Growing up in the Cambridgeshire fens some of my earliest memories were of setting up ‘stools’ in our front gardens, laying out our fruit and veg from the vegetable patch on the counter top and putting out a money box so that neighbours could make contributions and feed their family dinner. We all shared and no one ever just took things. It’s what I miss most about ‘home’ living in London, the lack of ‘greed’ which is hard to come by.
During January this year, my child’s London private school announced that they were making class sizes bigger. An extra seven pupils per class which many parents were upset by, more parents who are from working class backgrounds or of ethnic minority it seemed. I had noticed a divide at my child’s private school previously when we joined and quickly experienced racism there.
That ghastly time crept up on me as quickly as everyone said it would. My daughter was starting school! She turned four in April before September 2023. We had decided to put her into private school mainly because we were worried about the large numbers of pupils per class in the states, living in London. Her starting private school put my mind at rest slightly. I figured she’d have a little more care taken around her, less of the fend for yourself type reality me and my partner experienced in the 80’s and 90’s. She was so brave on her first day, all smiles for the camera in her smart attire.
I had met my daughter’s father online dating in my late twenties, I remember seeing a boho photo on his profile of a tall Indian man with long curly hair holding a surfboard. He messaged me and said ‘Hi Lynette we’d make cute babies’ and we did.
We both look totally different now house renovations with a baby and serious ambitions of the perfect shaker style kitchen, utility and boot room to boot had taken their toll. Approaching fifty my boyfriend’s hair became less and approaching forty my waistline had got lost. I still had my avant-garde demeanour, pasty white pigment, strawberry blonde locks and quirky quintessentially English eccentric ways though. We went for ralph lauren prep most days with daddy too. We styled it out as much as we could.
Hand in hand we held one another’s as any new parents do, walking our daughter out of hospital after she arrived into this weird world, hand in hand we walked to register her birth. We high fived on her first birthday that we’d managed to keep her alive for a year. I remember a smirky wink when she started nursery and we smooched after we dropped her off at school that day. More time to ourselves we thought.
Unlike many other parents little did we know how much fuss our different coloured hands coming together would cause. The beginning of term went well, we were pleased that our little bundle of joy had settled in so nicely. I had done all of the school runs until I felt happy she was okay. As the term progressed I started to take on more work – work and my punjabi baby daddy began to help out with the pickups and drop offs.
After my future husband’s first few school runs our daughter told us one of her friends didn’t like daddy. We thought nothing of it but later we were told by our four year old that the child only likes white girls and they didn’t like brown and black people. The child had older siblings in the school so I was worried it was something they’d picked up on from the higher year groups.
The whole family was devastated. If I could have somehow shrunk myself, tunneled into her ear and reset the part of her brain that heard those words, I would have done so. Even if it meant being a polly pocket for the rest of my life. My partner had grown up bleaching his skin in the 80’s and 90’s and I felt sick relaying what our daughter had told me to our family. Our parents were both disappointed, disappointed in the lack of change throughout the decades.
Reluctantly my boyfriend agreed to report the incident at school. He said nothing would come of our complaint and he was right. There were multiple excuses from Newland House, I hadn’t given permission initially to bring the subject up with my daughter as I wanted her to quickly forget the ordeal. They said until they confirmed the precise incident with my daughter they couldn’t investigate which when I asked to see their anti bullying policy was contradicted.
It was unfortunate timing, just before the break up for Christmas term, I remember taking my mother in law to see the nativity, something I’d looked forward to my whole life and pretending I didnt have serious reservations about the school. Christmas was ruined. I had since the incident googled Newland house and found an article describing the atmosphere there as misogynistic. When I brought this up with the headmaster, he said ‘for clarity, a former member of staff made the claims referred to in the newspaper article at a tribunal which they lost as the claims were unfounded.’
He failed to mention the female staff whistleblower who claimed sexual harassment and unfair dismissal obviously didn’t have as good lawyers as Newland house school, a multi million pound business. I also pointed out there are hundreds of schools all over London, Newland house was the only one described as misogynistic.
