People often ask me what my old school, Holland Park comprehensive, was like and what it is like now. For the moment, I will direct people to Michele Hanson’s excellent article in The Guardian about the school in recent years. Enough said.
I will be returning to this subject again, in this, Holland Park’s fiftieth year.
I wrote about Michele Hanson’s piece on Holland Park School (where my own children are in the 6th form) on my own blog: sonofabook.blogspot.com. I’m also at present trying to interest agents/publishers in the work of Leila Berg – who wrote about A.S. Neill and other education innovators in the England and the UK in the 60s and 70s, as well as many glorious books for and about children (such as Look at Kids) and a classic autobiographical book. No one, of course, is biting. Leila is now in her 90s, and not one of her books is in print. A feature on her life and work in the Guardian would be timely, and might help to rekindle interest.
I went to Holland Park School – leaving in 1971. It was a wonderful school then – full of excitement for the future, and promoting endless “yet unthought of” possibilities to this teenager. Having lived abroad all of my adult life, I have not followed the changes at Holland Park. However, I thought the web would be full of information about the school – sadly even the wiki entry is wrong. I am sad to see so little interest in the school – I remember it fondly and well!