Students protest 'military antics' of consultant hired by school

Students stage protest over ‘military antics’ of consultant hired by school to improve standards after he allegedly told an assembly ‘all girls have resting b***h faces’ and females ‘use tears to get their way’

• King’s Leadership Academy Liverpool say that the claims are unfounded
• Barry Smith says his methods aren’t ‘oppressive’ but teach pupils respect

Students at a secondary school in Liverpool staged a protest after a consultant, once dubbed ‘Britain’s strictest headteacher’, allegedly told an assembly ‘all girls have resting b***h faces’.

Barry Smith, who made a name for himself with his hardline tactics, now works as a freelance consultant for schools and has recently been hired by King’s Leadership Academy Liverpool, in Dingle.

But in his short time at the school Mr Smith’s ‘military antics’ have already sparked controversy and he has even been accused of making ‘sexist’ and inappropriate comments towards students.

School bosses insist these claims have been investigated and found to be unsubstantiated.

Students at the school claim 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 again said these claims were investigated and proven to be unfounded.

Students at a secondary school in Liverpool staged a protest after notoriously strict education consultant Barry Smith (pictured) introduced ‘military antics’

King’s Leadership Academy Liverpool (pictured), in Dingle, recently hired the teaching consultant

One student alleged: ‘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.

‘The strictest headteacher in Britain’

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 ordered kids to be asleep at 9.30pm and up by 6.30am every day and instilled a ‘mandatory smile’ regime for children.

He allegedly even sent a letter to parents dictating what haircuts boys were and weren’t allowed to have.

At his next posting at Hackney New School in East London in February 2020, he once gave half the school detention and issued more than 7,500 detentions since the start of the last school year.

According to an ITV investigation, he called the children ‘detainees’ – and also punished those who didn’t smile or shuffled too much.

After his visit to Faversham, it was reported a group of friends were put into ‘isolation’ and given detention after arriving one minute late to school when their train was delayed.

‘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.’

Shane Ierston, chief executive of the Great Schools Trust, which runs King’s Leadership Academy Liverpool, 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.

The quieter pupils, the ‘nice kids’, soon start to push against authority, too, writes Barry Smith. They become increasingly defiant and aggressive — for their own self-preservation

When working with headteachers, Mr Smith focuses on good manners and uses easy-to-remember acronyms, such as ‘Steps’.

The first S stands for ‘Sir’ or ‘Miss’, T is for ‘Thank you’, E is ‘Excuse me’ and P is ‘Please’.

The final S is for ‘Smile’, Mr Smith has said he doesn’t ‘want children to go around grinning, but it’s simply shorthand for the friendly body language’.

The second acronym is ‘Slant’: ‘Sit up (arms folded, nothing in your hands), Listen carefully, Ask and Answer questions, Never interrupt, and Track the teacher — look at the teacher when they’re addressing the room.  

READ MORE: Britain’s toughest headteacher is ‘damaging our mental health’, complain teachers and pupils at struggling London school that now dishes out 80 detentions a day

One student’s mother voiced their own concerns at Mr Smith’s conduct, adding: ‘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.

The mother said: ‘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.’

Last year, Mr Smith wrote in the Daily Mail: ‘When the culture of the school is clearly defined and led by the headteacher, most pupils will readily conform. The hierarchy, with adults as boss, becomes well-established and accepted.

‘But in schools where children see that their louder, more antagonistic peers are in control, hostility towards teachers spreads like a poison.

‘The quieter pupils, the “nice kids”, soon start to push against authority, too.

‘They become increasingly defiant and aggressive — for their own self-preservation.

‘When staff and children start to see what a good school looks and feels like, the energy of the place is transformed.

‘Yes, adults and children work together as a team — but everyone needs to understand that the adults are the captains. None of this is difficult. It might not be fashionable —but it is transformative.

‘Manners and respect are all too rare in our society.

‘They’re not “restrictive” — far from it — and it’s high time Ofsted understood that.’

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 Great Yarmouth Charter Academy, in Great Yarmouth, 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 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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