Before the headmaster agreed to meet with us, me and my partner were interviewed once, nearly twice by various different staff when I snapped, was it us that had done something wrong? I wanted to gauge Mr Skelton himself for myself, not his numerous female counterparts I was less concerned with. Upon meeting Mr Skelton I realised he’s the perfect front man, personable, intelligent and well presented. During the meeting I asked numerous questions including how many staff at the Newland House school were of ethnic minority, he replied quickly ‘one’. One out of one hundred and forty. In most schools around 25 percent of students are of ethnic minority meaning the staff were underrepresented massively. If pupils were represented fairly there would be 35 staff members of ethnic minority compared with Mr Skeltons one. During our conversation Mr Skelton suggested that he ‘tries to empower all children to be anti-racism advocates’ . I asked Mr Skelton if we could in fact create anti racism advocate rolls at newland house but ironically he rejected my suggestion.
I made the point that children of colour wouldn’t feel comfortable without adequate role models at school and white children wouldn’t grow up respecting ethnic minority groups if there were no adults of colour teaching them. This is a serious problem because a lot of children from private schools end up in positions of power around the world. If they are not taught things like white privilege and black history how will they remain unbiased for the future generations to come? Mrs Skelton says he teaches around the word ‘white privilege’ at his establishment.
With pop up exhibitions such as ‘How black people won world war two’ at the Africa Centre London. There is no mention of ethnic minority soldiers within the history curriculum at Newland House and religious education fails to teach children the lesson of ‘war’ caused by religion which massively impacts race.
In 2020 one hundred past students wrote an open letter regarding the prevalence of racism in private schools as reported in the independent. I quote, ‘Racism is a rampant issue spanning the British educational landscape, but in a country where two-thirds of the cabinet attended private school along with 65 percent of supreme court judges and 26 per cent of FTSE 100 chief executives, independent schools have a clear responsibility to produce balanced unbiased individuals. Although the domination of these professions by independent school alumni is itself an inequality that needs to be addressed, we cannot deny its reality. Your schools produce some of the most powerful people in the world.’
Mr Skelton seemed to believe my four- year-old daughter had gone on a six month smear campaign (talented) against the child in question rather than believe that the perpetrator may have actually said these racist remarks despite in 2023/24 the school recording one racism incident per taught month and the bully putting my daughter through a string of other physical and mental cruelties.
By christmas my mental heath had deteriorated and my relentless persistence to find some peace of mind began to dwarf into delusion. Head Lice notifications simultaneously coincided with my ramped up emails of complaints. By this time my delusional brain wondered if, like in old English the notifications were referring to socioeconomic backgrounds such as racism. By the February half term I’d had some kind of nervous breakdown. Tension between my partner and I meant we separated temporarily, meanwhile the perpetrators family remained unnotified and the child in question remained unapproached in any way shape or form.
The ordeal spanned from October 2023 to April 2024 when I realised Newland house school was protecting the family of the little white girl that said such terrifying words to my four year old Indian daughter. Mr Skelton was unsympathetic, patronising and at times rude during conversations. He happily made bold statements such as ‘Not everyone will have a good experience at Newland House School.’ At a cost of twenty thousand pounds a year I was devastated. My family’s life was being turned upside down and he couldn’t even bring himself to say the word ‘unfortunately’ before he delivered such a crass line. Like a politician Mr Skelton argued his way around my attempts at proving our innocence in the incidents making me more and more depressed.
Things got worse when my daughter’s case went to a panel hearing where the chair, Stuart Westely (a white privately educated) ex headmaster exonerated (white privately educated) Newland house headmaster Chris Skelton, who exonerated the white privately educated parents of my child’s bully, who exonerate their white child in turn. Again privately educated. See a pattern?
Going back to the newspaper article in 2015 I can corroborate that during the meeting, either by ignorance of arrogance Mr Skelton repeatedly told the panel incorrect information which benefited him, when I tried to correct this Mr Wesley wouldn’t let me talk. I definitely felt unfairly dismissed, I would describe the two women in the room as timid which was unhelpful but to be expected.
Sitting in the meeting, to start with each white panel member boasted their cvs, I could tell Stuart Westley and Chris Skelton were impressed by one and others there was a sense of comradely between the two heads.
