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Another outstanding school deserves a medal
• AS yet another Camden school is judged by Ofsted to be “outstanding”, this time Christopher Hatton School, perhaps we should award them a “Bryant Mirage Medal” as well?
Because under Liberal Democrat policy for the borough, this is not supposed to happen.
Thanks to New Journal investigations (Leak reveals school plot to win votes, December 6) your readers were told the “definitive” view of education in Camden from Lib Dim councillor John Bryant, the executive member for children, in which he collectively defamed all our teachers, governors, parents and pupils.
In particular, Councillor Bryant poured scorn on “community schools” in Camden, where, outrageously, he claimed that none is “outstanding” by Ofsted standards.
So for those of us in Holborn, it is not only a matter of intense local pride that Gwen Lee and her community school have received the supreme accolade from Ofsted, it also points up the contrast with the misrepresentations on the part of Cllr Bryant, temporarily at the helm in Camden, who clearly does not cherish the superb effectiveness of our schools.
The educational achievement at Christopher Hatton is all the more remarkable in that, typical in the neighbourhood, English is spoken as a second language by more than two-thirds of its pupils.
The triumph also raises the central question as to why there is no secondary school south of the Euston Road for these children to go on to, but just an anxious future where they can expect to be scattered to over 40 different schools, mostly outside Camden.
This ought to be the injustice motivating Lib Dem educational policy in the borough, now we have the long-awaited chance to build a new school, rather than rushing through a University College London academy on the north-western frontier for what they perceive as their own electoral advantage. However, many congratulations to Christopher Hatton School for this – and another “booby prize” for Cllr Bryant.
CLLR JULIAN FULBROOK
Labour, Holborn and Covent Garden ward
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