Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 16

I 16 Monday 3 March 2003 Evening Standard Restore your appearance by using your own natural growing hair The facts speak for themselves any adult male can suffer from impotence premature ejaculation and erection problems At The Wellman Clinic we specialise in treating th problems in a discreet an! understanding atmosphere We offer full medical screening sexually transmitted diseases testing and surgery for penile size Droblems and circumcision By Keith Dovkants THE HAIR CLINIC 020 7224 4640 wwwthehaircSnicltdcom John Bell Medical Store 50-54 Wigmore Street London W1 HARLEY STREET WELLMAN CLINIC 57 HARLEY STREET LONDON W1 OLLAND Park School II was once called the Eton JJ of Comprehensives Angelica Huston the Oscar-winning actress JhL went there as did Hilary Benn the prisons minister The children of film director Ken Russell musician John Mayall and writer Antonia Fraser were all pupils along with many other famous names There was a time when the scions of some of the most distinguished families in London were sent to Holland Park to absorb its freewheeling liberal and egalitarian spirit Holland Park was hip it was funky It was more than a school it was an idea Now reality has taken hold Concepts of progressive education are being shifted aside in favour of results Moves are being made to propel the school into the upper league It might be imagined that this would delight parents but Holland Park is at war with itself A significant number of parents are angry over the way the school is changing and a bitter conflict has broken out In one camp parents and teachers stand united in defence of what they believe is the distinctive ethos In the other a young and ambitious headmaster local councillors and school governors back the drive for change The struggle is more than a dash of views over how to run a school For many Holland Park is an enduring symbol of the Comprehensive ideal Indeed it was the first purpose-built Comprehensive the flagship If it founders through compromised principles it is argued the entire experiment will be judged a failure That however would not cause too much chagrin at Kensington and Chelsea council the deeply Conservative local authority that has responsibility for the school Tory councillors have been in the forefront of the moves to bring in change is a Conservative caucus with an agenda that they intend to the father of a 13-year-old pupil said are not interested in what parents think They seem determined to destroy everything the school stands Holland Park was meant to stand for something rather fine equality of opportunity for all HEN the Labour government condemned the 11-plus examination and brought in comprehensives in the Sixties Holland Park was the model It was built on a site surrounded by some of the most exclusive streets in London where some residents complained about the Cockney accents and John Betjeman expressed anxiety about the safety of the trees Plonking down a sprawling state school in the middle of Kensington was considered a bold experiment But more was to come In the Sixties the school embraced laissez-faire ideas that saw the abolition of streaming by ability an eas ing of discipline and a relaxed atmosphere in which pupils found few restrictions They embraced the new freedoms wholeheartedly In his book Comp former pupil John-Paul Flintoff documented the chaos the violence drug-taking and anarchy that characterised the place One pupil remembered sitting cross-legged on the table saying what a Thatcher was Hard drugs were everywhere Flintoff wrote of one contemporary who had been a crack addict but himself and became a dealer Another pupil recalled: guy jumped on the back and got him in a half-nelson and he even suspended It made St look like Lucie In one celebrated episode pupils rioted when a favourite teacher left in 1973 the school snubbed the wedding of Princess Anne by working through the national holiday given to schools and giving children the day off later In 1970 journalist George Gale then editor of The Spectator claimed girls were running a vice ring at the school Yet through the Seventies and Eighties many affluent and famous parents believed a worse evil was to be found in private education It became fashionable for families who could afford public schools to demonstrate their commitment to political principles by sending their children to Holland Park Tony.