Press Release
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) will resume public hearings next week. Evidence in relation to the provision of care for children by The Edinburgh Academy, at the time it was a boarding school, will be presented.
SCAI has been investigating the provision of residential care for children at boarding schools for a number of years.
Since March 2021, in the Boarding Schools case study, evidence about the background, administration and regulation of seven specific boarding schools in Scotland, and about the experiences of children who were boarders there, has been explored at public hearings.
Evidence about the experiences of boarders at Fettes College was heard during November and December 2021. Some of the Fettes’ witnesses also spoke of what happened at the Edinburgh Academy but evidence about the Edinburgh Academy was not considered in detail at that time.
SCAI Chair Lady Smith said: “After we completed our evidential hearings in relation to the initial group of seven schools in our boarding schools case study, a significant number of applicants and other witnesses came forward to provide evidence of their experiences at the Edinburgh Academy.
“So many that I decided their evidence needed to be explored in another set of public hearings. I wanted those hearings to take place as soon as possible.
“These hearings will begin next week and will continue until the end of August. During them, we plan to hear from over 30 witnesses in person, and over 20 witness statements will be read in.”
Hearings will start on 8 August 2023 and will take place in Edinburgh at the Inquiry’s hearing venue on the 2nd floor of Mint House, 20 West Register Street, Edinburgh EH2 2AA.
Witness lists will be published on the Inquiry’s website on a Friday afternoon for the week ahead.
Members of the public are welcome to attend hearings and sit in the public gallery. Further information about public access can be found on the Inquiry’s website.