The Headmaster's Assembly on the complex issues being raised on the Everyone's Invited website

All schools are looking very carefully at how they respond to the complex issues raised by the testimonies on the Everyone's Invited website.

King’s Bruton has not been mentioned on this website but, in many ways, this is irrelevant to me as the issues are certainly relevant to us as a School community. My Headmaster’s Assembly on Monday 17^th May was an important one. I had delayed my response to Everyone’s Invited until most of the School had finished mock exams, as I wanted this vital introductory message to be heard by the majority of the School, and to be followed up in tutor periods.

The School’s response clearly cannot be limited to one assembly and subsequent tutor periods, but rather we are working on an effective action plan over the coming 12 months to ensure that we can deal with the complexities of sexism, misogyny, consent, pornography, the influence of social media, and the effect of rape culture in a balanced way that supports both girls and boys. We will be inviting expert speakers in to address pupils, staff and parents, while we are setting up separate focus groups of staff and pupils to ensure everyone’s voice is heard. We will be developing our PSHE programme as well as ensuring that our Relationship and Sex Education policy is fit for purpose and effective in practice.

I have always regarded the communication between teenager, parent and the School as being integral to the King’s pastoral system, and it will be vital that parents feel able to talk freely to their sons and daughters, and to the School, so that we can ensure that each and every member of King’s is always treated with respect, empathy and understanding. There is a lot of ground to be covered, and Monday’s Assembly was only a start, but I am confident that we can all work sensibly together to make King’s an even stronger school community.

Ian Wilmshurst - Headmaster