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Top primary hired teacher in rape case with no check or references
Mark Blunden and Tim Ross19.06.09
The school where Boris Johnson sends one of his children has been condemned by an official inquiry for failing to protect pupils from sex offenders.
Canonbury primary school in Islington hired a drama teacher now charged with a series of rapes and indecent assaults on two children at his previous school.
All state schools in the borough now face snap inspections to ensure they are properly vetting staff after Islington was ordered to overhaul child protection systems.
The council commissioned an inquiry from Janet Mokades, a former senior school inspector, after a Standard investigation.
Secret documents had revealed Canonbury's ex-headteacher, Jay Henderson, 35, had watched pornography in his office.
Described by parents as an inspirational head, Mr Henderson was sacked in May for gross misconduct but is now appealing the decision.
Ms Mokades interviewed Canonbury governors, parents and councillors and visited 10 other Islington schools.
She uncovered a catalogue of failings in the school's systems for vetting staff:
• Canonbury accepted Criminal Records Bureau checks from applicants themselves.
• Some staff began work before these crucial checks had been completed.
• One overseas teacher was taken on without references after being interviewed by telephone. This was not "an isolated incident".
But most damagingly, she criticised the hiring of sacked drama teacher Robert Stringer, 56, who is due before Isleworth Crown Court in September on rape and indecent assault charges.
Ms Mokades did not name him in her report but said: "The recruitment arrangements did not comply with safe practice, nor did they comply with national or local guidance.
"There was no advertisement, no application form, no interview, no check instigated by the school and no written references sought from either a past or present employer."
She said: "The ultimate responsibility of the headteacher for the common law care of children in the school was not exercised."
Governors relied on assurances from Mr Henderson that "matters were in hand".
But her investigation raised wider questions about child protection across the area. Ms Mokades discovered a culture of "mutual suspicion and territoriality" between Islington Council and Cambridge Education @ Islington, the firm employed to run its schools.
There was too much "variability" among schools' child protection procedures in the borough. Many school governors are "struggling" to understand and fulfil their duties on safeguarding children, she said.
She called for the council and Cambridge Education @ Islington to visit governors' meetings at all schools to issue clear advice on child protection.
Councillor Terry Stacy, leader of Islington's Liberal Democrat-run council, told an executive council meeting last night: "This report does not paint a picture of widespread failings.
"The situation at Canonbury has changed and was not replicated in any other Islington school. What this report tell us is that there is a need for continual vigilance."
Opposition Labour councillor Phil Kelly said: "Isn't this report showing us that we failed?"
There is no suggestion that Mr Henderson had engaged in any criminal activity nor that children were at risk of abuse.
Reader views (2)
There's simple and well-estalished technique for doing this kind of thing properly. The check is sent off from the School or Council department concerned, and comes back to a different, central place (such as Personnel or Child Protection). Alert person smells a rat; if nothing is coming back, that implies that checks are not being made.
- Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON. UK
I work in the education recruitment industry and it is common practice for schools to take teachers on prior to conducting checks on them. Most of the teachers who are due to start working in new positions as of September will not have had all of the security checks done on them before their first day at school. It can sometimes take months for the Criminal Records Bureau to finish an Enhanced Disclosure, which should be in place prior to a teacher starting work. This is a situation that will come up time and again until the schools know what they are doing, which I’m afraid in the most part they do not when it comes to Human Resources.
- Bob, London
