Schools chief: I'd not let child study in Hackney

The former chief schools inspector now in charge of schools in Hackney has said he would not let his children be educated in the borough.

Mike Tomlinson, who chairs the Learning Trust which took control of the borough's schools last year, said: "I want the position to be where I can honestly say to every parent in Hackney I would be happy to send my child to these schools. I can't do that at the moment."

His comments will re-open the row over the quality of state education, and the issue of parents "playing the system" to get their children into the most successful schools.

They come in a Channel 4 documentary to be shown tonight in which Fiona Millar, a former aide to Cherie Blair, repeats her charge that middle-class parents who send their children to selective and church schools are to blame for the quality of inner-city comprehensives.

Interviewed for the programme, Mr Tomlinson appears to back the view that parents can be justified in taking such action. Almost 7,000 Hackney children go to school outside its borders, while little more than 2,000 come in from outside. Just less than 40 per cent of children in Hackney schools achieved at least five good GCSEs last summer.

But this was a great improvement on the previous year.