The barrister that bought a school for her son

Faced with the problem of what to do about schools, Annabel Goodman, a barrister and single mother of two boys, decided that she was the only person up to the challenge of managing her son's education. Annabel didn't just find a school for her son, Jacob, she bought one for him....

You (now very famously) bought the New Elizabethan School in Worcestershire. What were your main motives behind the purchase?

Frustration and desperation fuelled my decision and possibly a little ignorance too! In Truth, I hadn’t a clue what I was taking on! My son was 13 years old, I did not have much time to waste...you only get one shot at your child’s education, don’t you?

But, there are 1.53 million kids with identified Specific Learning Difficulties in the UK according to the Government Select Committee (2006), equating to 1 in 4 boys and 1 in 10 girls! Pretty shocking statistics. There are fewer Special Schools than ever before and most kids don’t need traditional ‘Special Needs’ education, but small classes with lots of support and a positive environment. Very few schools like that exist, so we support a particular niche that I knew would work for my son. If you can’t find the thing your child really needs, I suppose you have to create it for yourself.

Some might say it is quite a drastic move- were there no other options available to both you and you son Jacob?

The Government operate a very ineffective policy of ‘Inclusion’ for kids with Dyslexia, for example. That means they are stuck in classes of 30 but with the odd hour of remedial type support, if the school can afford it. The process of having a child ‘Statemented’ for extra (costly!) provision can take years and there is an inevitable conflict as the school are charged with the role of identifying such a learning difficulty, but having done so have to find the funds to support the child in accordance with the legal requirements of such. State schools simply do not have the funds to do this for all of the children that need it, hence, most children get labelled with other things, such as behavioural problems, get ignored and slip through the educational net.  As a Youth Prosecutor/Defence Barrister, I have seen the net effect of this pervasive problem with huge numbers of excluded children and kids with very low levels of literacy clogging up the Criminal Justice System.

Did you move specifically to the area to send Jacob to the school?

Unfortunately, we do not live in the area any more, we live in Warwickshire, some 50 minutes drive way. I drive my sons and two other children to school and back each day. So really, I am just a glorified taxi driver!! I know my place...

Are you still practising as a barrister? If so, how do you manage to juggle both your career and your newly acquired one?!

I try to work three or four days per week in Court with all of the rest of my time devoted to school, both in terms of managing it and teaching the children. At certain important times, like the start of term, I take a week or two out of Court to be at school. There have been months at a time when I have driven from Warwick to school with the children, worked for half an hour, driven to Gloucester, Prosecuted all day, reached home at seven in time to make supper and began prepping my Court for the following day at 9pm, ready to get up at 5am to start the whole process again. Not sure where the stamina comes from, but not much room for a social life!!

What immediate plans do you have for both your family and the school and how do you now envisage your future now that you’ve acquired your own school!

Two thirds of the pupils at my school are Statemented for need by the Local Education Authorities, but despite the legal duties owed to them by these LEA’s the system still failed them miserably. Thus, their parents sent them to us where they are now making huge progress thankfully. But parents have to pay the fees, and some are struggling hugely to meet that cost. I realised recently that I had inadvertently relieved the LEA’s a huge burden and cost. That was a mistake. So we are now supporting parents in battling with the LEA’s to get their Statemented children funded at the school. It’s my personal view that the funding should follow the child, and in any event we are cheaper than state schools that try to provide education but do not always achieve our results.

Is there any way members of the public can help?

Lawyers can help by supporting parents, on a pro bono basis if need be, to write letters to LEA’s to get children Statemented for their needs and then to get the funding to follow the child into the appropriate educational setting. The public should have a positive attitude toward alternative types of education and realise that children with learning differences can achieve and be happy, functional members of society if they receive the correct support and education. All of the kids at my school sit for GSCE’s and other examinations and we teach them to be optimistic to achieve in all aspects of life. Every child deserves to be nurtured to reach his/her full potential. Oh and of course....money for ventures like this helps too!

Interview with Vanessa Wozniak: vwozniak@lawandmore.co.uk