Students at a Liverpool high school staged a protest over the controversial methods of a newly appointed figure once dubbed "Britain's strictest headteacher.'
Barry Smith made a name for himself as one of the strictest heads in the country and now works as a freelance consultant for schools. He has recently been hired by King's Leadership Academy in the Dingle area of Liverpool.
But in his short time at the school Mr Smith has already sparked controversy and has been accused of making "sexist" and inappropriate comments towards students. School bosses have said these claims have been investigated and found to be unsubstantiated.
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Students at the school claimed to the ECHO that Mr Smith held an assembly for all the girls in the mixed school and accused the female students of having a "resting b***h face" and of "using tears to get their way." School bosses said these claims were investigated and proven to be unfounded.
One of the students said: "Barry Smith and his military antics have been brought to King's Liverpool and students aren't happy about it. Since his employment at our school, he has made sexist comments and expressed a concerning perspective of Special Educational Needs.
"Barry took all of the girls in King's to an assembly where he made crude comments about them such as; "all of the girls here have resting b***h faces", "they use tears to get their way", and "these are the worst girls I've seen in the entire country". Many students can vouch for the comments he made."
In a response to the ECHO, Shane Ierston, Chief Executive of the Great Schools Trust which runs King's Leadership Academy, said: “The trust, which King’s Leadership Academy Liverpool joined in 2015, is recognised for the high expectations it places on behaviour and academic achievement.
“To ensure behaviour standards are being maintained, since January King’s Liverpool has been working with consultant Barry Smith. Over the last six weeks, areas for improvement have been identified and successfully implemented by the senior leadership team.
“Unfortunately, this has led to unsubstantiated claims being made about aspects of the behaviour initiative. An investigation about comments allegedly made in an assembly, at which senior members of the academy’s management team were present, have proven to be unfounded.”
Some of the students said they were so angry at Mr Smith's behaviour that they decided to hold a protest in the school yesterday afternoon and claimed many refused to go to class and congregated in large groups after lunch to express their concerns.
According to the students, the protest lasted around 30 minutes before staff arranged a chance for the students to directly raise their concerns with the school's leadership. School bosses suggested it was more like ten minutes.
One student said: "Barry Smith is ruining our school and causing chaos to our existing systems of organisation, punishment, behaviour, and learning. His school culture is commonly described as 'military-esque.'
A parent of a student at the school voiced their own concerns at Mr Smith's conduct. She said: "I think he is trying to make it into a sort of military prep school and it isn't that, it's a state school."
She labelled it as very inappropriate, especially the reported comments towards female students. She added: "He wants the kids to show respect but he isn't showing them respect. The kids were happy going to school before he came along and now they are protesting."
It's not the first time Mr Smith has sparked controversy with his methods and behaviours in schools.
In 2017 Mr Smith took over a failing school before re-launching it as the Great Yarmouth Charter Academy, Norfolk. It was reported his rules included telling pupils they couldn't leave the room when they felt ill - and instead would be given buckets to throw up in.
He also reportedly urged kids to be asleep at 9.30pm and up by 6.30am every day and was reported to have instilled a "mandatory smile" regime for children.
At his next posting at Hackney New School in East London in February 2020, he reportedly once gave half the school detention in one day. According to an ITV investigation, he called the children "detainees" - and also punished those who didn't smile or shuffled too much.
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