One of Bristol's newest schools has responded to a complaint about bullying, reiterating its "zero tolerance" approach to such behaviour. An anonymous source contacted Bristol Live raising serious concerns about alleged bullying at Trinity Academy, which opened at its permanent site in Lockleaze in 2021 after two years in temporary buildings.
The person expressed their worry that bullying was not being dealt with quickly enough and claimed the response from senior school leaders had been to "brush it under the carpet". They outlined several specific incidents - but the school has said these claims were "unfounded and not recognised by the academy".
A spokesperson for the secondary school said: "As an Academy, the safeguarding, health and wellbeing of our students and staff is our highest priority. We uphold the highest expectations for all students and have a zero-tolerance policy towards any violent or bullying behaviour.
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"In accordance with our robust policies and procedures, these allegations, which have not been raised to us previously, have all now been swiftly and thoroughly investigated. As such, we can confirm these are unfounded and not recognised by the Academy.
“Our aim is to foster mutual respect and kindness throughout the Academy and ensure a safe, calm and productive learning environment for all students. In line with these key values, we work hard as a team to support our students through our comprehensive pastoral work, personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) curriculum, assemblies and engagement with important initiatives."
The school said it has developed an Anti-Bullying Charter with its students and that it supports important initiatives such as Anti-Bullying Week. Its statement continued: "This is a continually ongoing process, and, on the rare occasion in which an incident of violent or bullying behaviour occurs, we take immediate action to ensure issues are dealt with rapidly, appropriately and effectively, including liaising with the relevant external agencies if needed.
"We actively encourage all of our students, families and staff to always raise concerns directly with us, so we can investigate and support as necessary, and we regularly remind our community of the systems in place for reporting any concerns.”
Trinity Academy is one of nine schools which fall under the Cathedral Schools Trust (CST) based in the South West. According to its mission statement, the Trust is “unapologetic” in its “pursuit of excellence for the people and communities” it serves.
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