More from this theme Recent articles Last year, the then Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick prompted a fierce backlash when he described an area of Birmingham as “one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to”, and “as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country”. My recent visit to Handsworth, with Central Region Schools Trust CEO Guy Shears, painted a different picture. On its bustling main road sits Holyhead School, our destination. As we approach the secondary school, Shears says visitors encounter “something very different” to what Jenrick – now a leading politician in Nigel Farage’s Reform UK – described. Instead they see “a school with a strong sense of community, full of joy, respect and a great sense of fun, where diversity is celebrated and everyone is welcomed”. As we tour the grounds and buildings this rings true. Pupils are models of politeness, holding doors for visitors, and are excited to greet and talk to Shears (and to pose for our photographer). Desperate state Shears, also an Ofsted inspector …