On 30th September 10 Ken May said: One of the funniest programmes I have watched for a long time. It should set back the cause of free schools for a very long time. Your teachers were right, Toby. Thick. And clueless.

On 30th September 10 Sophie said: I have just watched this programme. I am unfraid Toby it portrayed you and your 'school' in a very bad way. I would most definately not consider sending my child to your clique. I think it is disgusting that you are unprepared to pay for your children to go to private school, yet make out your children are too good for the local state school and have now somehow under this stupid government managed to get money to create your own school based on what it seems is solely what you want just for your own children. I feel so sorry for the children who will end up on your school. I think you need to seriously think about your own ethos before setting up an ethos for a school. The first thing I think you need to address is the lack of respect you appear to have for teachers in our state schools, who do an absolutely fantastic job.

On 30th September 10 Jay Canning said: Mr Young, firstly I would like to say that I admire your guts and bravery. Standing up to the behemoth that is the status quo takes balls in modern Britain, and you do it in style. The BBC2 programme last night has somewhat restored my faith in democracy. The fact that the change in government has allowed you to do this has made me feel that my half-arsed vote actually meant something and that we really can change the system. In the general case, present day state education stifles social mobility due to the fact that it does not deliver the quality required. Without meaning to, the state system favours the middle class because it is only that class of people who can afford to supplement their child's mediocre school education with extras such as evening tutors and extra classes. Many of these parents even provide direct assistance with homework etc. Children from backgrounds where the parents are unable to help are simply left to flounder in mediocrity. An ideal state education system would be able to provide the best opportunities for every child, regardless of whether their parents are involved or not. Unwittingly a system has been created that relies on parental involvement. I find myself fighting against a system that champions the very same cause that I do - Access and opportunities for the disadvantaged! I believe that the philosophy behind your school will provide much better chances for disadvantaged kids than conventional Comprehensives can offer, becuase you are offering them a rigorous, disciplined and driven education, in the subjects that matter. Your inclusion of Latin/Classics truly brought a smile to my face, because I know how useful these subjects are in life. My parents took me out of Secondary School midway through Year 8, as by then they had become disillusioned with what was going on in the system. I was home educated up to GCSE using correspondence courses. The task being more difficult alone, I only took 6 GCSES but achieved top grades in all of them including an A* in Latin, which was not offered at the school I had been attending. Because of its association with the ancient elite, it's no surprise that Latin has been scorned by modern Education professionals, but it will be one of the most useful subjects taught at your school. The view that Latin is a dead language is also extremely misguided and it is very much alive in the form of French, Spanish, Portugese, Italian and Romanian. Our own language of English also owes a lot to it. You are correct about Latin's ability to teach people to think, but what was missing in the programme (editing?) was the point of how useful it is in an applied sense. I have never studied Spanish, Portugese or Romanian but can read whole sentences in these languages because I have studied Latin. It also made studying French and Italian so much easier. I got 100% for GCSE French and I am not a genius. The failure of modern language teaching in our education system is largely due to the introduction of phrase memorising in place of grammatical structure. Latin provides the best possible assistance when you are learning the structure of modern languages such as French, and enables you to properly learn how the language works.... which makes everything easier for the student! After GCSEs I went to a state funded sixth form college to take A levels in Maths, Physics and French. Again the lack of grammatical structure was evident in French and thanks to my Latin background I was able to understand difficult points with greater ease than some of my classmates who found the introduction of grammar to be a major paradigm shift. During A level Physics it became apparent that the sciences have been deprived of their grammar too - the mathematical content of Physics had been dumbed down to such an extent that meaning was lost. Students going to university to read science subjects routinely flounder when it comes to their mathematical nature, and this is something that sixth form should be preparing them for instead of shying away from something that looks hard. I have read the other comments on your blog regarding the programme and find that some of them represent an entrenched mindset, which I find depressing. Let us all remember that Galileo was arrested for suggesting that the earth goes round the sun. I wish you every success with this venture.

On 30th September 10 Chris said: Hi Toby, very interesting documentary. Although I fundamentally disagree with that allowing people to set up schools like this and I think it is the wrong solution to a very complex problem, I'm not going to be as aggressive as those who posted before me. I agree that the education system isn't working fantastically. lets be honest, it's not really bad, it still produces doctors, engineers etc. However, it definitely doesn't serve every child equally and the segregation of schools into public and private only benefits those with money. All the research shows that those who go to private school are much more likely to go to the better universities even when grades are taken into account. Choice is only choice if you are able to choose, and to be able to choose you have to have money. Also, a very interesting piece of research has recently been released (I can't remember who wrote it so you may have to google it) that the strongest influence on a child's performance at school is the parents, and where they live, therefore how much they earn. My fear with your school is that it will consist mostly of middle class children. I'm sure it will be a fantastic education for them, but they will probably do ok anyway. That doesn't solve the problem. My personal view is that we should be looking at the reasons for having our education system. It is currently just a farm to produce GCSE/A level grades to improve your employment opportunities. I feel that it should be to EDUCATE children about the world, be that human culture or the nature of the atom, and not so tied to getting a job. When we move away from education being about getting more money by getting a better job and about being a way to impart knowledge so you can make your own 'educated' decisions about your choices in life, maybe things will change.

