Aiglon College

This section was setup in August 2018 in order to move the existing related discussions from other sections into this new section to group them together, and separate from the other CH-related topics.

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DazedandConfused
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Aiglon College

Post by DazedandConfused »

I was reasearching something completely unrelated online and came across an article about Aiglon College, a school I haven’t heard about for years. I was at CH when Richard McDonald left to be Head there (this isn’t about the charges against him as he was acquitted and they didn’t relate to pupils) and Murdoch went with him to be Chaplain. I seem to remember Cairncross’s daughter going there to study for a year too, or did I imagine that?

Their abuse scandal was particularly horrific, although seemingly isolated to one member of staff, with the teacher drugging pupils before raping them. The more I read about boarding schools, the more convictions for abuse I find.

Were there other links between CH and Aiglon or was it just those two members of staff who moved there?
Golfer
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by Golfer »

Incredible justice system in Switzerland. I think Richard McDonald was imprisoned for a year yet never charged with anything.

Quote justifying this from the Swiss police, ""This is Switzerland after all. Staying here is better than a hotel. Our inmates have television, radios and some even have CD players."
Golfer
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by Golfer »

DazedandConfused wrote: Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:52 pm Were there other links between CH and Aiglon or was it just those two members of staff who moved there?
Is this a serious question? Links between CH - for paupers - and Aiglon - for the royal family?
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J.R.
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by J.R. »

Golfer wrote: Sat Oct 20, 2018 7:41 pm Incredible justice system in Switzerland. I think Richard McDonald was imprisoned for a year yet never charged with anything.

Quote justifying this from the Swiss police, ""This is Switzerland after all. Staying here is better than a hotel. Our inmates have television, radios and some even have CD players."
Most 'lifers in the UK have these luxuries today. As one retired PO recently remarked to me, "Far better than having to live on the streets !"
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
DazedandConfused
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by DazedandConfused »

Golfer wrote: Sat Oct 20, 2018 10:04 pm
DazedandConfused wrote: Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:52 pm Were there other links between CH and Aiglon or was it just those two members of staff who moved there?
Is this a serious question? Links between CH - for paupers - and Aiglon - for the royal family?
At least two members of CH staff went to teach there and one member of staff educated her child there briefly. Those are links, no?
Golfer
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by Golfer »

Hardly links. More like random events.

How many schools have had 2 previous CH members of staff teach there?

The list would be endless.
AMP
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by AMP »

So Cairncross adding this to her list of governorships which already includes
Salisbury Cathedral School
KES Witley
A school in Cornwall and this

https://www.aiglon.ch/about-us/school-governance

Is there a CH link or just coincidence?
LHA
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by LHA »

AMP wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 6:10 pm So Cairncross adding this to her list of governorships which already includes
Salisbury Cathedral School
KES Witley
A school in Cornwall and this

https://www.aiglon.ch/about-us/school-governance

Is there a CH link or just coincidence?
what a disgrace- do you have the links to all her roles - needs looking at
AMP
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by AMP »

LHA wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 8:56 pm
AMP wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 6:10 pm So Cairncross adding this to her list of governorships which already includes
Salisbury Cathedral School
KES Witley
A school in Cornwall and this

https://www.aiglon.ch/about-us/school-governance

Is there a CH link or just coincidence?
what a disgrace- do you have the links to all her roles - needs looking at
More info in her biog at KES Witley
https://www.kesw.org/about-us/governanc ... ographies/
AMP
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by AMP »

Golfer wrote: Mon Oct 22, 2018 7:56 pm Hardly links. More like random events.

How many schools have had 2 previous CH members of staff teach there?

The list would be endless.
So the random events are:
1. McDonald is an Old Blue: 72-78
2. McDonald was a CH Housemaster:91 - 94
3. Cairncross was Deputy Head of CH from 1986 -2000
4..McDonald is Headmaster of Aiglon
5. Cairncross was recently appointed as a Governor at Aiglon
loringa
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by loringa »

I don't know Ms Cairncross from Adam (or should that be Eve)? Who is / was she (other than obviously being a member of the SMT) and, more importantly, what is she accused of having done? She is the recipient of some very negative comments on here but I don't know why and wonder whether some of these comments could potentially be slanderous. Is she the subject of a police investigation or is she perhaps just someone a number of OBs don't much like?

Mr Sillett is similarly the recipient of great opprobrium on this forum. I vaguely knew him and neither liked nor disliked him; he was, I think, the Housemaster of LHB in the 70s having taken over from the much lamented Richard 'Killer' Fry. Has he too been arrested or accused of anything? What is he alleged to have done?

Clearly some very bad things happened in the 70s and 80s but I would have thought that the those principally responsible were the perpetrators. I am not sure that the legal principle of 'joint endeavour' would apply to Ms Cairncross and Mr Sillett so what is / are the charges?
robert totterdell
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by robert totterdell »

Loringa, clearly you have not followed the Karim, Husband and Dobbie cases, or I suspect the other cases of sexual abuse at CH.

Sillett and Cairncross are fundamentally involved of covering up sexual abuse activities. This is admitted in Court.

Caircross, also, has provided evidence that she sent 'homesick' pupils to the Rev Peter Ball - I guess you know about him? She sent pupils to him not just from CH but, also, Kings Whitley and Wells Cathedral School whilst in the knowledge that there had been complaints against him for sexual abuse and that there was an ongoing investigation into him and the role of the C of E with regards to his career.

Whilst Cairncross did not undertake any sexual abuse activities she did allow them to occur under her several watches and took inappropriate action.

She is a disgrace to the Education system and not fit to be a governor and I say that, after nearly three years of investigating CH as an abuse victim.

