This text tells the story of the closure in December 1995 of Hackney Downs School, a boys' comprehensive school in London, from the point of view of the acting head, teachers, parents and pupils. The school was closed on the advice of OFSTED and involved the Secretary of State, MPs, High Court judges, teacher unions, teachers, academic educationalists, parents, pupils at the school and other schools in Hackney. Issues of race, classs, politics and poverty affected the dispute as a large number of boys at the school and the Chief Education Officer were black. Hackney's Labour Council was known for its political in-fighting and many of the parents were poor and unemployed.
