Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 17

Evening Standard Monday 3 March 2003 17 between the parents teachers and the leadership team at the he said school has sidelined the parents association and 1 think there is a sense that we have dug ourselves into a hole We have to get the debate going THE key issue is over consultation and parent involvement Historically parents teachers and pupils have contributed to decisions Now Mr Sawyer said a regime has been imposed on them It began with the appointment two years ago of a new headmaster Colin Hall Mr Hall 41 was hired on a salary of £70000 from a school in Oxford where he earned a reputation for being ferociously hardworking and according to one description Soon after Ids arrival the school was given a designer makeover and motivational slogans began appearing on posters The most-repeated became a new school motto: genius in The new regime has achieved a modest improvement in exam results Last year 38 per cent of pupils notched up at least five good GCSEs up from 30 per cent two years before though still well below the national average 52 per cent Achievement at A-level is just below average for the borough But for some of the more Leftleaning parents and teachers the changes introduced by Mr Hall smacked of elitism always anathema at Holland Park Then Mr Hall invoked another taboo He introduced setting by ability grouping cleverer pupils together in English maths and science Some saw in this a threat to the egalitarian tradition There was further unhappiness when he announced that the school would introduce for admissions From next year 25 per cent of new pupils will be taken from the top ability band 50 per cent from the middle and 25 per cent from the bottom Mr critics say this will tend to exclude children from low-achieving schools in the north of the borough Labour councillor Rima Horton a governor at Barlby Primary School in North Kensington said: will be taking children from outside the borough in preference to those from schools like Barlby primary just so they can get the exam results But for many parents Mr Hall committed his most grave error when he decided to bring in a school uniform Mr Sawyer said: of the most important features of the school is the enormous diversity of its pupils They come from all different classes and backgrounds ethnic groups The way they dress is part of where they come from Now that will be Mr Sawyer said changes at Holland Park have led to a slump in morale At least 53 teachers have left in the past 18 months including two heads of department More will follow he said MR Hall refused to discuss these issues with the Evening Standard He referred me to Christopher Buck-master the cabinet member for education and a school governor Mr Buckmaster also declined to be interviewed but replied to a list of questions He defended the changes introduced by Mr Hall and emphasised that the council was committed to driving up educational standards at Holland Park are introducing proven strategies that would be entirely uncon-troversial he said Is this the heart of the matter? Could it be that Holland Park is merely being dragged against the will of some into the real world? I put the question to Susan Crosland wife of the late Tony Crosland the Labour minister whose determination to end educational segregation ushered in the Comprehensive era Mrs two daughters from a previous marriage were at top fee-paying schools in London paid for by her father when she met Crosland After their marriage the children were moved to Holland Park Would Tony Crosland abhor the changes now being made to his flagship school? She did not think so it all started there was no streaming but Tony changed his mind about that He came to believe that it probably I was better if there was some grading according to ability The introduction of a uniform would not worry us A uniform can be a very useful way of levelling out differences in economic background do change I think Tony would say if not working you have to try to fix Inspectors from Ofsted visit next month and their report will either endorse or condemn the changes at Holland Park They will note that exam results have shown an eight per cent improvement although the statistic most likely to impress them is the one about applications to send a child to the school Historically there have been around 300 applications for 240 places This year there were 477 Benn the Labour minister and veteran socialist packed off his four children from the large house on Holland Park Avenue to the school on nearby Campden Hill His late wife Caroline was a long-serving governor and she spoke for many parents when she said she wanted her children to learn about whole of The son Hilary currently minister for prisons and probation was remembered by a contemporary for urging fellow pupils to walk out in support of teachers striking for more pay The school did not prosper academically but it thrived on its extraordinary social mix Children came from homes on run-down council estates in the north of the borough and from houses owned by the wealthy mid privileged This was a great attraction for many One parent who had three children at the school described a richness of community which she believed helped equip her children for adulthood The exam results were not always satisfactory but lessons were learned early All that is now at risk says the Reverend Michael Sawyer chair of the parent teacher body Mr Sawyer who has a son at the school is a Methodist minister and he says he has watched with dismay as changes have been made is a gulf.