SLADEBROOK SCHOOL (Hansard, 22 July 1977)

§ Mr. Laurie Pavitt (Brent, South)

I bring to this House, which I regard as the highest forum in the land, my right to redress the gross injustices inflicted upon devoted teachers, pupils and parents at a good school in my constituency—the Sladebrook High School.

In the 20 years that I have served as an hon. Member of this House I can recall no case that has left me with such a furious sense of outrage and grievance as the irresponsible and callous campaign that some newspapers waged in April this year to pillory this school in banner headlines.

My hon. Friend the Minister will recall the tremendous banner headlines in the Daily Express of 13th April In the short time available to me I do not propose to dwell on the very real problems that all schools in London can show, and with which they have some difficulty in coping. What I am surprised about is that any responsible person should use an anonymous letter as the basis for the kind of attack to which this school was subjected.

The school received three such letters, one of which was a fantastic letter from a religious crank in which there were a number of biblical references. I quote: Have you not asked What is the meaning of this great anger? Deut 29 24. I am twice blessed because twice reviled by lying tongues. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely. Mat. 5 11. On the basis of the three letters, of which that was one, we got a campaign mounted by the Press of this country, the vindictiveness of which bore no relation to what really happened at Sladebrook School.

I have the highest praise for the way in which the Brent Education Committee. 2221 and in particular Councillor Leslie Ford, chairman of the governors, stood up to the sudden attack when the Press of this country focused their attention on this school.

We in this House are used to this kind of thing, but when it relates to local conditions and local circumstances it is extremely difficult to cope with the welter of material on television, the radio and in the newspapers. National attention seemed to be focused entirely upon this school.

I make no attempt to sweep past incidents under the carpet any more than the local education authority did. If anythilng, the authority was too scrupulously honest and so, too, focused attention on problems which, when presented to the public, got out of all proportion to the reality of the balance between the problems at the school and the good things that occurred there.

This added fuel to the flames and made it very difficult to cope with the constant indignation showered upon the very good people in my area. The education committee had an in-depth inquiry and produced a full report, which was submitted to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. I ought to read a couple of sentences from the letter which my right hon. Friend was kind enough to send me in relation to another submission to her.

My right hon. Friend said: I am sure that, despite the undoubted problems with which this school has to contend, you will be as pleased as I am to hear the truth about the efforts being made under difficult circumstances. I am sure, therefore, that you will wish to join with me in deploring the sensational and highly inaccurate reporting of the matter in the Press—particularly theDaily Expressarticle on 23rd May which is, I understand, to be the subject of a complaint to the Press Council. I hope that there will be a better response from the Press Council on this matter than there has been to some of the other complaints of irresponsibility levelled at some national newspapers recently.

Because I am the Member of Parliament for the area, three national newspapers telephoned me when the scandal was fomented to an unnecessary degree. I spent some time on the telephone trying to put the record straight. I had long conversations in which I tried to redress the balance by telling the reporters the good things that I knew about Sladebrook 2222 School. My experience goes back 20 years, before the previous four schools were combined into Slade brook School. I knew the headmaster of what was the Gibbons Road School, Mr. Clarke. The Press did not want to know. Nothing that I said about the good parts of the school got into print, nor did the fact that I had been contacted. The name of another hon. Member appeared, but not the name of the Member of Parliament serving the school in question.

I charge the Press with irresponsibility on that score, as on another issue in the NW2 area of the London Borough of Brent, where the postmen are having a few local difficulties. The BBC, ITN, the radio and the national newspapers have daily reports of what goes on there, with the names of other hon. Members mentioned, but it never mentions my right hon. Friend the Member for Brent, East (Mr. Freeson), whose constituency it is. He has never been approached by the media to be asked what he thinks of what is happening in his constituency. Slade brook School is an example of the same kind of thing. What is wanted by the media is sensationalism. Nothing of value, no news of a constructive kind, is of the least interest to the editors of newspapers.

Between 500 and 600 pupils of the schools visited this place in the first 10 years of my service here. There are fewer school parties now, because of the cost of transport, but I recall that every year from the Gibbons Road School I had a party of 30–60 students who spent a morning going round the House. The Press does not report that kind of thing, although I informed the reporters who approached me.

What inspired me to try to put the record straight was my great privilege, on 9th July, in going with the mayor of my borough to the school's Jubilee celebrations, visiting the exhibition of art and craft work and getting the atmosphere of the school. I know that schools throughout the country are having similar celebrations, but I would claim that Slade brook School put on an exhibition and concert that were second to none in the whole United Kingdom. There was plenty of excitement, with 200 pupils participating and 30 teachers involved. It was entirely extra-curricular work. That kind of thing is not done only in 2223 school time; it means the expenditure of a great deal of time and energy outside school hours. I shall recall that evening as one of the highlights of all the school visits I have ever made. It was exhilarating, and made nonsense of all the criticisms that have been levelled at the school.