Then in an odd turn of events Stuart Westley said to Mr Skelton he felt he had been too hard on himself with regards of explaining my family’s ordeal to the panel. The school had in parts admitted faults in how they had handled the situation such as after we reported the incident, never replying to us and then when I got back in contact to find out what was going on, reporting misinformation when they interviewed my daughter months later. I asked for a refund of fees, surely they can’t expect ethnic minorities to pay our fees when they sweep racism under the carpet? This was also declined.
A good example of a man, too hard on himself is my father in law, Sudesh Jangra, who fled a civil war and came to live in England with nothing. He managed to relocate his siblings to safety too and got a job at Ford motor cars which enabled his younger brothers and sisters to attend universities around the uk. During the 70’s he fought to challenge the rise in racism and attacks from the National Front, telling me he once knocked down a wall in his garden during riots to use the bricks to protect his family.
In the outcome letter from Stuart Westley he just said the school acted reasonably throughout – despite the school admitting some faults previously. I remember this made my mother laugh. I looked up the word ‘reasonable’ in the dictionary. It means, ‘moderately fair to a certain extent’, a great ‘get out of jail free card’ for white privileged people. (The Koh I noor looted under colonial rule was moderately fairly taken to a certain extent….) it works right?
Despite my daughter looking more like her Indian father than her English mother, when drawing self portraits after the racism at newland house school she always chooses peach skin for herself despite colouring daddy’s face brown. If I suggest to her she uses a darker shade, she gets upset. Showing her father her family pictures I see the disappointment on his face when he realises our daughters made her skin light instead of dark.
The predominately white families who have generationally gone to private schools didn’t mind so much about higher pupil per class ratios, I guess because they didn’t go to schools with say 30/40 pupils per class like some of our other working class parents did and so can’t relate. This is a great example of white privilege. Establishments like Newland house teach around words like ‘white privilege’ so a lot of private schools’ most valuable customers (generational private school pupils) will never learn. They are instead on the loud ‘majority rules’ bandwagon despite not seeing the bigger picture. (This is perhaps why private schools don’t address racism in a fair way) it’s a symbiotic relationship.
I contacted Mr Skelton privately regarding the extra pupils per class proposal, I told him If you add more stress for a teacher there’s less energy/enthusiasm for teaching and that I couldn’t imagine Mrs clouting (our reception teacher and head of early years) being more busy than she already was. If you add extra pupils per class there’s less one on one time for explaining topics to those who aren’t picking it up. The majority of parents in year one fail to realise not everyone has grown up with a TW1 postcode. It took some of us a longer journey to get where we are today. Children of International families whose first language is not English might for example be more behind with their school subjects. We all pay fees and need to as a community find a fair solution. It’s a bit mean to boast ‘majority rules, 20 it is!’
I asked to see the CATS exam results and year two were coming out as ‘merely average’ which is bad for a private school. I was concerned as a lot of us in year one had been told our kids were behind with reading and writing. My daughter in particular, due to the toll bullying and racism had taken on her during reception. I told Mr Skelton that given your year twos are just ‘average’ when up until now you’ve had small classes in year one and reception the likelihood that when he increases pupil per class ratio, it will have a negative knock on effect to the year two classes who are already behind by private school standards. The Year two CATS results won’t improve by adding more pupils into year one & reception, it’s common sense.
Mr Skelton replied ‘The CATs are a measure of a child’s underlying ability, so he feels that the results were reflective of Newland House being non-selective for entry into Nursery and Reception.’ Non-selective schools in the UK contribute to a more diverse student body across the education system, promoting inclusivity and exposure to different perspectives, but can also face challenges in catering to a wide range of abilities, potentially impacting academic achievement levels compared to selective schools in certain areas; the debate around this topic often focuses on the potential trade-offs between academic focus and social integration within the school environment.
Across the board of governors at newland house there’s only one ethnic minority.
Ms Nasreen Janmohamed. As per advertised on the newland house website she is currently in a senior HR position in a Hospital where her role spans across employee relations, employee wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, recruitment and change management. A particular passion of hers is equity, diversity and inclusion and this is one of the reasons that she wanted to become a governor at the school and has a deep interest in pedagogy and how this influences educational outcomes. I’ve reached out to Nasreen for a comment on my article but she has yet to come back to me.
