A teacher in the London Academy (located in the London Borough of Barnet) went to the Daily Mail to denounce standards of discipline in the school and to allege that she had been attacked by two boys in a school corridor.She said that this violence was driving her out of the school.

This outburst came just a few days after the stabbing to death of London Academy student Kiyan Prince – a popular 15 year old with a promising future – outside the school gates.

We worked with the Principal and Deputy Principal of the Academy to deal with the media furore. From the evidence they produced it became clear there was no intrinsic discipline problem in the school.

We looked more closely at the teacher concerned, and discovered that her contract was about to end, she had never once complained about discipline in the school, and indeed she has asked for an extension of her contract if that was possible.It was not. Furthermore the ‘attack’ was an accidental push in a crowded corridor – witnessed by other members of staff.

Her statement to the Daily Mail that she was on sick leave was proved false. She had submitted no doctor’s sick note. We briefed selected journalists off the record and it became clear that the allegations had no substance.

We wanted the true story of the many successes of the London Academy to surface and we recommended to the Principal that the London Evening Standard be invited to interview him on the basis of total transparency in return for fair hearing.

We accompanied the Standard’s chief reporter to the interview. The subsequent two pages featured in the London Evening Standard showed the London Academy in a glowing light, quoting successes, inspectors’ reports and parental response.

The stabbing of Kiyan Prince came to be seen for what it was a one-off tragedy at a school which was popular in the community, well disciplined, well resourced, with excellent student and parent participation and support.