Devil's Game by Patricia Hall Page A

that. What they don’t seem to appreciate is how successful that is in educational terms.’
    ‘So who might not be welcome here?’ Laura pressed. ‘Muslims?’
    ‘No, no, we find Muslim parents very often appreciate our approach to discipline and morality. We have a number of Muslim students here. As we do West Indians from more traditional families. So far, they are doing very well. Very well indeed.’
    ‘But not the children of drug dealers?’ Laura asked evenly. ‘Or members of local gangs? Or single parents on benefits who can’t afford the school uniform?’
    ‘Their parents would be unlikely to be able to meet our expectations, I fear,’ Masefield said. ‘Some of the local children choose to go elsewhere.’ I bet they do, Laura thought, recognising the evidence here of what Bradfield parents feared would happen there: the price of a gleaming new school would be the exclusion of ‘difficult’ pupils to ensure that exam results looked good.
    ‘So what happens if a few of the less desirable students slip through the net?’ she asked, not disguising her scepticism.
    ‘We have a very firm policy on school rules. Three strikesand you are out, basically, with no exceptions.’ Masefield’s expression had hardened now.
    ‘So you filter the children coming in, and then keep on filtering the difficult ones out again as they go up the school?’
    ‘We feel no particular obligation to families who find it impossible to commit to our objectives,’ Masefield said flatly. ‘We don’t apologise for making demands. That is the price of a successful education. It requires effort on both sides.’
    Laura did not feel she could argue with that, but she wondered at a head teacher who saw no merit in going the extra mile for children who had no support from home, punishing them twice, in effect, for factors over which they had no control. Then she remembered the Bradfield head Debbie Stapleton’s other objection to David Murgatroyd’s approach to education.
    ‘And what about the curriculum, Mr Masefield? You mention biblical precepts. What does that amount to? Creationism in the science lessons?’
    ‘Intelligent design is a valid means of looking at the world,’ Masefield said, slightly defensively. ‘In many American schools that is completely accepted now.’
    ‘But not part of the National Curriculum here yet,’ Laura said mildly. ‘And what about sex education?’
    ‘Like all schools, the governors discuss this with parents. So far we have had no objections to our conservative approach, which is based on biblical precepts.’
    ‘No sex outside marriage?’
    ‘Precisely. Many of our girls are part of the silver-ring movement, promising to remain pure until marriage.’
    ‘You promote that?’ Laura asked.
    ‘One of our female staff members is very keen. She is responsible for sex education.’
    ‘So you’ve cracked the problem of teenage pregnancy?’ Masefield glanced away, suddenly embarrassed.
    ‘Not quite yet, it has to be said,’ he admitted.
    ‘So, tell me, what happens if one of your teenagers concludes that he or she is gay? What is the school’s reaction to that?’ Laura knew she was being provocative but Masefield’s bland certainties were beginning to annoy her.
    ‘It is not a lifestyle choice which we would in any way condone,’ Masefield said. ‘Our general view of sexual activity within marriage would obviously not include same-sex relationships. Fortunately, praise the Lord, it’s not a problem which we have met during the time we have been open.’ They had by now come full circle and were outside the head teacher’s office door where he consulted his watch ostentatiously.
    ‘I’m afraid that’s all I have time for today, Miss Ackroyd,’ he said. ‘I hope that has given you some idea of the sort of school we are running here. You will find the first set of GCSE examination results in the brochure I’ve given you. We were very pleased with them. They far outstrip