Lawrence Foley went from school refuser to doctor in modernist literature 鈥 but his career almost came to a crashing halt after a vicious online campaign Foley was sitting in a park with his wife Sonia when his phone rang. It was the Metropolitan Police. A social media campaign, accusing Foley of being a racist for excluding three children 鈥 one of whom had punched a teacher 鈥 was spiralling. It had reached the inbox of ministers. The officer told Foley death threats against him meant they were putting a marker on his phone. If he called 999, armed police would be dispatched immediately 鈥 for his own safety.聽 His wife asked if it was 鈥渢ime to call a day鈥 on the profession he loved. Several sleepless nights later, Foley (luckily) decided to stick it out. Now chief executive of the 10-school Future Academies trust, Foley tells his story in the week a government review found a breakdown in social cohesion is increasingly putting the safety of school staff at risk. It鈥檚 a dark chapter in what is a colourful life, where a teenage school refuser became a financial trader and doctor in modernist literature, before rising through the ranks of school leadership. Lawrence Foley Future Academies Trust Dickens by night Foley comes from Irish Catholic stock in Stratford. He attended a secondary school in Newham so 鈥渁ppalling鈥 (the English and maths GCSE pass rate was nine per cent) that his parents (a teaching assistant and kitchen sales manager) pulled him out aged 11 and sent him to school 90 minutes away in Epping. He initially found it 鈥渄ifficult to make friends鈥 at St John’s Church of England School, where 鈥減arents were dropping kids off in Land Rovers鈥. It felt a world apart from multicultural Newham. He 鈥渉ated鈥 it. Foley skipped school 40 per cent of the time, but turned a corner in year nine upon discovering the joy of playing rugby. He feels 鈥渞eally lucky鈥 now that his 鈥渞eally supportive family and peer group鈥 put him back on the straight and narrow. 鈥淣owadays, that peer group is whoever kids interact with on social media. The challenge for schools is to have a stronger culture than that one they’re experiencing out there in the ether.鈥 After getting 鈥減retty average鈥 GCSEs, Foley followed in the footsteps of his uncles and quit school to work in construction. But after a year he found it 鈥渒nackering鈥 and enrolled at sixth form instead. Foley later joined KPMG鈥檚 accountancy trainee programme, assuming it would be 鈥済lamorous鈥. The reality was 鈥済rim hotels in Luton, doing spreadsheets of VAT receipts鈥. He spent evenings commiserating with books by Charles Dickens and Ernest Hemingway, picked up from charity shops. He indulged his growing love of literature with an English degree at Queen Mary University, while continuing to work in finance. He then worked as a trader for IG Index. Fortuitously when the 2008 credit crunch hit, a generous voluntary redundancy package enabled him to do an English literature Masters at UCL without having to work while studying. False impressions Pocket money well invested Foley鈥檚 attentions turned to school education upon spotting an ad for trainee teachers at Future鈥檚 Pimlico Academy. He was put on an in-house scheme funded by the trust鈥檚 sponsor, former academies minister Lord Nash. Foley is keen to challenge what he says are false perceptions over the trust, including the involvement of Lord Nash and his wife in its work. 鈥淭he reality is that you see them very little,鈥 he says. But the Nashes do still donate around 拢1 million to Future鈥檚 schools (拢100,000 each) every year, and Foley works with them on how to spend it. He wants Future to be somewhere that 鈥減eople from backgrounds like mine want to train鈥, and much of the funding goes on trainee teacher scholarships. But having public backing from such a prominent Tory peer has drawn the trust into political debates around education. Its branding mirrors that of elite private schools 鈥 for example, its website鈥檚 prominent Latin motto is 鈥榣ibertas per cultum鈥 (which translates as 鈥榝reedom through education鈥). Foley concedes that the trust has been 鈥減erceived to be quite elitist in the past鈥, but he claims 鈥渢he perception from the outside doesn’t reflect the reality in schools鈥. He puts the misconception down to Future鈥檚 鈥渦nequivocal devotion to providing kids with an academic curriculum. It鈥檚 patronizing to assume that kids from backgrounds like mine can’t access that curriculum.