People hated that four letter word’: Middlesbrough’s anger as Labour scraps Eton-backed free school
Scheme to help brightest children from deprived backgrounds scuppered by ‘socialist ideology’
They call Brian Sexton’s grandson the “talking calculator”. He is only nine years old, but his family takes it in turns to quiz him and watch and admire as he turns out the correct answers.
“He can do the square roots of any number you like,” Sexton beams. “He can multiply 117 by 144 by building the blocks in his head and then counting them back. Genius.”
Until last month, his family dreamt that he might one day go to Eton’s free sixth form college that was poised to open in the heart of Middlesbrough.
The proposed school, which was fronted by Eton College and Star Academies, a multi-academy trust, was expected to enrol 480 of the brightest pupils from deprived backgrounds and offer them a world-class education for free.
Although the school was approved in 2023 by the previous government and set to welcome its first 240 pupils last September, Labour entered office and immediately paused plans while it carried out a review.