Britain's Strictest Headmistress - ITV, Sunday 22nd May 10:15pm

[ŽižkovClaret]

My 14 yr old Granddaughter was telling us of a girl in her class on "a teacher wind up mission" ... so she stopped talking as she identified as a "Microwave oven" whenever she finished her work in class she made a loud "Ding" noise. Much to the amusement of her classmates.

That is funny, tbf, hopefully she is encouraged to channel it into drama etc which might help all round

[Rowls]

I'm not really sure how you "identify as a furry". It's like saying someone who dresses up as spiderman identifies as a cosplayer. Surprisingly a quick google also didn't give any proof on this.

I can say she is becoming ever more deluded and obsessed if you prefer. Personally I'd say it's not a good look for a headteacher, however good the academic results may be.

A quick google, you say?

Oh. Well there you go.

There was a furry meeting at a pub in Sheffield the day we played there. I accidentally trod on one of their tails, but they didn't yelp.

[Clovius Boofus]

Did they shite everywhere, or did they use the pub toilets?

[Bosscat]

Did they shite everywhere, or did they use the pub toilets?

Poo bags on every table and a Litter tray in the corner perhaps

[Clovius Boofus]

Poo bags on every table and a Litter tray in the corner perhaps

Yeah, good point.

[aggi]

Ah, yes. But this relies upon governing by consent. It might work well in a nice area, with clever children who were simply messing around.

But would the "oh please can you stop now, children?" approach work in every school? Would it work in an inner city high school surrounded by gang culture? Perhaps it would be common sense to stamp it out in another school?

It probably needs a school-by-school approach determined by the Head Teacher and the culture of the school.

I'm pretty sure this is what we've been disagreeing on for the whole thread.

You've been wanting the Michaela School methods and techniques to be apopted across the country and others saying maybe it's not a great idea.

[aggi]

A quick google, you say?

Oh. Well there you go.

There was a furry meeting at a pub in Sheffield the day we played there. I accidentally trod on one of their tails, but they didn't yelp.

If it doesn't appear on a quick google it does make me wonder how reliable this "proof" is (and whether it exists at all). I would have thought that "proven that children identify as furries" would have been in all the newspapers given how quickly the made up story about the school in Rye gained traction (and appear when you do a quick google).

[Rowls]

Poo bags on every table and a Litter tray in the corner perhaps

They seemed well behaved enough TBH. For most it appeared to be a family thing - there were children and adults, presumably their parents.

Obviously it's all a bit odd and counter-cultural but that's clearly the point of it. Like being a goth.

And as with being a goth, for most of the people it will be simply a case of dressing up as a goth. Mostly, they'll grow out of it. Even if they fondly recall it, sometimes dress up as a goth at the weekend, or fondly remember what the fraternity that belonging to an in-group and finding acceptance amongst peers. However, for a small minority, this assumed identity will become their identity. They will become a goth.

It seems particularly strange that people on here, most of whom will identify as a Burnley fan because it's so important to our identity, wouldn't be able to even comprehend this phenomena.

The pub was the Perch Brewhouse.

Here's some people based in York who like to dress up as / identify as furries / identify as furries while they're dressed up as furries:

https://twitter.com/york_furs

[daveisaclaret]

She really seems to have disappeared down the rabbithole now, complaining about children identifying as pasta.

https://twitter.com/Miss_Snuffy/status/ ... 7350616126

This is basically the unfortunate nature of right wing grift. Eventually the mainstream attention goes away and you have to make up more and more extreme nonsense until only the real headbangers are with you.

It'd be sad if it wasn't so contemptible.

[Rowls]

If it doesn't appear on a quick google it does make me wonder how reliable this "proof" is (and whether it exists at all). I would have thought that "proven that children identify as furries" would have been in all the newspapers given how quickly the made up story about the school in Rye gained traction (and appear when you do a quick google).

There's plenty of proof of this "identity" stuff around. Not necessarily in the UK, but our establishment figures have imported the identity politics that fuels it.

