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SHOCKING: Students taught how to be 'slave masters' in history lesson

A HEADTEACHER has been forced to apologise over a classroom exercise in which pupils were told to pretend to be slave traders.

During the history lesson at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, which included students aged 13 and 14, the teenagers were given 'imaginary tools including manacles, a whip, thumb screws and iron brands, to capture as many slaves as possible'.

It has also been alleged that students were encouraged to come up with a business plan to execute their companies.

Kate Webster, headteacher at the High Barnet school apologised for the ‘distress and anguish’ caused by the offensive lesson, after the parents of one pupil complained to the human rights organisation Ligali.

The group wrote a letter to Mrs Webster telling her that the pupil, who is of African heritage, was left ““offended and humiliated”.

In a letter, Mrs Webster, who has since removed the lesson from the curriculum, said to Ligali: “I apologise unreservedly for the distress and anguish caused to the student and her mother, as well as to you and others in your community who this material may have been shared with.”

She told her local newspaper the Times Series that she had also written to parents to explain the situation.

“I felt the slideshow was clearly inappropriate and I spoke to the teachers involved but what I said will remain private," Mrs Webster said.

“I’ve been in correspondence with Ligali and I think we’ve been very clear about the mistakes that have been made. The resolution was to move on in the knowledge that lessons have been learned."