Peter Newell

Peter Newell was a founder member of the staff co-operative which ran White Lion Free School. Peter Newell was the former co-ordinator of the Association for the Protection of All Children charity. The Association for the Protection of All Children, or Approach, its objectives were to prevent cruelty and maltreatment of children and advance public knowledge in the UK and abroad. It says its focus is on protecting children from “physical punishment .. whether inside or outside the home”. Approach operates through the Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance in the UK and the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. Along with his partner, Rachel Hodgkin, Newell helped prepare UNICEF’s Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, launched in Geneva in January 1998. The document, provided a detailed reference of law, policy and practice aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of children, and is still used by governments all over the globe.

Peter Newell was convicted in 2018 and admitted 5 indecent and serious sexual assaults on a child under 16. The offences took place between May 1965 and May 1968. He was sentenced to 6 years 8 months imprisonment and will be on the sex offenders register for life. His conviction shocked many people who had worked alongside him in children’s rights organisations and charities over 50 years and Peter Saunders from the survivor’s group, NAPAC, commented, ‘But what better cover for this man’s crimes than to choose to work in the world of child protection‘ (Daily Mail 16.02.18)

Lynette Burrows, of the Family Education Trust, published (Scottish Home Education Forum, 16.02.18) a list of the Children’s Rights charities and related organisations and initiatives Newell was instrumental in setting up and/or in a prominent position within.  No other name appears connected with all of them, although many others recur many times:

  • First London Free School (ex Director)
  • Children’s Legal Centre (Founder Director)
  • Advisory Centre for Education (Educatonal rights organisation) (Ex Company Secretary)
  • STOPP Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment (Coordinator)
  • EPOCH End Physical Punishment of Children (Founder)
  • APPROACH Association for the Protection Of All Children (Founder)
  • IPSEA Independent Panel for Special Education Advice Ltd (FounderDirector)
  • CG1993 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation published and funded the report “One Scandal too Many” – a case for comprehensive protection of children in all settings.  (Coordinated by)
  • CG1995 CGF published and funded report ‘Children and Violence’ (Coordinated by)
  • CRDU Children’s Rights Development Unit Ltd
  • CRO  Children’s Rights Office
  • CG1991  CGF funded and published report, ‘Taking Children Seriously’ a proposal for the establishment of a Children’s Rights Commissioner (part of advisory group)
  • CG1996  CGF published and funded report: ‘Effective Government Structures for Children’ – a proposal for ensuring that central government is responsive to the needs and rights of children. (Co-ordinated by PN and Rachel Hodgkin)

White Lion Free School

Many Islington Survivors attended the White Lion Free School and we have heard varied accounts of what that experience was like. The general criteria for getting a place at the school were that children lived within the catchment area  – so they were local Islington children. Those of school age were mainly from poor working class backgrounds.For children already received into care following problems at their family home,  it was at times difficult to cope with their parents having open access to the school as was the school policy. It opened in 1972 and Peter Newell was the Founder. He had been deputy editor of the Times Educational Supplement.  and then became education officer at the National Council of Civil Liberties. Between 1972 and 1986, 261 children attended the school but of these 105 went only to the nursery. 

Children’s rights activist Peter Newell jailed for abuse (BBC, 16 February 2018)

Top UNICEF children’s rights campaigner – who led UK’s anti-smacking campaign – is jailed for rape of boy, 13, in latest charity sex scandal (Daily Mail, 16 February 2018)

Children’s rights activist Peter Newell jailed for abuse (Scottish Home Education Forum, 16 February 2018)