Evening Standard, London, 30 October 1978:
The head of Bacon’s, Wilfred Ing, today refused to say how his pupils were caned. “Any information is a confidential matter between the home and the school,” he said.
An ILEA spokesman said today that corporal punishment was a “confidential matter between the school and the home,”
No it isn’t ’nuff said’ indeed that’s the very point. There was no legal precedent at that time or any other to say that this was the case, and confidentiality was used to cover up less than savoury practices , time after time , – look at St. Georges where the culprits are now thankfully sitting in cells!
Any organisation which deals with vulnerable groups , and all school kids are that,whether in the public or independent sector , must have a commitment to absolute transparency. If the catholic church and others had done this , the light would have shined on dreadful practices many many years ago.