Thu 9 Oct 2003 11:44am (UK)(posted 7503 days ago)Anger over Letwin Jibe at State School
By Dominic Hayes, Education CorrespondentPA News
Senior Eton-educated Tory Oliver Letwin has declared he would “go out on the streets and beg” to avoid sending his children to a local inner city comprehensive, it was reported today.The shadow home secretary said he would consider sending his children to state schools in his Dorset constituency.
But he would rather “give my right arm” to go private in the London borough of Lambeth where he lives during the week than send them to the comprehensive nearest his home in Kennington, the Evening Standard reported.
The school in question is believed to be Lilian Baylis School in Kennington and headteacher Gary Phillips said pupils and parents would be upset by Mr Letwin’s remarks.
At a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool, Mr Letwin reportedly said he was trying to get his 10-year-old daughter Laura into a “particular public school in London” as he wanted to see his family during the week.
Mr Letwin continued: “Miraculously the middle-class parents with the money end up getting their children into good schools.
“In Lambeth, where I live, I would give my right arm to send them to a fee-paying school.
“If necessary I would go out on the streets and beg rather than send them to the school next to where I live.
“What about the other parents in Lambeth who are forced to use the state schools because they don’t have the money? We need to give them the choice as well.”
This week saw the Tories promise a voucher scheme for education, which would enable parents to have the Government put the amount of money it spends on each state school pupil towards private sector fees.
Last year, only 6% of GCSE pupils at Lilian Baylis got five or more passes at grade C and above while just 26% of its 14-year-olds reached the Government’s required standard in English and 32% in maths.
Education watchdog Ofsted said in a 2001 report: “Lilian Baylis School has a troubled history. It has suffered from instability in its leadership, a high turnover of staff, uncertainty about is future and a poor, at one time deservedly so, reputation.
“There are some clear signs that the situation is improving, with well-focused and determined leadership from governors and senior managers.”
Mr Phillips said: “It is very upsetting for both children and parents to be told that their school is no good when they know full well that it is.
“We are fully aware that the school’s exam results are lower than the national average but as a result of the Government’s value added scheme which takes other factors – like whether children actually speak English when they arrive at the school – Lilian Baylis is registered as one of the top 100 schools in the country by the Department for Education and Skills.
“I would be much more willing to accept Mr Letwin’s comments if he had ever actually been to the school and I would like to extend an invitation to him to come and look at what we do here before he decides to discuss us again.
“I don’t know what Mr Letwin based his ideas about the school on, but his colleagues in the Conservative party certainly don’t all agree with him.
“Indeed Ken Clarke gave us the Jerwood Prize, one of the highest awards in education, when he was Education Minister.
“I would also point out that it was Lilian Baylis students who won the Black and Asian Achievers challenge at Cambridge University last year – not children from a fee paying school – and that we are the only school in the country that is not a specialist arts college to have been given the Arts Mark Gold award for the excellence of our art department.
“Has Mr Letwin ever wondered if a 100% record of A-C grades at a school which only accepts gifted children from wealthy homes is as much of an achievement as a 10% record of A-C grades at a school where the children can’t speak English when they start there? I doubt it.”