Summary

We are a team of boarding school survivors, who know first hand about the effects of boarding  on children. We are producing a film that asks if many of our leaders have suffered from trauma whilst at boarding school.

The film will spearhead a movement to make mandatory reporting of abuse a legal requirement and to end under 13 year old children being sent to boarding schools. 

To campaign to ensure that all teachers responsible for the care of children get an accredited trauma training.

To inform the public about what to consider when voting for leaders who may be wounded by trauma in childhood.

Our vision is that by sharing this film, we will encourage a new generation of leaders that have integrity. And they are willing to look at their past traumas, be accountable for telling the truth and supporting change in the world.

What We Need & What You Get

We are seeking your help to complete this project.

We have already filmed a few principal interviews including Gabor Mate (international expert on trauma), Dr Suzanne Zeedyk (A top developmental psychologist) and Nick Duffell (therapist and author of the book ‘Wounded Leaders’).

We need a total of £80,000 to complete this project. £12,000 to film a healing retreat weekend with survivors of boarding school trauma to demonstrate how the effects of trauma can be healed. We will also need £34,000 to complete the full package of post production; to edit the film into a 90 min documentary and supporting films and a further £34,000 to publicize a campaign of distribution.

In return you will receive an exclusive package of extended interviews and documentary films. These films will include additional interviews (Gabor Mate, for instance) and material not included in our main presentation.

You will be invited to a premiere screening of the film and get to meet some of the speakers and film makers.

Should we not reach our goal then we will use whatever funds you give to completing the project and healing the trauma. It will take longer but we are dedicated to completing this project. So please give what you can and no amount is too small.

The Impact

The entire voting public are affected by the boys and girls who are abandoned at boarding schools across the British Isles and globally. As Nick Duffell says, “It is he boys in the men, who run things.”  This film will spearhead a movement to help us all understand why many boarding school survivors struggle to be empathetic and ethical leaders and offer insights into how they can heal their trauma.

The Team

Ben Cole has made many healing films that have revolutionized the film world: 1 Giant Leap (Double Grammy Nominated) brought holistic ideas into the main stream. Time Of The Sixth Sun has been watched by over 1 million people has given spiritual insight and positive change to many lives.

Piers Cross  author, coach & podcaster of over 75 insightful interviews with trauma survivors and therapists. He has been working with ex-boarders as a coach for over 8 years.

Simon Hinkly has worked in the UK film Industry for many years as a first assistant director and producer with a passionate interest in films that save lives.

All of those involved in the film have spent their lives steeped in this subject and bring you their personal wisdom from healing this trauma.

Research

Here are some quotes from some well known people who experienced trauma in childhood:

Rupert Murdoch: “I would be teased and abused when I was sent to boarding school and I think my own children went through some of that.”

Elon Musk: “I had a terrible upbringing. I had a lot of adversity growing up”. “They got my best friend to lure me out of hiding so they could beat me up. And that hurt.” “For some reason they decided that I was it, and they were going to go after me nonstop. That’s what made growing up difficult. For a number of years there was no respite. You get chased around by gangs at school who tried to beat the (expletive) out of me, and then I’d come home, and it would just be awful there as well.”

Tony Blair, “tried to skip the country in a bid to escape his private education at an Edinburgh public school.”
 

King Charles: Gordonstoun was “Colditz in kilts.” Age 8: “He suffered from acute homesickness, clutching his teddy bear and weeping frequently in private.”
 

Minnie Driver: Age 8: “And so I start boarding. It is a terrible mistake. It is in the top three worst mistakes I will ever make…”

David Cameron: Age 7: ‘The food was spartan. I lost a stone in weight during a single term. There was one meal that consisted of curry, rice – and maggots.’ “Punishments were old fashioned. They included frequent beating with the smooth side of an ebony brush.” “For starters, going away to boarding school at just seven now seems brutal and bizarre.”

James Blunt : “I boarded at school from the age of seven. My parents dropped me off and walked away. On day three, I asked the matron: “When will I see Mum and Dad again?” I was told, ‘Christmas.’ This was September. I never really saw them again until I got famous.”
 

Richard Branson: Age 7: “Within a couple of days (of arriving at boarding school age 7) an older boy in my dormitory had taken a liking to me and got me into his bed to play ‘feelies’”. “…I loathed being sent away from home at such an early age, and have always vowed to myself  that I would never send my children to boarding school…”. “I was soon being beaten once or twice a week for doing poor classwork or confusing the date of the Battle of Hastings.”“We got beaten all the time. You’d be beaten with a bare arse and sometimes until you bled.”
 

Jeremy Paxman: Age 13: Wyvern, “I hated the place.” “Can it really be true that only fifty years ago junior boys were expected to act as “fags” – effectively slaves – to senior boys, and that the eighteen-year-old that was appointed as head of house had the formal right – frequently exercised – to beat boys.”

John Peel: An older boy at his public school “compelled me to agree to meet him in a public toilet in the cemetery on the outskirts of Shrewsbury, where he raped me.”
“Oddly enough, much as I hated the experience, I think I had become so accustomed to systemic sexual abuse that I wasn’t especially traumatised by the experience.”, “Hagger’s response to just about everything I got wrong was to beat me.”

Eddie Izzard: Age 6 sent to BS after his mother died: “The food was awful, and I had a real food problem.” 

Bear Grylls: “When I hit (boarding) school, suddenly all I felt was fear. Fear forces you to look tough on the outside, but makes you weak on the inside.” “I remember all of us in our dormitory counting down the days (like prisoners!) until the next ‘exeat’, or weekend at home… Conversely, those Sunday night drives back to school were truly torturous. Give me SAS Selection any day…and that was bad, trust me.” Mud, Sweat & Tears P.60

Stephen Fry: “…prisons are like boarding school.”
 

Pete Walker: Complex PTSD:“I think boarding schools are a major cause of CPTSD.”

Louis De Bernieres: “Boarding schools are really orphanages for children who have parents.”

Jeremy Clarkson: “made to lick the lavatories clean” and another student “defecated in his tuck box” during his boarding school years.

Daniel Day-Lewis: Was bullied at boarding school until he ran away and eventually left the school.

Other Ways You Can Help

We are aware that many do not have the funds to help, so we ask you to share this campaign to your friends on social media and build an awareness of the issues in this film. Word of mouth is the best way to spread these ideas and we ask you to start to talk about these issues. Make some noise folks and lets turn a whimper into a lions roar! 

•  please use the Indiegogo share tools!