Of the 25 victims of sexual abuse at CH who have come forward (actually there are at least two others but the perpetrators are dead, as well as at least 8 others who do not wish to take criminal action against their perpetrators and I would suggest at least 80 to 100 more), I am not aware of one who would support Cairncross or Sillett.

Perhaps by understanding this you will appreciate why some on the forum have strong feelings on these matters. I will say this - that if it was not for the forum I would not have been able to uncover the detail that I have and have provided to the police and which has lead to other people coming forward to the police, both pupils and teachers as well as aiding in convictions.

I hope this helps.

Rob
loringa
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by loringa »

robert totterdell wrote: Wed Mar 11, 2020 10:54 am Loringa, clearly you have not followed the Karim, Husband and Dobbie cases, or I suspect the other cases of sexual abuse at CH.

Sillett and Cairncross are fundamentally involved of covering up sexual abuse activities. This is admitted in Court.

Caircross, also, has provided evidence that she sent 'homesick' pupils to the Rev Peter Ball - I guess you know about him? She sent pupils to him not just from CH but, also, Kings Whitley and Wells Cathedral School whilst in the knowledge that there had been complaints against him for sexual abuse and that there was an ongoing investigation into him and the role of the C of E with regards to his career.

Whilst Cairncross did not undertake any sexual abuse activities she did allow them to occur under her several watches and took inappropriate action.

She is a disgrace to the Education system and not fit to be a governor and I say that, after nearly three years of investigating CH as an abuse victim.

Of the 25 victims of sexual abuse at CH who have come forward (actually there are at least two others but the perpetrators are dead, as well as at least 8 others who do not wish to take criminal action against their perpetrators and I would suggest at least 80 to 100 more), I am not aware of one who would support Cairncross or Sillett.

Perhaps by understanding this you will appreciate why some on the forum have strong feelings on these matters. I will say this - that if it was not for the forum I would not have been able to uncover the detail that I have and have provided to the police and which has lead to other people coming forward to the police, both pupils and teachers as well as aiding in convictions.

I hope this helps.

Rob
Rob

Thank you. I have followed the cases on this forum although not through reading court transcripts or any primary sources. I don't dispute that what happened was a disgrace, wholly recognise the effect it must have had on the victims, and fully support the belated action taken against the perpetrators.

If Ms Cairncross and / or Mr Sillett knew this was going on, on their watch as you put it, then surely they are indeed guilty of some crime and appropriate action should be taken. You state that it was admitted in court that they covered up these crimes so my question must be why, then, have neither been prosecuted or at least disbarred by the Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA)? I believe that any of the victims could report their conduct to the TRA if they are unhappy about the way the school has handled their complaint.

I am in no way an apologist for Ms Cairncross (whom I have never met) or Mr Sillett. If they have done wrong through ignorance, weakness or their own deliberate fault then I strongly support action being taken. I merely have concerns about any people being denigrated on any forum without the appropriate evidence being presented and due process being followed.

Best wishes

Andrew Loring
sejintenej
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by sejintenej »

Somehow my post this morning disappeared into the yonder ether

With the following CV I suggest that people would be "careful" in dealing with Mrs Cairncross
Former member of the HMC Inspection Steering Group
on the editorial committee of the HMC magazine “Conference & Common Room”.
Trustee of Bulkeley Evans charity (awards grants for worthwhile GAP year community projects abroad to school leavers from HMC schools);
two years as Chair of the Choir Schools Association followed by a year as Vice Chair;
Board Trustee of CASE Europe (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education).

Liveryman of The Ironmongers’ Company.
CASE Award
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
WiltshireChap
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Re: Aiglon College

Post by WiltshireChap »

Loringa wrote: Rob

Thank you. I have followed the cases on this forum although not through reading court transcripts or any primary sources. I don't dispute that what happened was a disgrace, wholly recognise the effect it must have had on the victims, and fully support the belated action taken against the perpetrators.

If Ms Cairncross and / or Mr Sillett knew this was going on, on their watch as you put it, then surely they are indeed guilty of some crime and appropriate action should be taken. You state that it was admitted in court that they covered up these crimes so my question must be why, then, have neither been prosecuted or at least disbarred by the Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA)? I believe that any of the victims could report their conduct to the TRA if they are unhappy about the way the school has handled their complaint.

I am in no way an apologist for Ms Cairncross (whom I have never met) or Mr Sillett. If they have done wrong through ignorance, weakness or their own deliberate fault then I strongly support action being taken. I merely have concerns about any people being denigrated on any forum without the appropriate evidence being presented and due process being followed.

Best wishes

Andrew Loring
Andrew, What is suggested against Ms Cairncross is not criminality. Child protection legislation has been considerably strengthened since she left CH, however, behaviours of the early 1990’s can only, from the point of view of potential criminality, be viewed within the prism of the laws applicable at that time. The thing many people appear to take issue with is that she was the designated ‘child protection lead’ in the senior management team during a period where multiple teachers were committing multiple serious sexual assaults against multiple victims. If national press reporting of the Karim trial in particular (google it) is accurate, she admitted under oath whilst appearing for the Crown that she knew of a number of allegations over time. She further stated that she could not recall if she reported the allegations to the authorities. One defendant ‘Husband’ was sentenced to 17 years for rape occurring during her tenure. Bearing in mind that the average sentence served for murder in the UK is around the same length, this maybe gives you an idea of the trial judges view of the gravity of offending that was occcuring.

I am far from one who feels that simply being present on the teaching staff at CH in the early 1990s makes someone in any way complicit with the criminality of Husband and others. However, equally, it is difficult to reconcile the behaviour of a deputy head, lead for child protection, who knew of multiple allegations against teachers beneath her in the organisational structure (again, I caution that this was as reported in the national press) and who so manifestly failed to protect those children.
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