Bangor Grammar School, Co Down, has been strongly criticised for its handling of complaints of sexual abuse against a teacher in a report published yesterday. The teacher, Lindsay Brown, was jailed for seven years in January for indecent assault and gross indecency on 11 to 13-year-old boys over 23 years.
Child protection guidelines are to be reviewed, and the Department of Education report includes recommendations to all schools on how to deal with children's complaints of sexual abuse.
An official report has condemned Bangor Grammar School, saying management tried to treat allegations in a "low-key manner and to minimise their significance".
The independent inquiry absolved the school from blame for Brown's "aberrant and criminal" behaviour, but found it "seriously at fault" for not having arrangements to deal with incidents of child sexual abuse.
The former school headmaster, Mr Tom Patton, was singled out for criticism. He gave Brown responsibility for child abuse matters in the school, despite knowledge of previous complaints made against the teacher. Mr Patton resigned in June.
The report outlined how Brown, as head of the religion department, used those lessons "to introduce the youngest pupils to ideas and topics in sex education that were inappropriate for their level of maturity".
Some chairmen of the board of governors were said to have failed to deal with complaints made against Brown in 1991 and 1995. It said there was evidence of complaints against the teacher as far back as 1989. Brown was arrested in June 1996.
The chairman of the board, Mr David Gray, said it had accepted the recommendations "unreservedly and in their entirety".
The Northern Education Minister, Mr John McFall, said yesterday: "Every child has the fundamental right to be safe in school. I am deeply sorry that this happened."