Unregistered: The schools unaccountable for child abuse
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2021
⏱️ 31 minutes
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Summary
Violence and neglect are rife in unregistered schools across the UK. We explore how a legal loophole allows these establishments to operate under the radar, ignoring basic educational and safeguarding standards. With inspectors powerless to intervene, the abuse continues.
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Guest: Tom Ball, reporter for The Times.
Host: David Aaronovitch.
Clips: BBC.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you're enjoying this podcast, then you might want to know that if you're a time subscriber, |
| 0:08.1 | you can now access bonus episodes of Stories of Our Times every week via Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:14.9 | If you have an iPhone, head to apple.co forward slash Stories of Our Times to connect your |
| 0:20.5 | time subscription, and I'll see you on Saturday for an extra behind-the-scenes chat. |
| 0:30.0 | Question, when is a school not obliged to keep its pupils safe? Answer, when it's an unregistered school. |
| 0:42.8 | And at simplest terms, an unregistered school is one that has not been registered with the authorities, |
| 0:48.6 | essentially giving them the freedom to operate in any way they see fit. |
| 0:52.6 | And sometimes that freedom is appalling. |
| 0:55.7 | One particularly nasty and vicious teacher hit him so hard that, as he said, he blacked out, |
| 1:03.4 | repeatedly struck him on the heads. |
| 1:05.8 | A recent report from the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse |
| 1:09.9 | said some religious organisations in England and Wales were morally failing children they were schooling. |
| 1:16.2 | Vectims agree. |
| 1:17.6 | You may as well nail a sign to the door that says it's okay to abuse children here because no one's going to find out |
| 1:23.0 | who creates a haven for child abuse. |
| 1:26.6 | I'm David Aronovich and you're listening to Stories of Our Times from the Times and the Sunday Times. |
| 1:31.2 | Today, unregistered, the school's not accountable for child abuse. |
| 1:36.6 | Hi, it's Tom Ball, going from the Times. |
| 1:49.4 | Hi, how are you? |
| 1:51.8 | I'm all right. |
| 1:53.0 | Have I caught you a good time to have a chat? |
| 1:55.4 | We need to talk for a couple of minutes. |
... |
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