Slave trade returns – but it’s all for charity

12:30pm Thursday 8th December 2005

EVERY school child's dream came true at King Solomon High School last week.

Instead of having to answer to a school prefect they were able to get them to do their bidding and enslave them for a day after buying them at an auction.

The event was the brainchild of head girl Tanya Jacobs and was aimed at raising money for the school's chosen charity, Wizo, which helps disadvantaged children in Israel.

It saw the Barkingside school's 25 upper sixth form prefects sold off to the highest bidders last week.

And while some ended up in the hands of youngsters, some of the more unlucky ones ended up in the hands of teachers.

Deputy headteacher Spencer Lewis explained: "Wednesday lunchtime was the time of enslavement. I saw prefects carrying books and getting children lunch and Mars bars from the sixth form shop, which is a sixth form privilege. A couple of teachers also got a slaves. I think they used them to clear out the classrooms.

"The most anyone paid for a slave was £45 and we raised £500 and the younger children also got to meet their prefects," he added.

But not all the school's prefects were sold off as the head girl managed to keep herself out of the auction from the beginning - probably for having the idea in the first place.