The college has appointed Joanna Nicolas, an independent safeguarding consultant, to look into multiple reports of historical abuse, and invited anyone affected to contact her about their experiences.
The inquiry is being set up after former students disclosed allegations of various forms of abuse and discussed going public with their concerns.
The college said it wanted ‘to gain a fuller understanding of what happened in its past’ while also trying to reassure the school community that current pupils were protected to modern standards.
The inquiry was announced late today in letters to former students and parents of current pupils written by the chairman of the board of directors, John Roche, and the principal, Jenny Palmer.
‘In recent months, the college has been contacted about a number of non-recent abuse disclosures concerning the experiences of former pupils in the 1970s and 1980s,’ they said.
‘Having given these matters careful consideration, the board has decided to launch an independent, expert-led review into non-recent abuse cases at the school. The review will examine any disclosures of non-recent abuse at the college, reporting back to the board.
‘We appreciate that this touches on difficult issues which may cause upset or concern, particularly in a small community such as ours. However, the board believes that the college has a duty to understand these matters and has chosen this route to ensure this is done sensitively and independently by an expert trained in handling such issues.’
The college did not say what information it intended to release publicly at the conclusion of the inquiry.
The presidents of Education, Sport & Culture and Policy & Resources, along with Guernsey Police, were made aware of the inquiry in the days or weeks leading up to Monday’s announcement. A media statement was issued by the college at 5.30pm.
Ms Nicolas is one of the UK’s leading experts in safeguarding and child protection and has more than 30 years’ experience working with national organisations in the public and private sectors.
The college said that she would look into ‘non-recent matters from past decades’, although it invited ‘any contributions from our alumni group’ without putting a specific end date on the cases or information it wanted to come forward.
It said it had commissioned Ms Nicolas to carry out what the college is calling a ‘review’ because the welfare of its pupils would always be its paramount concern.
‘The college takes its safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously,’ it said.
‘Safeguarding legislation and practice have evolved significantly over the decades and the current school has rigorous safeguarding procedures in place.
‘These were most recently inspected and approved by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in November 2025.’
Any former member of the college who would like further information about how to participate should contact Ms Nicolas by email at nonrecentcasesreview@joannanicolas.co.uk and she will explain the process and approach.
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