The Xtra Diary - PM David Cameron - 'terrified' of not finding a good state school for his children

Published: 16 July, 2010

So David Cameron is “terrified” of trying to find a good state school for his children in central London.

So he must be terrified of Pimlico Academy, Westminster City School and Grey Coat Hospital – the nearest secondary schools to Downing Street, none of which as far as we know the PM has actually looked around.

Teachers at Pimlico, a school evidently making great strides since it was declared failing by Ofsted inspectors in 2007, do not appear to share the “what refreshing frankness” view of one section of the commentariat this week.

Deputy head of Pimlico Ivan Baird told Diary he wouldn’t want to start a war of words with No 10 but said his students had proved they are “as good as students from any of London’s schools”.

The school in Lupus Street recently represented the borough in a London-wide debating competition organised by the English Speaking Union and came third, beating all the leafy suburbs and their so-we-are-always-told better schools.

No doubt some of these students would love the chance to go toe-to-toe with Dave in the debating chamber about the merits of going to school in inner-London.

What’s more, if Michael Gove hasn’t already told him (we know communication hasn’t been his strong suit recently), unlike a lot of the country, Westminster schools have been lucky enough to get their Building Schools for the Future money, so there are no leaky classrooms to worry about.

And if that doesn’t persuade him, his right-hand man Nick Clegg could probably organise him a tour of another school not too far from Downing Street, his alma mater, Westminster School. 

We hope it doesn’t come to that.

It’s by the kids, for the kids, and more

For most people, Soho conjures up images of sex and Bohemia.

Soho is, however, also a place where people actually live and Diary would like to give a shout out to a new magazine from its streets.

Soho Youth has a “by the kids, for the kids” mission statement

This month’s bumper issue is packed full of interesting features and fashion tips, including a scoop-heavy interview with the feted Central St Giles architect Renzo Piano by Year 12 student Holly Lavin, an advice column on how to tackle cyber-bullying and pages of book reviews to rival anything in The Times Literary Supplement.

The magazine is available in shops across Soho, and can also be read on line at: www.sohoyouth.org

Legend at Lord’s Tendulkar drops in The Master Blaster, better known as Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, took time out from his tour to say hello to a group of students from City of Westminster College.

The batsman posed for a photo with the college’s cricket team after bumping into him as they were put through their paces at a special indoor cricket session at Lord’s in St John’s Wood.

Back-to-back sitcoms offer festival fun

There’s no shortage of sitcoms on our screens but Diary would like to give a plug to one of the more left-field offerings in recent memory and can guarantee that under absolutely no circumstances will there be any canned laughter.

RealDeal, a new theatre company that writes, edits and performs bite-sized sitcoms, will be among acts at a special arts festival in Kensington Gardens next week.

Audiences will be treated to three back-to-back sitcoms followed by a question and answer session.

If it’s anything like their weekly performances at Westminster Reference Library it’s sure to be a hit.

FUSE, which takes place on Sunday July 25 is in a festival of theatre performances, workshops, dance and art classes, and will also feature acts from the Soho and Jermyn Street theatres. It runs in conjunction with Westminster Council and the Royal Parks.