Katherine Birbalsingh, also known as “Britain’s strictest headteacher”, is not shy of media attention. On the very day that I talk to her there is a story about her in the paper. She has said that parents should supplement their children’s schools by doing a bit of teaching in the evening, even if it’s just asking them about what they’ve done that day at school. It reflects her view that people should take control of their own lives, not expect “the system” to deliver. At Michaela Community School, the free school that she runs in Wembley, personal responsibility and respect for authority are drummed into children with an alacrity that alarms most liberals involved in education. The last time she was in the news it was for saying that the concept of original sin was very relevant to the teaching of children – of which more in a moment.