Response to an article in the Mail on Sunday, 25 July

Dear Editor

Your Review item of July 25th, by Eileen Fairweather, tarnished a whole school, St Thomas More, as a ‘notorious crime school’. On behalf of the vast majority of socially responsible, law-abiding families with children at the school we would like to correct some of the more lurid inaccuracies in the article.

One example is an unsubstantiated claim that ‘85% of students at St Thomas More are linked to gangs’; this is simply untrue as would be testified by anyone who knows the school well.

Another is the assertion that the school is in Tottenham, serving the ‘notorious Broadwater Farm estate where PC Keith Blakelock was murdered by machete-wielding rioters’. This was no doubt included because a reference to tragic events some 25 years ago makes it easier for the writer to paint the school as crime-ridden. The school is actually in Wood Green and serves many other parts of the borough as well as neighbouring Enfield.

We are also concerned that the article included an identifiable image of a potentially vulnerable young person, under 16 years of age.

There’s no question that St Thomas More, like many other inner-city schools, faces challenges from a minority of students. We are well aware of the pressing need to address these – and are doing so - but part of the solution is not to stigmatise the school as bad and beyond redemption, which is the impression left by anyone reading the item.

Given this, so that local families can see your comments in a more balanced context, I would be grateful if you would publish this letter.

Yours faithfully,

Cllr Lorna Reith

Cabinet member for Children and Young People.