On 21 March 2018, the Charity Commission appointed Emma Moody of Womble Bond Dickinson solicitors as the Interim Manager for Ampleforth Abbey Trust and St Laurence Education Trust, which operates Ampleforth College and St Martin's Ampleforth. In this role, Emma will be responsible for the management and oversight of matters relating to safeguarding, in the place of the trustees.
Emma is a specialist in charity law and education, working with a number of independent schools and religious organisations across the country and she leads a team of people who are experts in safeguarding.
Emma remains committed to fulfilling her role and also ensuring that life at the schools and the Abbey remains as consistent and settled as possible and that the schools and their students continue to perform to the high educational standards expected.
Emma and her team are in place to support and guide the trustees and to provide strategic leadership on matters relating to safeguarding, ensuring the charities have the proper framework they require to deliver their missions safely and appropriately and importantly that all our beneficiaries are able to flourish and thrive, reaching their full potential, in a safe environment and protected from harm.
Emma's appointment is a precautionary measure. The Charity Commission believe that this appointment is necessary to ensure that previous and current safeguarding concerns are identified, addressed and importantly that the charities' plans for the future are sufficiently robust to achieve long-term change. It has tasked Emma with investigating its concerns and report her findings and recommendations.
The appointment of the Interim Manager should have no impact on day to day religious and educational activities of the charities or the provision of education to students at the schools.
Periodic briefings will be provided to staff, students, and the religious community and will also be available through the website.
If you have a specific query or would like to report a concern on a confidential basis, please contact the Interim Manager via the following dedicated e-mail address: AmpleforthIM@wbd-uk.com and she or one of her team will be in touch.
Press queries
In response to the appointment of Ms Moody, the following statement has been released by the Ampleforth Abbey Trust and St Laurence Education Trust. For the duration of Ms Moody’s appointment, they cannot comment any further.
“The safeguarding of children and adults is paramount in all the works of the Ampleforth Abbey Trust and the St Laurence Education Trust. We welcome the insight which Emma Moody and her team will bring to Ampleforth, and are committed to working with them to implement their recommendations regarding governance in relation to safeguarding.
Ampleforth commissioned an independent report by Professor Sue Proctor last year to look at areas including its future safeguarding reporting structure. Its senior teams have been working towards these recommendations which have also been shared with Ms Moody and her team.
We would like to take this opportunity to repeat our sincere and heartfelt apologies to anyone who has suffered harm whilst in Ampleforth’s care. If you would like to speak to somebody about this, please contact John Ridge on 01439 766043 or john.ridge@ampleforth.org.uk. If you would prefer to speak to someone outside of Ampleforth, please contact Survive on 01904 638813 to speak to a trained counsellor”
- A link to Ampleforth’s safeguarding policies can be found here
- A link to Emma Moody’s profile can be found on Womble Bond Dickinson’s site here
- A link to the Charity Commission’s appointment of interim managers can be found here
- Contact: Sarah Opie, Director of Marketing and Communications on 01439 741103 or sarah.opie@ampleforth.org.uk