Here's a news report about children protesting against furries in their school. Now, just because there are children protesting something doesn't mean it's actually taking place inside the school. But the fact that it's even a story shows how prevalent the dogma and ideology of "your personal identity is sacred" has gone. Even if the children are producing satire, it proves the prevlance of this kind of identity politics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wak8OeTs_Pg

It's easy enough for KBS to ensure there are no "furries" or wotnots in her own school, so why is she bothered about it? I believe it's because she has been a consistent and vehement opponent of the ideology behind it. The ideology is identity politics and its assoiciated closely related woke doctrine.

[Rowls]

This is basically the unfortunate nature of right wing grift. Eventually the mainstream attention goes away and you have to make up more and more extreme nonsense until only the real headbangers are with you.

It'd be sad if it wasn't so contemptible.

KBS is the Headmistress of a state school - the most successful school in the country by the commonly accepted measurement. She is the definition of a grounded and sensible person.

The idea that a derranged lunatic could manage to run what is very literally the best performing school in the country is the idea that seems to be away with the fairies.

[Rowls]

The pub was the Perch Brewhouse.

Picture of the "furmeet" in Sheffield available at the following link:

https://twitter.com/BubbleTheRacc/statu ... 5583421637

[aggi]

There's plenty of proof of this "identity" stuff around. Not necessarily in the UK, but our establishment figures have imported the identity politics that fuels it.

Here's a news report about children protesting against furries in their school. Now, just because there are children protesting something doesn't mean it's actually taking place inside the school. But the fact that it's even a story shows how prevalent the dogma and ideology of "your personal identity is sacred" has gone. Even if the children are producing satire, it proves the prevlance of this kind of identity politics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wak8OeTs_Pg

It's easy enough for KBS to ensure there are no "furries" or wotnots in her own school, so why is she bothered about it? I believe it's because she has been a consistent and vehement opponent of the ideology behind it. The ideology is identity politics and its assoiciated closely related woke doctrine.

A video from "Straight Arrow News" (incidentally owned by a hefty donor to the Republican party) of something happening in Utah isn't really a convincing piece of proof that swathes of children in UK schools are identifying as furries (whatever that even means).

I do believe that she is a vehement opponent of identity politics (who knows what woke doctrine means) and that has resulted in some uncomfortable bedfellows and some pretty embarrassing pronouncements on her part.

[Rowls]

A video from "Straight Arrow News" (incidentally owned by a hefty donor to the Republican party) of something happening in Utah isn't really a convincing piece of proof that swathes of children in UK schools are identifying as furries (whatever that even means).

Nobody is claiming "swathes of children in UK schools are identifying as furries".

KBS only said she knows of a case or cases where it has happened.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

She says she does.

I rather imagine she'd be taken up on it if it were a lie but it rings true from somebody who works like she does.

Lord knows, there are plenty of people who openly despise her and would do anything to undermine her. I think they'd spot if she was lying. But I'm happy to take her word for it.

Why would you tell people what time you arrive at work? Bit ‘look at me’ everyone. Anyway good to see she’s identifying and calling out the really important issues facing education at the moment. ‘Hold the line’.

[Rowls]

I do believe that she is a vehement opponent of identity politics (who knows what woke doctrine means) and that has resulted in some uncomfortable bedfellows and some pretty embarrassing pronouncements on her part.

It appears that only the people who were against KBS (and the Michaela School) from day one are the only people who find her pointing this stuff out to be "embarrassing".

The argument was originally to prevent the school from opening because it wouldn't work and it wasn't required.

Then when the school opened up, the argument was that it was going to fail it's children.

Now that the school is, very literally, the best school in the country the people who claimed the school wasn't required, who then claimed the school would fail its children now want to present KBS as some kind of lunatic.

Ask yourself, do you think the person who set up (from scratch) the BEST school in country and is also the Headmistress there is a lunatic or is she a world class teacher?

For Christ's sake, even if I had convinced myself that she was a lunatic (bizarre and ridiculous as that is, she is literally the definition of a small 'c' conservative woman) I'd willingly turn a blind eye given what she is achieving for those inner city children who are lucky enough to go to her school.

Honestly, if KBS dressed as Queen Anne, wore a melon on her head, painted her face green and ended every sentence with the word 'penguin' I'd simply look the other way if it guaranteed she could continue doing what she is doing for those children.

