Poor parenting is at the root of our failing schools

When it comes to education, I’m in two minds, maybe three. I was sent to private schools, including, for my ‘Oxbridge’ term, Eton, where the teaching was life-changing. But when it came to my children, no amount of cheeseparing was going to make private fees possible. From the age of three to 18, they went to our local state schools. They flourished academically, made lots of friends and enjoyed two advantages I never had: they walked to school, and mixed comfortably with children from every background. Why pay fees? I wondered. State schools were best.

Alison Colwell makes me think again. In 2014, she was appointed head teacher at Ebbsfleet Academy in Kent, then one of the most challenging schools in the country. Only 17 per cent of students were getting the minimum requirement of five GCSEs at A* to C grades. Pupils practised ‘classroom terrorism’ – screaming and throwing desks around.