Pupils at one of Scotland’s leading private schools suffered ‘dreadful abuse’ over four decades while senior staff ignored complaints and focused on protecting its reputation.
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staff → lead → reputation
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), chaired by retired judge Lady Smith, found that children were sexually abused by staff from the 1950s to the 1980s, and endured physical and emotional abuse.
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children → chair → abuse
She said some boarders at the school lived in a ‘permanent state of fear’ and that the institution ‘failed to look at itself through a realistic and critical lens’.
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institution → say → lens
Broadcaster Nicky Campbell, who attended the school between 1966 and 1978, was among those who gave evidence to the £116million SCAI and described being ‘haunted’ in the middle of the night by memories of his schooldays.
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who → attend → schooldays
He was a victim of former Edinburgh Academy teachers John Brownlee, now 89, and Hamish Dawson – who died in 2009 and was likened to Jimmy Savile by one abuse victim – at the school.
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who → die → school
Lady Smith also highlighted the case of former physics teacher William Bain, 73, a convicted sex offender whose lengthy history of abuse began at Edinburgh Academy before offences committed at other schools.
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history → highlight → schools
In her report, she also names former teacher Iain Wares, 87, who is facing allegations of abuse and currently lives in South Africa where extradition proceedings to return him to Scotland are ongoing.
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proceedings → name → Scotland
Mr Campbell, 65, said the report laid bare the ‘horrific’ scale of abuse at the school and left him mourning the lives victims should have been able to lead.
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victims → say → lives
He said: ‘My overwhelming emotion on reading this is one of sadness.
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emotion → say → sadness
Iain Wares, who was a teacher at Edinburgh Academy, is facing allegations of abuse
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who → face → abuse
This happened in a forbidding, violent and hostile environment that was almost fostered by the school.’
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that → happen → school
Edinburgh Academy, which charges up to £22,990 a year in fees, reiterated its ‘sincere apology’ to all those affected by abuse at the school and said it is educating its current pupils in a ‘caring and supportive environment’.
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it → charge → environment
Lady Smith said: ‘For decades, the school failed to look at itself through a realistic and critical lens.
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school → say → lens
It is clear it was assumed that abuse did not and would not take place; when it did, the school could not accept that it had happened, failed to address it, and failed to recognise the risk of it continuing.
‘When complaints were made, they were either disbelieved or left unresolved.
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they → assume → risk
Staff chose not to notice and avoided intervention or investigation despite there being obvious signs of abuse.
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Staff → choose → abuse
Children were failed, and failed to the extent that there was dreadful abuse.’
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Children → fail → extent
Lady Smith said testimony to the SCAI suggested boarding at Edinburgh Academy was a ‘world that swung from habits of quiet retreat to frightening, bloody aggression’.
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that → say → aggression
She found homophobia was rife, while racism was prevalent even in the prep school, often involving anti-English sentiment, while some pupils were abused by others because they were Jewish or because of their skin colour.
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they → find → colour
Girls were subjected to ‘unpleasant abusive misogyny’ after the introduction of co-education.
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Girls → subject → education
Lady Smith also referred to the evidence of one former pupil who described how it was ‘normal to groom 11-year-olds with jelly babies’ and molest them in front of many others.
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it → refer → others
Former physics teacher William Bain (left) and Hamish Dawson, who died in 2009
He told the inquiry: ‘It was normal to kick, hit and strangle to the point of unconsciousness ten-year-olds.
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It → die → olds
‘It was normal to inflict physical punishment with a plank of wood.’
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It → inflict → wood
Lady Smith also found that physical abuse of children was ‘normalised’ and that violence was ‘part of an aggressive and rigid culture’.
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violence → find → culture
The inquiry found Dawson openly collected and used various ‘instruments of correction’ to punish pupils.
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Dawson → find → pupils
Former pupils described them being used in classrooms as part of a wider culture in which physical abuse was normalised.
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abuse → describe → which
Those implements were auctioned by Dawson when he left the school.
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he → auction → school
Lady Smith said ‘not only did Dawson openly use his instruments of correction, but the school was well aware of the auction’.
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school → say → auction
In 2024, Brownlee, then 89, was ruled to have committed ‘cruel and unnatural acts’ of physical and emotional abuse on pupils but was medically unfit to stand trial.
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Brownlee → rule → trial
Academy rector Barry Welsh said: ‘We reiterate our apology to all those affected by abuse.’
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We → say → abuse
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