At the end of this week more than 5,800 anonymous testimonials cataloguing acts of sexual harassment, abuse and assault in UK schools have been posted on Everyone’s Invited – and they are still coming. But, the 22-year-old who set up the campaign in June has said that the focus on fee-paying schools risks minimising the issue, which she warns is happening in schools up and down the UK. “When we narrow our focus on a school, a demographic, or as an individual, we risk making these cases seem like anomalies. But this isn’t rare, it happens all the time,” said UCL student Soma Sara, herself a survivor of sexual abuse. “When we direct the blame on to a person or place, we are undermining the most important message: rape culture is universal and everywhere. We should all take responsibility for a culture that is so widespread and work together to dismantle and eradicate it.” But pressure on some of the most prestigious schools in the country continued to mount this week, as stories from fee-charging establishments such as Dulwich College, Latymer Upper School and Westminster School appear on the site’s testimonials page. On Friday the head of Dulwich College warned pupils they could face fines if they participated in a protest advertised as “a demonstration against the predatory culture of Dulwich College and the school management [that] condones it”. Last weekend the Sunday Times published an open letter which branded Dulwich College “a breeding ground for sexual predators”. Written by former pupil Samuel Schulenburg, 19, it included approximately 250 anonymous stories from girls who went to nearby schools. The school’s head, Dr Joe Spence, described the alleged behaviour as “distressing and entirely unacceptable”, adding that he “condemned unreservedly the alleged social and sexual misconduct”. Stories have also emerged from other private schools such as Highgate – where pupils walked out of classes on Thursday after the publication of accounts of alleged abuse – and Westminster. The outpouring of anger has echoes of the scandal that rocked St Andrews university last year, when an anonymous Instagram account exposed allegations of rape and sexual assault at the university. Set up in June by Sara, Everyone’s Invited now has 33,000 followers on Instagram and has seen an influx of testimonies since the death of Sarah Everard earlier this month sparked a national conversation about women’s safety. Critics have argued the allegations it contains are anonymous and unverifiable, but Sara said that was vital to protect victims in a culture that stigmatises sexual violence. “Those testimonies are just the tip of the iceberg. Rape is not spoken about, it is hugely underreported. The work of Everyone’s Invited is crucial,” she said. The crescendo of voices has provided a moment of reckoning, said Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women coalition. “This is not just an issue in private schools, it is every school, every day,” she said. But the volume of voices of young women talking about their experience provided a real opportunity for change, she added. “There is a weight in the sheer number of women and girls coming forward and talking about their experiences that makes it much more difficult to push aside, ignore and trivialize.” A report by End Violence Against Women from 2016 found “endemic levels of sexual violence and harassment in schools”, with 5,500 sexual offences reported to the police as having taken place in UK schools over a three-year period to July 2015, including 600 rapes. The stories now surfacing revealed a continuing sense of impunity among perpetrators, said Simon. She pointed to an FoI, first reported in the Guardian, that revealed that less than a third of prosecutions brought against young men result in a conviction, with men aged 18 to 24 in England and Wales consistently less likely to be found guilty than older men. “If a boy has been able to assault a girl at a school with no consequences, then why wouldn’t he continue with that behaviour,” she said. “We have to get a grip on the fact that at the moment there seems to be very little deterrent or real consequences for young men who harass, assault or rape.” In one testimony on Everyone’s Invited one student wrote that as an 11-year-old other students took topless pictures of her, and said three boys would take turns “groping her”. “I hated it but I was made to feel like it was a compliment,” she wrote. “That school was a race to develop as fast as possible and I’m glad I left when I did.” The response from some of the schools embroiled in the scandal have appeared to recognise the severity of the crisis. Latymer Upper School said it took allegations “very seriously” and had reported the allegations to the local authority and police, and promised an independent review saying such behaviour had “absolutely no place in our School” and it was “committed to playing our part in bringing about positive change through meaningful engagement with our school community.” Highgate have announced an external review lead by former Lady Justice of Appeal Dame Anne Rafferty and an anti-sexism plan, saying it was “deeply shocked and horrified” by the allegations, while head Adam Pettitt, apologised to any victim who was not properly supported during their time at Highgate and promised their voices would be heard. Dr Gary Savage, the headteacher of Westminster school – where a 21-page dossier included allegations that students had been forced to give oral sex against their will – also apologised and promised “concrete and positive actions”, adding: “We condemn all sexist, misogynist and discriminatory behaviours and will not tolerate them in our school.” In a statement the school added that all allegations would be investigated and referred to the local authority and a whole-school consultation would help embed “inclusive and respectful values.” Louise Whitfield, a lawyer who has represented students who reported sexual assault and successfully challenged the government’s safeguarding guidance to schools about dealing with reports of sexual assault, said a renewed focus on abuse in schools had to lead to action, including a commitment to sex and relationships education which became a statutory requirement in schools in September. “This is an incredibly difficult issue for schools to address and too often schools decide not to deal with it at all, and say it is a police matter,” she said. “Now I hope they will have to educate themselves, because there are steps they can take to protect pupils. This is a wake-up call for schools, and it is long overdue.”