On 30th September 10 Aethel said: Congratulations Toby, I wish you every success! The prevailing mindset in England (in the search for 'equality') seeks to drag everyone down to the lowest common denominator instead of pulling everyone up to the highest! We need equality of excellence and not equality of mediocrity.

On 30th September 10 Sarah Sparkes said: I enjoyed watching your documentary and I really admire the ambition behind your school. Personally, as I watched, I couldn't help but turn my mind back to my own education. The International Baccalaureate is an amazing qualification - and from what you said in your documentary I think it would be perfect for the West London Free School. It is rigorously academic, expands your horizons in many areas and instils in you a thirst for knowledge as well as the ability to think critically and analytically. I strongly recommend you consider it.

On 30th September 10 Dan said: Toby, reading some of venom directed at you on this site and others makes me slightly ashamed to share a nationality with the authors, I actually thought we were better than that. There are a lot of people out here who support your tenacity to provide a better education for our children than is currently available to them, even if those people are not as vocal as your detractors. Good luck.

On 30th September 10 Sarah said: I think you need to take a step back and realise how lucky you are Toby Young. I am afraid that this documentary made you look both ignorant and arrogant. I think it is important that you gain a far better understanding of the 'wider' community that you wish to serve. You have obviously lead a very lucky and privileged life up until now, and we can see this is your beautiful house, cars, kitchen. Before you moan about your B's and C's at A level take a moment to stop and think. The reason that you didn't achieve straight A's is quite likely your own attitude towards study at the time, perhaps you simply did not put in enough work. You cannot blame the teachers or the school for your own personal conceptions of failure. For the majority those grades are good enough! Please before nest september, spend time in schools and listen to the issues that teachers and pupils face. Understand how it feels to live below the poverty line, how it feels to not be white and middle class in this society. Take a moment and listen..

On 1st October 10 Jack said: This is a classic example of old school tie mutual back slapping and favours. I was sitting in the fence about this government but its things like this where Oxbridge boys get together to conspire that make me sick. I shall be joining the Labour party today and will ensure that when they get back into power this kind of fraud is abolished once and for all. If you want a Duck Island for your massive house Mr Young then send the bill to your pal Dave and I'm sure he'll settle that as well.

On 1st October 10 Jack said: I mean 'on the fence' not 'in the fence' - It's what happens when you perform angry typing

On 1st October 10 Gerard said: I congratulate Toby and his team for their boundless energy, enthusiasm, determination and resolve. I feel that it is more than commendable for them to have reached thus far in the face of insults and stonewalling. I wish that many more of us showed these sterling qualities. I was an immigrant to this country (Im over 70 now) and the only thing that got me (and my fmily) out of this dreadful and pernicious class structure was self eduation. Regardless of whether Toby fails or succeeds his perseverance in the face of adversity show true British pluck and determination and make me proud to be British.

On 3rd October 10 Jenina Bas said: This great - the idea that parents can creative a school of their own conception with their own ethos. Regardless of whether everyone will want to send their kids, some people will. The greater type of schools that exist, the better. Grammars should co-exist with comprehensives, with those that cater more vocational subjects, etc. Note everyone wants to do 11 GCSEs - not everyone will be capable of it. There are some v rich people out there who are not academic, who are not posh or anything. More power to non-government controlled, non-union controlled schools, including faith schools.

On 3rd October 10 Sarah Kay said: Just how does a small, backward looking curriculum encourage the production of free-thinking individuals? You say you want a school with no ethos yet at the same time you want to force-feed these children on latin and Lewis Carroll, of course there is an ethos, it's the 'what Toby Young thinks is best for children' ethos. These kids have no chance.

On 4th October 10 Tin-Tin said: I'm just amazed that Claire Khaw has had nothing to add today.

