted to bully me, he hit me in the face and drew blood. Teachers immediately came to the classroom. I was taken to the nurse for a plaster, the Headmaster wrote to my parents expressing his sorrow that this had happened. The pupil was told to leave.
I have remained in contact with the school ever since, and could tell you much more!
By David Walker on 3rd February 2022 - 11:44
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