鈥 Thinking back, Foley said his teaching at Pimlico gave him a 鈥渄irect, tangible impact in a way that I couldn’t when I was working in finance鈥. But he had his heart set on a PhD. He recalls 鈥渨anting the ground to swallow me up鈥 during a social event in which he was the only non-Oxbridge graduate, when he made a faux pas by not knowing there were two versions of the play Doctor Faustus. 鈥淚 didn’t have the broader cultural capital. In a way, I was motivated to do a PhD out of resentment 鈥 to prove myself.鈥 He loved his PhD (in ), but disliked lecturing Queen Mary鈥檚 high-achieving students because he couldn鈥檛 have the same impact on them as he鈥檇 had at Pimlico. Back to the Future Hangry This drove him to apply for Teach First, which placed him at Bishop Challoner in Tower Hamlets 鈥 a school his cousin had been expelled from. He recalls waking up at 4am for three hours of PhD thesis corrections, before teaching six lessons. He spent exhausted evenings 鈥渇alling asleep with the phone on my chest鈥 after texting his future wife (whom he met on Teach First). Foley later returned to Pimlico to lead Future鈥檚 teacher training programme. Overseeing its curriculum centre of in-house materials (set up by Daisy Christodoulou) was a 鈥渨eird side-step鈥, as Foley was 鈥渄irecting senior leaders having not been a head myself鈥. He missed 鈥渢he daily life of a school鈥, and these days tries to combat this sense of disconnection by sending Future鈥檚 central staff out to schools regularly. He spends three days a week in schools doing 鈥済ate duties and running line-ups鈥. Being offered the executive principal job at David Ross Education Trust (DRET鈥檚) new Bobby Moore Academy, on his home turf of Stratford, in 2018 was a 鈥渄ream come true鈥. But the trust was struggling with a near 拢5 million deficit and its budgets were slashed. Foley claims as DRET鈥檚 only London school, Bobby Moore 鈥渓ost out鈥 from its gag pooling policy (which had been introduced by a previous chief executive) because its funding 鈥渨as much bigger鈥 than its 33 other schools. 鈥淭he school was growing year on year, so you never had enough capacity to do the things you wanted.鈥 When Foley complained that his new school library had no books, he was told to ask parents to contribute to a library fund. But given the school was in Newham, 鈥渙ne of the most deprived boroughs in the country鈥, Foley felt he couldn鈥檛. 鈥淭here was a real disconnect. I wasn’t aligned with the vision,鈥 he added. Petition and turmoil A misspent Year 9 He quit to become executive principal at Harris Tottenham, part of the Harris Federation, three months after his son was born in May 2020. Six weeks into the role, Foley was cycling home on his Brompton bike over Tottenham marshes when he was held at knifepoint for half an hour by four men with zombie knives and balaclavas.聽 They stabbed him in the leg. Foley recalls thinking that he might never see his son again. He took a month off, but he鈥檚 still unable to ride a bike 鈥 which meant getting taxis for six months until he learned to drive. Upon his return to school, things got even more challenging. In April, a Harris Tottenham teacher instigated a petition calling for Foley to resign after three black year 11 students had been excluded in his first month. The petition accused Foley of introducing a 鈥渮ero tolerance behaviour policy that disproportionately affects BAME and SEN students鈥. He believes the campaign was part of a 鈥渧ery particular intense cultural moment鈥. Although Harris Tottenham was ostensibly 鈥榦utstanding鈥, it had not been inspected since 2017 and Foley says its staff had been 鈥渓osing morale because behaviour was so poor鈥. He claims that pupils were texted a link to the petition in the playground, and told he was a racist. The campaign 鈥渨ent wild鈥 on social media after being shared by certain influencers, with 鈥減eople from America posting on this petition without any possession of the facts鈥. Over 6,700 people signed it. One comment claimed the school