I have a multi-ethnic community, with the largest number of immigrants of any hon. Member. We had first the wave of West Indians, followed by the Indians, the Pakistanis and the Ugandans. In one road in my area there are 70 voters by the name of Patel. I am sure that my right hon. Friend and my hon. Friend would have been thrilled to see the Gujerati dance by the girls aged 13 to 14, in their beautiful saris. It was a traditional Indian folk dance. That was followed by a West Indian dance, with all the verve, rhythm and enthusiasm of the Caribbean. The multi-ethnic nature of the youngsters of this school teaches the adults what integration really means, yet this is the school that was called the school of shame.

Let me try to give the House the true picture of Slade brook High School. It is a miracle of progress against almost impossible odds, in an area of social difficulty. It is difficult to retain teachers, because they have to pay high rents or spend a lot of time and expense in traveling. At one time. Slade brook School had 40 probationary teachers. There were 19 staff vacancies at the beginning of this year. Three-quarters of the staff have less than two years' teaching experience. With difficulties of that order, had there been less devotion and less educational know-how, Slade brook School could have collapsed.

Let me turn to the achievements. Between 1972 and 1974, O level passes were up by 34 per cent. and CSE passes were up by 50 per cent. Dealing with the place that the school occupies in the community. in the last five years the children have raised £2,000 for charity. They pioneered the twinning system whereby able-bodied swimmers adopt someone who is physically handicapped and helps in his necessary therapy.

They played a great part in the creation of the Gemini swimming pool, which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State opened recently. The school was one of 2224 many that contributed to it. I have copies of a first-class magazine, which had contributions reproduced in a very good newspaper, which most of us on the Government Benches read—The Guardian—and which also went out on BBC radio.

There have been two fashion shows recently before packed houses, the proceeds of which were given to His Excellency the Jamaican High Commissioner for educational advance in that Caribbean country.

In sport this year the school gained six Brent championships. Three pupils took part in national athletics, and one gained a gold medal. The school had a table tennis champion, who was chosen at international level. In a recent international competition Slade brook School had one of the few British contestants to beat the almost unflappable Chinese.

I have already mentioned the concert, but it was only one of a series. Slade brook School has had 14 of them. But typical of the value that the school places on its rôle in the community is the fact that at all the dress rehearsals there were packed houses of old-age pensioners to enjoy the show.

This is the school that the whole of the national Press tried to make out as being an impossible blackboard jungle. I could go on for a long time, but does the House wonder that I should feel sick that when such work has been done so freely in and out of school hours by one of the best headmasters I have had the privilege of encountering—Mr. Kenneth Fitt—and a magnificent staff, who know the meaning of teamwork, irresponsible, uneducated and unintelligent people should seek to blow up events at the school into a major scandal.

I cannot, in conclusion, do better than quote a note that the headmaster of the school sent to me when I asked him for his views on the situation. Mr. Fitt said: The school is a happy, productive and caring body, but it has not lost sight of its educational rôle, however extensive its social and pastoral work may be: the pupils have recognised this by electing to stay into the sixth form in increasing numbers: 72 in 1975, 111 in 1976, and a record number of 200 applications for September 1977. In the face of the criticism the staff and the pupils have remained unshakeable and convinced that a vital job is being done. It is notable that the criticisms have rarely, if ever, come from those who have visited the school and seen its working. 2225 I have visited the school. I have seen it working. I wish that the media would give as much publicity to this debate as it did to the anonymous, ill-informed charges. Although my constituents may read about it if they buy Hansard or their local newspaper, I predict that if one reads The Times, The Daily Telegraph or The Guardian tomorrow there will be no mention that yesterday Slade-brook School was vindicated of criticism. Not one word will appear in the national newspapers.

Slade brook is a good school. It is on the road to becoming one of the truly great schools. It is certainly one of the schools of which parents, pupils and staff can be proud. I certainly am.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science (Miss Margaret Jackson)

I am grateful to my hon Friend the Member for Brent, South (Mr. Pavitt) for raising this subject and for speaking so fully and sympathetically about the problems faced by Slade brook School. Like him, I am constantly dismayed by the attention paid in the Press to ill-informed and inaccurate allegations against comprehensive schools in particular. My hon. Friend has given a clear picture of the situation at Slade brook as opposed to that given in the Press.

There is no doubt that the school has faced considerable problems. It draws its pupils from a variety of nationalities, many coming from homes where the native language is not English and needing remedial teaching. It draws its pupils from many backgrounds and from some parents who find it difficult to offer a high level of parental support for their children's education.

