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Labour MP Kim Johnson is calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to launch an inquiry for black children who were labelled ‘educationally subnormal’ and sent to schools for children with disabilities
Victims of a scandal which saw black children labelled “educationally subnormal” and wrongly sent to a school for mental and physical disabilities are calling for an inquiry.
Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, Kim Johnson is calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to launch an inquiry to bring justice to those who were discarded by the education system.
One of the victims, Maisie Barret, 65, who dreamed of becoming an actress says she was one of the children sent to what was referred to as an “educationally subnormal” (ESN) school in the 1960s and 1970s at the age of six, which “robbed” her of “her life”.
While placed in the ESN, the dyslexia trainer says she did not receive any education for more than eight years as there was no curriculum, and that instead, as a six-year-old girl, she was asked by staff to wash other children.
After recently looking at her child medical records, Maisie – who has three postgraduate degrees and a Masters – was left in shock as she recalls her IQ was noted as 36, which classifies her as having severe intellectual disability.
Since learning that other black children were wrongly sent to ESN schools after speaking to director Lyttanya Shannon – who made the 2021 BBC One documentary Subnormal A British Scandal – the mum-of-three says she wants acknowledgement from the government and compensation for what that she and others suffered.
Speaking to the Mirror, she said: “I was very angry [when I found out]. I was in tears and I couldn’t stop crying all the time. I realised why I was like that.
“We really want acknowledgement because without acknowledgement, nothing can happen. We want an apology, a loud one.
“We want a big apology. We want it to be loud and clear and we want to be compensated so that I can look after myself and my children better.” As there were not set classes or learning modules at the ESN, Maisie believes staff were instead ‘preparing for her to become a carer’ by making her wash other children.
She said: “There were children with a lot of problems. There were white children with nits in their hair. They used to ask me to wash them. I would have been about six, seven or so. They were turning me into a nurse that can’t read or write because they wanted nurses and bus drivers. They were just kind of preparing me to work as a carer.
“There was no structure, there was no routine, I didn’t have to go from class to class.”
Maisie says as well as being made to wash children, staff also made black children feel inferior – which she later realised was racism. She said: “They used to draw our profiles. I remember standing up and they would put us to a white board. They told me my profile was ok because my nose was straighter. [The other Black children with flatter noses] were told they didn’t have a good profile.
“They made the white children superior to the black kids. Later on in my life I realised that was racism. They wanted us to feel bad about our race.”
Maisie was finally removed from the ESN school after eight years as there was discussion about black children severely under-achieving. Maisie said: “It wasn’t until the black community was talking about their children not achieving academically that eventually my mum took me to a black psychologist.
“She assessed me and told my mum that I was intelligent. She promised that she would get me out of the special school and she did.”
But once Maisie was taken out of ESN and moved into a mainstream primary school, she struggled to learn as she had missed out on basic learning – and could therefore not read and write. The grandmother says she was teased as a result and eventually decided to stop attending school at the age of 15.
She said: “When I went there, I couldn’t read and I couldn’t write. I didn’t understand. I was hearing names for the first time. English, Maths, Geography. Children had been taught this from elementary level going up.
“They started to pick on me. When they realised they couldn’t pick on me, they stopped talking to me altogether. They ignored me completely which still affects me today. Eventually, I left school at 15 because I couldn’t relate to anybody. I was very lonely and very sad.”
Maisie says she was turned down for a job in a factory as she couldn’t write her name properly, which left her feeling “horrible” as she “didn’t know why” she “was like that.” After working in several different jobs such as serving tea, Maisie got married and had three children. She later became “obsessed” with education and was able to learn enough to be able to attend university.
However she says the damage had already been done. Now, with no decent pension as a result of not being able to work for many years, Maisie hopes an inquiry will bring justice and compensation.
Frances Swaine, a solicitor at Leigh Day representing Maisie and other victims of the scandal, said: “Unimaginable trauma was caused to young Black children, like Maisie, in denying them the opportunity to learn to read and write, to learn arithmetic, to be part of society growing up.
“Maisie was used to give personal care to children unable to help themselves at a time when she should have been studying with the opportunities given her white peers.
“Systemic racism in our society left its mark then, and a statutory public inquiry investigating its causes, righting wrongs, apologising and preventing future racism in education are all essential parts of that inquiry.”
Maisie says she is holding an event for those affected by the ESN and Windrush scandals to come and be able to tell their stories. The event will be held at London Metropolitan University on April 11, 2025. For more details click here.