A top headmaster last night attacked ‘stifling’ health and safety rules and red tape that oblige him to vet visiting Church of England bishops for extremism.
Tom Lawson, head of the £30,000-a-year Eastbourne College, said he had to ask respected senior clergy for advance texts of the sermons they were due to preach at the school in order to comply with Government anti-terrorism measures.
Mr Lawson, son of former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson and half-brother of celebrity cook Nigella, said new Prevent strategies – aimed primarily at countering Islamic extremism – were helping to drown schools in paperwork.
In the past year he has been forced to check advance texts from a bishop who preached at a confirmation service, and from the Reverend Stephen Grey, senior chaplain at Eton.
Tom Lawson, pictured, is head of the £30,000-a-year Eastbourne College and has attacked ‘stifling’ health and safety rules and red tape that oblige him to vet visiting Church of England bishops for extremism
Mr Lawson said he felt he had to go to these lengths because inspectors required schools to demonstrate they had ensured the ‘suitability’ of visiting speakers, but he was ‘fed up’ with compliance and litigation.
The headmaster claimed safeguarding red tape now prevented pupils from visiting the elderly in their homes, and health and safety rules meant many schools had become increasingly risk-averse to the detriment of pupils’ mental and physical wellbeing.
He also cited time-consuming regulations introduced by the Rugby Football Union following a spate of injuries.
But Mr Lawson said that he was determined to fight back against the ‘timid brigade’, and last month launched the school’s first biathlon, in which more than 70 girls and boys swam in the sea without wetsuits before completing a three-mile cross-country run.
Eastbourne College, pictured, had to vet senior clergy for advance texts of the sermons they were due to preach at the school in order to comply with Government anti-terrorism measures
‘The hypocrisy of the adult world is that we exhort and applaud young people who push beyond their comfort zone, but then as schools eschew every risk. Healthy pupils who enjoy outdoor activities every day will be successful academically and, more importantly, be able to prevent anxiety and stress.’
He was backed by Matthew Armstrong, head of King’s School in Worcester, who said: ‘The combination of health and safety regulations, compliance requirements and Prevent strategies is becoming such a great burden that it requires real single-mindedness to focus on educating young people.’