Pimlico School

I noticed the news reports because, way back, I had a friend who taught there, and it’s always had a bit of a knoack for getting itself talked about. This time, there were pupil protests over changes to the curriculum, uniform policy and the siting of a union flag, all (surprise, surprise) attracting lots of media attention.

Just after the protest, the school principal sent a letter to parents, expressing regret but also admiration for the students’ “passion about the things that matter to them.” So far, so reasonable.

But now the chair of the trust that runs the academy (i.e. more powerful further away from the business of actual teaching) has sent a threatening letter to parents warning that any future disobedience by pupils will result in disciplinary action. It’s all about threats and sanctions, nothing about why they might be protesting in the first place. Not surprisingly, many parents are furious. It’s not going to solve the problem.

During the Covid crisis we’ve got used to- though we’ve not always been convinced by - government assertions that they were being guided by the science, listening to the experts. Thanks to decades of deliberate smears by government, nobody ever says the same about education. There aren’t any experts, we can all make it up as we go along, and if we’ve got power we can just tell the others what to do. What a recipe for disaster.