Ampleforth College has been accused of “ineffective safeguarding” after Ofsted alleged that Class A drugs were found in pupils’ rooms and vulnerable students engaged in sexual activity.
The regulator alleged that one pupil at the boarding school in North Yorkshire was found unconscious due to alcohol. The future of the school is now in doubt and it could be banned from accepting new students.
Ampleforth shares a site with the Benedictine monks of Ampleforth Abbey, although it is working to separate the institutions. Former pupils include the actor Rupert Everett, the writer Lord Fellowes of West Stafford and the sculptor Sir Antony Gormley.
In 2018 the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse criticised the school for trying to cover up abuse over 40 years and for putting the reputations of monks before the protection of children. The school disputed the findings of an inspection carried out in November but Ofsted rejected the challenge. The school could seek a judicial review.
The school had a veto agreement over which monks were allowed on the school site, but this no longer existed, the report said. “This means that there is now little that leaders can do if the abbot decides to admit monks of concern on to the Ampleforth Abbey site.”
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In one incident seen by a student younger pupils with special educational needs engaged in “penetrative sexual activity” in changing rooms, the report said. In alcohol-related incidents a pupil was found unconscious and alone in an orchard and another was taken to hospital, the report said, adding that Class A drugs were found on the site. It also said that detection dogs and thermal-imaging cameras had since been brought into the school to tackle alcohol and drug problems.
The school disputes many of the claims. It says that telephone call logs with the student who allegedly passed out in an orchard show they were missing for only 15 minutes and never unconscious.
The school said it would not be possible for monks with histories of sexual abuse to return to the abbey or pose a threat. It also said there was no evidence students had engaged in “penetrative sexual activity” and that pupils were well supervised at the time. It admitted that traces of Class A drugs had been found in a pupil’s room but said there was no evidence that drugs had been consumed. The school said that it “has been on a relentless drive to transform safeguarding policies”.
The Department for Education said: “Despite some improvement, the school has not delivered its commitment to meeting the independent school standards in full . . . We have asked the school to prepare a new action plan by the end of March.”
