In his speech to the Conservative Party conference in October, Boris Johnson drew attention to one particular institution – an example, to his mind, of what Britain’s education sector can achieve. ‘There is,’ he proclaimed, ‘a new school that anyone could send their kids to, in an area that has for decades been one of the most disadvantaged in London.’ Gesticulating for emphasis, Johnson lionised Brampton Manor Academy in Newham, a school that this year sent more students to Oxbridge than Eton. ‘If you want proof of what I mean by unleashing potential, and by levelling up, look at Brampton Manor.’
The school has regularly attracted headlines for its outstanding results – it did so again in spring this year when it had 55 students accepted onto courses at Oxford and Cambridge, seven more than Eton, Johnson’s alma mater. The plaudits focused on the fact that a state school in which 50% of students are on free school meals, and where only around 5% identify as white British, had bested one of the most expensive schools in the country.
How did they do it? ‘No fist bumps and 6am starts’, according to the Sun, and ‘success through effort and determination’, according to the school’s motto, although high grade requirements for entry and a dedicated University Access Team (UAT) of seven Oxbridge graduates who work solely on university applications are also part of the formula.
To Johnson, and to sections of the media, the school’s success is evidence of increasing equality in the education system, and is testament to what can be achieved with hard work and ambition.
There was, however, a notable omission from the laudatory reports which emerged from results day and conference coverage. In May this year, Yasmin Omar, a newly qualified biology teacher, who had recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, was found to have been discriminated against by Brampton Manor senior management based on her disability. In a rather different tone to the Prime Minister, the employment tribunal deemed the school responsible for creating a ‘hostile and intimidating environment’, which Omar was subjected to from day one of her time there. The case went unreported by all national and local news outlets.
Omar’s experience is not, however, an outlier. In a recent conversation, as this article was going to press, she told me that she has been contacted by over 20 ex-Brampton teachers since the judgment was released, all of whom wanted to share their own experiences and express solidarity. ‘We had a common feeling of fear, of feeling bullied,’ she told me.
Over the course of my investigation, I spoke to ten former members of staff and several ex-students about their experiences at the school. Their allegations suggest that behind Brampton Manor’s gilded public image, there lurks a culture of fear.
According to Ahmet* a former teacher at Brampton, ‘the way they treat new teachers needs a new way to describe it: bullying doesn’t capture what they go through.’ Mark*, a former deputy head of a department, describes it as a ‘very intimidating workplace.’ He told me he has worked in five secondary schools but has never seen anywhere that compares to Brampton in terms of the mistreatment of staff.
