How parents and pupils took on 'cruel', 'authoritarian' schools - and won
Panorama investigates the academy trust where classrooms are silent and pupils can be sent to detention for looking out of the window.Watch on iPlayer now or on Monday 3 August at 20:00 on BBC One.Watch on iPlayerAthena's secondary schools are attended by about 6,500 children. They have independent control over their own admissions, curriculum and staff pay.There are no academy trusts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but more than 80% of secondary schools in England are now run by them.Multi-academy trusts like Athena oversee a network of schools. It says it does not have a rigid two strikes policy and the "vast majority of students spend little or no time in these spaces".
- ▪Panorama investigates the academy trust where classrooms are silent and pupils can be sent to detention for looking out of the window.Watch on iPlayer now or on Monday 3 August at 20:00 on BBC One.Watch on iPlayerAthena's secondary schools
- ▪They have independent control over their own admissions, curriculum and staff pay.There are no academy trusts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but more than 80% of secondary schools in England are now run by them.Multi-academy trust
- ▪It says it does not have a rigid two strikes policy and the "vast majority of students spend little or no time in these spaces".
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| Original publisher | BBC News — UK |
| Canonical URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgje8d1p419o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss |
| Publication time | Mon, 03 Aug 2026 05:01:18 GMT |
| Retrieval time | 2026-08-03T05:15:46.650Z |
| Last seen | 2026-08-03T05:15:46.650Z |
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How parents and pupils took on 'cruel', 'authoritarian' schools - and wonImage caption, Amelia's mother, Kayley (r), says strict school policies resulted in her daughter becoming illByRichard Bilton BBC PanoramaPublished14 minutes agoTo avoid getting into trouble at school, 14-year-old Amelia says she decided to stop drinking water so she would not need the toilet.Her school, Camborne Science and International Academy in Cornwall, had introduced strict disciplinary policies, which included limiting toilet visits during classes, according to pupils and former teachers.New discipline rules were implemented when the school was taken over in January 2024 by the Athena Learning Trust, which runs six secondary schools in Devon and Cornwall.Amelia's mother, Kayley, believes these strict policies…
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