On 5th October 10 Toby Young said: Sarah, I don't think I've ever said I want the school to have no ethos, only that I don't want it to be hidebound by the secular ideology of the state. And you'll be relieved to learn that I've had very little input into the curriculum. I leave that to the teachers on the Steering Committee and I'm confident they know what they're doing, not least because they include the Director of Academic Management at Latymer Upper School and the former headmaster of the London Oratory, two of the best schools in the country. You may decide that having study Latin and sit at least eight academic GCSEs or IGCSEs isn't right for your child and I would respect your choice, but it's a little dogmatic to conclude that any child that comes to our school will have "no chance". Thanks to all those that have posted supportive comments, particularly Gerard. The continual offers of support I get from parents and teachers, many of them offering to give up their time to help us out, makes me proud to be British.

On 5th October 10 Terry said: I just read your article featured on the Telegraph online Toby and I feel even more annoyed than I did before. I say this as someone who enjoyed both your books and actually liked the idea of what you were doing in starting a new school. It was only when I saw the documentary and the mutual back slapping old school tie upper middle class cronyism that I actually started to feel furious towards you. Like it or not you have created a safe place for your white kids to go to school simply because you and your rich friends aren't feeling so rich anymore and couldn't afford the school fees - admit it. You could have made a difference if you and your friends had only put the effort into helping out your local comprehensive but that would have been hard work and taken too long to create real change. You kids may have come home with ethnically diverse friends by then - heaven forbid. You could have been a legend - but in fact you have turned out to be a LEG END

On 5th October 10 Toby Young said: I don't honestly think it would have been more work had I decided to become, say, a parent governor of Acton High School. I've been working on this project 24/7 for 13 months. School governors generally meet for a few hours every two months. As for wanting my children to receive the sort of education they'd get at an independent school, but for free, that's spot on. The OECD recently ranked Britain's independent schools as the best schools in the world. But it's also an opportunity I want to extend to every child in the country – and, indeed, the West London Free School will be extending that opportunity to tens of thousands of children. At full capacity it will educate 840 children, with the number being replenished by 120 every year. They certainly won't all be white or middle class, either. The school will be bound by the Schools Admissions Code and that means its intake will reflect the social and ethnic diversity of the area – which is what everyone in the West London Free School steering group wants.

On 5th October 10 Mark said: Really enjoyed the programme Toby, and admire the determination of the West London Free School group. Best of luck to you from a like-minded young parent, about to move to Acton.

On 7th October 10 Jo Williams FCA said: Jack,(of 1st October), and all you other 'angry' people out there: read your comments back to yourselves and reflect that the inferior quality of your syntax and spelling (due to a comprehensive education?), compared to the elegant prose of those who support Toby, wrests the argument from you; just read, compare, and reflect.

On 8th October 10 Helen said: I would love to send my son to your school.., he has some special needs but is of almost genius level intelligence. State Comprehensive Education for the first three years consisted of me constantly getting him put back into mainstream schooling after they repeatedly put him into remedial classes (in spite of him having a reading age assessed by the school of 19+ at age 11). Now suddenly they realise he is the brightest boy in the school but still will only put him in for the standard 5 GCSE's and will not allow him to take any early (the school is set up to deal with the average only).He is already at A level standard in some subject areas. While I don't agree with everything in your set up.., I do believe children should be stretched, should have discipline and should have 'expectations' made of them. If only my son could be in that environment.

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On 23rd November 10 David said: I wish you every success with your school, Mr Young. Having seen many foreign-born parents show utter shock at the low educational and behavioural standards of UK state schools, I have come to the conclusion that our system is uniquely bad in the developed world. UK state education is so rotten that only by diverting funds to 'system busters' outside the status quo can children ever hope to gain a first-class education without paying for private schooling. The Academy system is a mere distraction - cod-businesslike window dressing that will do little to improve matters. I feel that as soon as a core of successful free schools emerge a new model will form and win respect. We've seen the blame game played for too long. 'It's not the school's fault - it's the parents/society/poverty/lack of funding.' Children are cooped up for so long in schools that it shouldn't matter what damage one's background has done. At present a parent must not only give moral support their children but often directly tutor them to plug the vast gaps left by state schools, or dip into their pockets and pay for additional help. Members of my own family were socially mobile though gaining more education than their parents, who merely encouraged them rather than providing education themselves. Unsurprisingly, these people went to the good old Grammars. It's amazing what we once had that we tossed away. I have learned that in my city, notorious for middling and downright terrible schools, an eye-openingly large number of parents choosing home education. Lack of discipline, lack of rigour, bullying, poor teaching and slapdash organisation seem to be the primary reasons, although some more alternative types desire a more unstructured approach. Surely there must be huge scope for Free Schools across the nation? Whether your focus on the classics would be my priority I'm not sure. Merely learning English, Maths, Science and languages with reasonable rigour would trump most state schools easily. Things are so bad that almost anything would be an improvement.

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