Despite these revelations when you pull up to newland house school it has a big sign outside saying ‘rated excellent’ but this rating is not not given by ‘ofsted’ the reliable external agency used by state schools. Its given by the ISI (independent schools inspectorate) isi reports are conducted by other head masters from private schools so there is an argument amongst fans of ofsted that it’s bias because the examiner doesn’t want to bring down the private sector as a whole.
Mr Skelton did acknowledge in the parent meeting that there are advantages of having smaller sized classes despite the ‘majority rules’ parents (who would quite frankly give ‘swiftys’ a run for their money) not! But, he also said unfortunately he cannot sustain classes of 11 and 12 throughout the school from a financial point of view if the school wanted to adhere to the current staffing and fee levels. Oddly though this statement was contradicted when looking at the schools financial reports, the school was making year on year growth and sitting on multiple six figure surplesses.
Private schools operate as charities which means they give the likes of Prince Charles a run for his money in terms of huge tax breaks. As charities, independent schools do not pay tax on annual profits which instead must be reinvested for the advancement of education for public benefit. When asking Mr Skelton how these profits were reinvested he said:
‘Over the last few years, school funds have been used for major capital projects (for the last few summers we have renovated different parts of the Prep- the latest was the new Music Block that was done last summer). This work includes the resurfacing of the Pre-Prep playground that happened over October half-term. In addition, as interest rates started to rise, the governors opted to pay off chunks of the loan that the school has from when the Pre-Prep building was built.’
When looking around the school all those years ago I was flabbergasted when I walked into the library to see the same chandeliers I curated in a palace for the Saudi Royal Family. At a cost of 10k depending on size per chandelier that’s serious over expenditure for a school’s common areas or any areas in fact! The facilities at Newland house are undoubtedly great but we all know most parents care more about academic grades. I’m not accepting C grades for my daughter because Newland house prioritises designer lighting. The vast loans for the ‘expanding buildings’ Mr Skelton talks of above are becoming vacant. Newland House School has been investing ‘profits’ in extra facilities, then due to financial climate & birth rate decrease can’t fill all the classrooms. This makes no sense to me!
In contrast to the classy lighting inside, outside Newland house has no parking. A ‘click’ of extremely, extremely important women and men are often heard ranting in the street (Wardrawn ukrainian soldiers make less fuss) because they can’t wait two minutes while we jump our little ones out to school. Fancy having that many complete legends all living on one street!
On the group chat one local parents said ‘I think we have to trust Newland moving forward that they are doing the very best for our children and I’m sure they have been expertly advised.’ This morning Mrs Skelton confirmed that the school have not received any specific advice around class size increases nor is there any type of ‘20 per class dossier detailing the impacts the new ‘model’ might have on academic grades.
The school making decisions without any ‘research’ gives me an uneasy feeling Newland house isn’t quite’ what it says on the tin’. Baring all this in mind, It’s good to remember newland set aside vast budgets for PR, marketing and legal costs. One way of settling the financial void Newland House pleads would be to (play fair) and Invest money in ‘teachers’ instead. Let the strength of good old fashioned teaching put grades up higher. That will bring in clientele. Don’t cut staff numbers and increase ‘trickery’ bills. Thats definitely not in our children’s best interests.
In a 2020 interview with time and leisure Mr Skelton said when asked ‘What is the most important lesson that you have learned in life so far? (This was his answer)
‘That doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it is always right. In a school, the only consideration should be doing what is right for the children. Sometimes it is easy for conversations to digress, but when you have children’s best interests at heart, you know that you won’t go far wrong.’
Perhaps, a good compromise amongst everyone would to be to keep years reception to year two classes smaller accepting bigger class sizes from years three to six. I won’t hold my breath, I don’t feel the majority rules folk are the compromising type.
Trying to work out how to finish my writing i’ve decided to leave you with an interesting Colin McDowell turn of phrase ‘fourth class’ a name he attaches to the over or self indulgent seduced by capitalism.