When the Brent Education Authority responded to the anonymous allegations against the school by holding an immediate inquiry, it was assured that almost everything alleged was untrue, inaccurate, biased and completely distorted. My hon. Friend has pointed out that some of the problems are caused perhaps by the number of staff who are on probation or who have little teaching experience. The school has had to cope with many problems caused by the area in which it is situated.

I am sorry that the hon. Member for Brent, North (Dr. Boyson) is not in the 2226 Chamber today because I propose to make some remarks about his part in this affair. I do not wish to do so in his absence, but that is out of my control. Even the hon. Member for Brent, North admits that the report by the education authority on the inquiry into the accusations shows that an attempt has been made to solve the problems that were identified, however they were distorted. Considerable headway is being made in tackling the problems. My hon. Friend has highlighted in the best possible way the type of headway and progress that the school is making.

It seems to me that there are a number of lessons that we can draw from this occurrence. My hon. Friend has drawn some of them—for example, the attitude of the Press and, unfortunately, of some politicians. However, the main lesson to be drawn is that schools facing problems such as those faced by Slade brook School and tackling them to the best of their ability with care, conscientiousness and considerable effort on the part of their staffs. are not assisted by the sort of so-called investigation which was mounted in this case by the national Press. They are, in fact, hindered by those who claim, however inaccurately, to be seeking to assist them.

I know that the Brent local authority has special problems in other areas of its authority as well as in the area near Slade brook School. I am aware that Brent intends to ask the Department for special assistance to enable it to make even more speedy progress in helping schools such as Slade brook. It is for this reason that authorities such as Brent are being asked to apply for resources that are being made available by the Government as part of the inner cities aid programme. It also gets Government assistance from the urban programme and Section 11 grant to assist with, for example, the cost of remedial language teaching for non-English-speaking pupils.

I am pleased to inform my hon. Friend that, as a direct consequence of the Chancellor's statement on 15th July, my Department has just informed the Brent Education Authority that a further allocation of £40,000 is now available for minor school improvements at schools in the borough during the current year. Therefore, we wholly recognise the difficulties that the local education authority 2227 and this particular school have faced and are facing, and we recognise the effort that is being put in by those involved—but not, of course, as my hon. Friend has already pointed out, by all those involved.

I think that the final sad but necessary lesson which may be gained from the events that my hon. Friend has described is that all the progress being made in tackling the complex and deep-seated difficulties faced in a school such as Slade-brook can be handicapped and, in a school without such a sound base, even dissipated overnight by irresponsible and sensational publicity of the kind that has unfortunately been aroused in this case.

I am afraid I do not accept that it is enough for those who have made serious criticisms about a particular school and have then found them to be quite unjustified to shrug their shoulders and say that everything that has been done has been done in the public interest. Of course, it is in the public interest for inquiries to be made and for remedial action to be suggested if that is necessary. It is never in the public interest, in my view, for any school to be pilloried in the Press on the basis of anonymous allegations quite clearly prompted by spite or ill will.

The public have a right to know what is happening in education and in schools, including schools such as Slade brook. But, of course, it is the case—and it is a truth known particularly to every teacher and to every politician—that there is more than one way of arousing public opinion and concern and of seeking to have remedial steps taken if necessary. To take the example of this school, it is possible to say that one should consider the severe innate problems that the school is facing and the great efforts being made to overcome them. It is also possible to ask whether enough is being done to help, at the same time as recognising what is being done. It is a quite different matter and a quite different way of arousing public interest to look at the school and say, as was said in this case, that its problems are a scandal.

2228 The anonymous complainant who first opened this case has perhaps appropriately provided the last word on it, as he provided the first. He complains particularly about the actions of the hon. Member for Brent, North in the last letter of the three to which my hon. Friend has referred, saying I fear my naïveté may well have punished the younger teachers at Slade brook who I am sure deserve all the help that they can get. This man, who was prepared to make allegations and to make them anonymously nevertheless now sees that the publicity he brought upon the school was harmful and that it was contrary to the needs of the school, which were for even greater assistance.

I find it very hard to believe that the hon. Member for Brent, North, with all the expertise that he possesses in education and politics, was incapable of seeing what this man now sees. In fact, I go further and say that I believe that the hon. Gentleman saw it but was guilty, as so often before, of exploiting an issue for his own benefit and to gain publicity for himself.

Having studied very closely the report first made anonymously on Slade brook, having studied the report of the inquiry produced by the Brent Education Authority, having looked at reports from my own inspectors and at comment on the school, and having listened to my hon. Friend today, I feel forced to say that the behaviour of the hon. Member for Brent, North in this matter was disgraceful and that he owes the school an apology for inflicting further burdens upon it in addition to those that it is carrying and which it is tackling with such success.

I again thank my hon. Friend for raising this matter. I hope, as he does, that the value of the description that he has given of the work in Slade brook School today will be widely recognised and reported. Unfortunately, like him, I suspect that that may not be the case.