was ‘run by white people 鈥 who don鈥檛 understand the children’ while another compared its policies to ‘Putin鈥檚 Russia’. After death threats, the police reached out to him. Foley has welcomed the cohesion report this week, which called for a new conflict unit to better support schools, government to collect figures on teacher harassment, and to legislate for a 鈥渂uffer zone鈥 to prevent protests directly outside of school. The racism accusation is particularly jarring for Foley because his wife is of Indian descent. His mother-in-law was left feeling 鈥渃onfused鈥. He questions how his mixed heritage children will feel one day when they google their dad and see the accusations. Thankfully, 鈥渢hings got better鈥 and three weeks after he left in January 2023 to lead Future, the school was inspected and retained its outstanding rating. Future pride Graduation day from Masters Degree at UCL These days, Foley is particularly proud of Future鈥檚 SCITT. Started ten years ago, it now has 130 alumni working in its schools and is 鈥減robably the main driver of our school improvement鈥. As big trusts become the 鈥渕ain vehicle for teacher training over the next ten years鈥, he worries that small SCITTs like his, which has 鈥渟omething really special鈥, are in 鈥渜uite a vulnerable position鈥. However, he pulled out of Future鈥檚 鈥渁dvanced鈥 discussions with the National Institute of Teaching about becoming an associate training college because 鈥渨e鈥檇 lose our identity if we bought into this behemoth.鈥 But he also criticises Future for not being 鈥渙utward facing鈥 compared to Harris, which 鈥渞eally invests time shaping those perceptions鈥. Future is now embarking on more public engagement. Sellotaped to the door of Pimlico Primary 鈥 which is just a 20-minute walk from Buckingham Palace, but 鈥渟erves a great deal of poverty鈥 鈥 is a poster asking parents to share their experiences of community life. Falling rolls means Future is also consulting to merge two of its three London primaries, which, as a devoted Londoner, Foley finds 鈥渞eally sad鈥. But reflecting migratory trends out of London, half of Future鈥檚 four schools in Hertfordshire are growing their capacity. Lawrence Foley Weaponising attendance But attendance has been a particular problem in the area, where 鈥渓arge demographics of white working-class parents oftentimes have really complex relationships with the state鈥. A lot has changed since the days when Foley was skiving off. He believes that outside London, attendance is 鈥渋ncreasingly being used as a weapon against schools. Parents know that schools are under pressure to increase attendance rates 鈥 as soon as there’s a disagreement, the answer will be, 鈥業’m not sending my child back to school until this is sorted鈥. 鈥淧arents have seen that the emperor has no clothes, because schools have very limited powers around what they can do.鈥 Meanwhile, as someone who struggled with the transition to secondary school himself, he鈥檚 instigated joint working between Pimlico鈥檚 primary and secondary schools to ease that transition. He鈥檚 using Reach鈥檚 鈥榗radle to career鈥 framework, through which schools engage with local stakeholders around ages 0 to 21. He plans to roll the model out to other schools. 鈥淲e鈥檙e ostensibly working with the same families and tackling the same problems. It’s mad that you have all this institutional and local knowledge in public institutions so close to you, yet there’s never sharing of information and good practice.鈥 Exclusions are also a contentious issue. The mayor of London’s violence reduction unit is determined to lower exclusions But he believes the solution to acute behavioural problems lies in 鈥渕ore money for schools鈥 rather than 鈥渟iloed units at the mayor’s office鈥. He says if Future had money for its own suspension unit, 鈥渨e would do that in a heartbeat because we know that they鈥檙e safe when they’re with us鈥. And Foley knows too well what being unsafe feels like. Reflecting on his time at Harris Tottenham, he adds: 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite a frightening thing, because it could have been the end of my career. 鈥淏ut we turned that school around. I’m really proud of the job that I did in very difficult circumstances.鈥