Discarded needles, enforced mediocrity, petty bullying, too much political correctness, not enough Jesus or competitive sport: New Statesman readers with children in state schools will be surprised – but perhaps not that surprised – to hear that these are common features of our nation’s schools, at least according to our press and broadcasting media, few of whose leaders use the system they so relentlessly traduce ………….( read on here.)

Read Melissa Benn’s latest article, written with Fiona Millar, on contemporary media coverage of state schools in this week’s New Statesman.