Greenfields School

This article is about Greenfields School in East Sussex, England. For schools of a similar name, see Greenfield School (disambiguation).

Greenfields School
Address
Priory Road Forest Row , East Sussex , RH18 5JD England
Information
Type	Independent day and boarding
Religious affiliation(s)	Scientology
Established	1981 (1981)
Local authority	East Sussex
Head teacher	Grant Hudson
Gender	Mixed
Enrolment	119 day and 19 boarding, as of 2014
Website	www.greenfieldsschool.com

Greenfields School is an independent, non-denominational, day and boarding school in Forest Row, East Sussex, England run by Scientologists. It services children from 2 to 18. It has a Montessori-based Pre-school & Reception class, followed by Infant, Junior, Senior, 6th Form and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classes. Greenfields utilises a study method called Study Technology which is a teaching method developed by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and licensed from U.S. non-profit educational organization Applied Scholastics. The school is a member of the Independent Schools Association.

The school was founded by Scientologists, and the school's staff estimates that 90% of staff and 80% of students are Scientologists, although the school's curriculum is non-religious. The school's website states that it is not a Scientology school, but that it uses 'Study Technology which was developed by L. Ron Hubbard who also developed Scientology' and 'welcomes students and staff of all religions and creeds.'

The school has English as a Foreign Language programmes for international students. Summer holiday programmes run from June to August, minimum stay 1 week. The school also runs English programmes all year around for children from 5 to 18 years old. Boarding is on-campus.

The school was inspected by the Department for Education's OFSTED in 2009. Since that time inspections are carried out by the Independent Schools Inspectorate; a full inspection was last conducted in 2011, and an intermediate inspection in 2013. The 2013 inspection found that the school did not comply with legal Boarding School standards in terms of staff recruitment checks, record keeping, and child protection. The ISI's reports explain that the schools is run according to Scientology principles. In 1985 Inspectors from the Department for Education who toured Greenfields noted: "Many children are reading, and certainly writing, at a level below what they might be expected to achieve.", despite the school claiming that the students were over a year ahead in reading. The High Court have also stated that Deputy Principal McQuade used "false, spurious" titles.

In 1994, one of the few non-Scientologist teachers from the school was jailed for five years after he admitted sexually molesting teenage pupils.

A 2012 newspaper report suggested that many students left the school after completing their GCSEs, without going on to the sixth form, in order to transfer to Sea Org.