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A Catholic high school in Wales has threatened Jamie Oliver’s production company with legal action after it secretly filmed a student being bullied.
The footage shot at Corpus Christi High RC School in Cardiff aimed to show what it is like walking in the shoes of a bullied child.
The filming was done for a future TV programme on bullying.
A hidden camera was fitted to the backpack of an unnamed schoolgirl – aged 12 to 13 – by Fresh One Productions, which is owned by Jamie Oliver.
A spokesman for ITV and Fresh One Productions said the pupil approached the production company after an advertisement was placed online.
The girl’s mother – in a statement through ITV – said: “The decision to enter into this was not taken lightly.
“My child was at the point where she just couldn’t take any more and I had done everything I could as a parent.
“She has been let down time after time and it felt like there was nowhere for us to go. This was the very last resort for both of us.”
School personnel only learned about the filming when they were shown ‘”very emotional” footage of bullying and were told it would be screened on ITV.
The principal and governors of the Catholic school have said they are now seeking legal action against the programme makers for covertly filming pupils without permission from the school or other parents.
School spokespeople said bullying is condemned “in the strongest terms and we have a robust anti-bullying policy in place”.
Mr Oliver’s production company only wrote a letter to parents after filming had finished.
Every child would have their faces blurred and voices scrambled to protect their identities.
No date has been fixed for the broadcast as yet, and it is unclear if it will go ahead now the school has been identified.
The girl who did the filming was pleased the footage had been seen at a local “resolution meeting” and that she would be believed.
A similar programme aired in The Netherlands.
Sources
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