Public school expels the boy plucked from poverty for TV

Ryan Bell was undoubtedly carrying the hopes of a generation of underprivileged teenagers on his shoulders when he was placed within one of the most exclusive public schools in the country.

But yesterday the television company "experiment" that initially saw Ryan become a model pupil with excellent sporting and academic scores was revealed to have failed. He has been expelled after a drinking binge.

The 16-year-old, who had been admitted to the rarefied atmosphere of Britain's oldest Catholic boarding school, Downside, as part of the Second Chance programme, was "distraught" and back at his mother's inner-city home.

Channel 4 denied that to "experiment" with a child's life was irresponsible, insisting that his two-year boarding school stint had "really benefited" Ryan.

Considered "rude, disruptive and unmanageable" by the comprehensive that ejected him at the age of 14, Ryan was passing his days by spraying graffiti along the streets of Larkhall Estate in Wands-worth in south London when he caught the eye of television producers.

By that point he had been asked to leave ADT Technical College in Putney after a string of disciplinary incidents that led to his mother, Jacqui, being called in several times a week.

She agreed he could participate in the programme when Pepper Productions – run by Trevor Phillips before he became the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality – offered to pay the £15,000 annual fees to keep Ryan at the 400-year-old Somerset school.

Initially homesick and daunted by the strict discipline of the black-robed Benedictine monks, the teenager passed the interview and soon adapted to his surroundings.

Within a year, he was rated among the upper third of the 340 pupils, a skilful rugby player and top of his class in biology and Latin. He was studying for 10 GCSEs and was held up, with self-congratulatory acclaim from the establishment, as an inspiration.

Adrian Underwood, the director of the Boarding Schools Association, said recently: "Boarding schools have the capacity to motivate pupils, as the Ryan Bell experience has shown." There were references to a "Pygmalion transformation", as the inner-city teenager proved an "outstanding pupil".

Mr Phillips, a former candidate for London Mayor, suggested the Government consider setting up boarding schools for disadvantaged youngsters.

Ryan himself appeared to echo the authorities, when he said: "Being at Downside has been a good experience for me, not just because of the teachers and the education, but the whole environment," he said.

Appreciating the opportunities on offer, he talked of becoming a designer, cartoonist or a film director.

But, this week, all that collapsed around the 16-year-old when he was expelled for his third misdemeanour and returned to his unemployed mother's flat – a Streatham halfway house she moved to after being evicted for non-payment of rent.

"He's got very good friends at the school. It's all such a pity. The school has been good to him," said a family friend.

Dom Leo Maidlow Davis, headmaster of Downside, explained: "Together with six other boys, Ryan Bell was involved in the purchase and drinking of spirits on the afternoon of Sunday 4 May. As a result, he was admitted to the Royal United Hospital, Bath, with alcohol poisoning and detained overnight." All the boys involved in this incident, he explained, had been suspended, even though Ryan was the only pupil to consume enough alcohol to need hospital care.

Since this was Ryan's third suspension for a serious breach of school regulations, he added, the decision had been made not to readmit him.

"In spite of this sad event, Downside believes that Ryan is an able and gifted young person who has developed during almost two years at the school. Downside hopes to be able to assist Ryan as he looks for a way forward in his life."

Yesterday a spokeswoman for Channel 4 denied there was an element of social irresponsibly in using a child for such a television experiment, insisting the channel had not simply deserted Ryan as a project. The educationists, who had followed him throughout, were still helping him with options for the future, explained a spokeswoman.

"Obviously Ryan is extremely upset and it is very sad. We are helping him, as is the school, to look at what he does next. It is a very difficult time at the moment but we will support the family in any way we can," she added. "We are very disappointed for Ryan but at the same time feel he's made tremendous strides."