The Windrush Children: Our Stories

My dear Friends, my name is Maisie Barrett. I am fundraising to finance a musical show that I wrote. I have applied for a 30,000 lottery grant, but I have to raise 10%.

This is the reason why I wrote the play. I was featured in a documentary called Subnormal: A British Scandal. The documentary explores one of the most significant scandals in the history of British education, highlighting the disproportionate placement of black children in schools for the 'educationally subnormal' during the 1960s and 70s. Black children were placed in these schools even if they were intelligent.

I was sent to an ESN school in the 1960s. When I left at 16 years old, I couldn’t read or write. I had no confidence or self-esteem. I knew I wanted to be an actress and a writer, but I didn’t know how to accomplish my ambition.

Sadly, it was not until I was featured in the documentary Subnormal: A British Scandal in 2021 that I realised that I attending this school because I was a black child. I became very depressed and cried for months.

When I was in my 30s, I discovered that I was dyslexic when I went to college to learn to read and write properly. Now, I have four degrees and I am a published writer.

Upon finishing my autobiography, I decided to create a musical play that would both educate and entertain the community about what happened back then.

The main moral of the play to be learned is that we, as humans, have been causing harm to one another for centuries and continue to do so. We must now celebrate our past survival and shift our focus to tackling global warming.