‘I’m going back to Haverstock School’ – David Miliband’s a class act

Published: 13th January, 2011
by DAN CARRIER

LOSE a leadership election, go back to school. That’s what is on the curriculum for former Foreign Secretary and Labour Party high-flyer David Miliband.

It was announced this week that the MP is set to work as a mentor once a week at his former school Haverstock, in Chalk Farm where he will and help politics students with their A-levels.

Mr Miliband, who lives in Primrose Hill, popped into the school before Christmas and spoke with headteacher John Dowd to offer his services and is due to take his place in the staff room later this year.

A source told the New Journal Mr Miliband first thought about returning to Haverstock when he met pupils last summer during his leadership campaign.

“It was the first time he had been in Haverstock for a while and he has great admiration for the headteacher,” the source revealed. “That trip was the catalyst – he decided he would love to teach there.”

Though the details have yet to be confirmed, Mr Miliband said: “I am really excited to be going back to my old school to teach.”

Mr Dowd said he was delighted to accept the offer. “It is a fantastic opportunity that he can find some time to come in and work with students,” he said. “Clearly, to have an international statesman who is also an ex-student, who can bring his experience here and share it with our students, is a great opportunity. It just shows his continuing interest in his former school and the community he lives in.”

Having been relegated to the backbenches after losing the leadership election to his younger brother Ed, David has reportedly been looking to carve out a new role for himself. 

He will become the latest in a long line of well-known former pupils giving up their time to help pupils in Camden schools. 

Reggae star Eddie Grant, who was at Acland Burghley in the 1960s, sponsored an annual music prize and returned every year in the 1980s and 1990s to present it, while, more recently, former pupil Sarah Brown – wife of ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown – has hosted classes.

The Tufnell Park school has also benefited in recent years from music sessions with hip-hop star Miss Dynamite, who attended in the 1990s.