I really do question the motives of those people who seem determined to undermine the success that KBS has brought to the Michaela school uand its children. What do you want for these children?

[Rowls]

Why would you tell people what time you arrive at work? Bit ‘look at me’ everyone. Anyway good to see she’s identifying and calling out the really important issues facing education at the moment. ‘Hold the line’.

She gets asked questions like this all the time.

She constantly turns down a lot of publicity if she thinks it would be bad for the school.

I don't find her to be egotistical. Maybe a bit arrogant but then she is, by the accepted measure, THE BEST headmistress in the country.

If she's guilty of being a bit arrogant but is achieving wonders for the working class, inner city children in her school ... so what?

Honestly, if you had a magic wand and could replace her with somebody who never spoke publicly but was completely average and who would quickly plunge Michaela down to the level of "bog standard comprehensive", would you wave that wand?

If so, why? What would possess you to diminish the future of the children who are benefitting enornously from her stewardship of what has become the best school in the country?

What motivates these people who are against this academic excellence?

Please feel free to articulate why you are so committed against Katherine Birbalsingh.

[helmclaret]

No, as far as we can discern she is still in school everyday. Not a rabbit hole. Reportedly she arrives at 6:45am and stays at work (working) for IRO 12 hours, for 5 days a week.

She was last reported to have "disappeared down the rabbit hole" when she said that some children were identifying as furries. Many responded that this was "nonsense" and "not happening" until the proof that it was indeed happening was produced (not by KBS).

I think it's time we retired using the phrase "disappeared down the rabbit hole." It doesn't appear to convey anything useful and appears to be used in lieu of either reasoned debate or an insult.

She probably has to do those hours so she can keep up with her social media, tv and radio appearances!

[Rowls]

She probably has to do those hours so she can keep up with her social media, tv and radio appearances!

Well yes, she does a fair bit on social media.

But it could hardly be said to be undermining the school's results, could it?

[Rowls]

BTW: When you view her social media appearances as a response to the seemingly endless campaign to undermine her school, the school's principles and indeed the continued existence of the school I think they make a lot more sense.

I said above that she was, perhaps, a little bit arrogant but I can also see how she is actually simply rightly proud of her achievements. If she is arrogant, it's not without merit.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

She probably has to do those hours so she can keep up with her social media, tv and radio appearances!

And speak at right wing conferences.

[aggi]

Nobody is claiming "swathes of children in UK schools are identifying as furries".

KBS only said she knows of a case or cases where it has happened.

OK, so now we're talking of a handful of cases in something like ten million kids. Why is she blowing it out of proportion so much then? I go back to my comment on being a vehenment opponent of idenitity politics leading to some pretty embarrassing pronouncements on her part.

Her personal brand is intrinsically tied up with the Michaela school and saying stupid stuff like kids are identifying as pasta detracts from the school, her achievements and its pupils.

Your lionisation of her is admirable but I'm surprised you can't get the idea that saying (and doubling down on) stupid stuff or appearing at conferences aloongside the likes of the Heritage Foundation is damaging the school's reputation and is also going to end up with a far less rounded education for the pupils.

[helmclaret]

‘Her personal brand…’ sums it up perfectly.

[ClaretPete001]

I think people are against KB because she talks sh*te and refers to herself on Twitter as Miss Snuffy. You can create schools that are very good by adopting extreme measure but it's probably not scaleable and would result in a lot of failure and truancy.

Saying that, I admire her because she is a women of colour who has been successful and runs a great school but she doesn't half talk complete ********.

As far as I recall, 9 out of the top ten schools were religious schools. The exception being Michaela. Says it all really.

Saying that I always find it a bit embarrassing when people try to deny there is an issue. There is hardly a gay or feminist icon of the 70s. 80s and beyond who hasn't been no platformed or vilified in the press, on social media or in their work places. Whether it be JK Rowling, Germain Greer or even Guardian columnists like Mary Bindel or a University Professor like Kathleen Stone being hounded out of her job.

Even a Marxist Professor like Zlavoj Zizak is constantly vilified by a mob purporting to be left wing. It's hardly Right Wing nutters that are criticising Peter Tatchell for his free speech views.

[Rowls]

And speak at right wing conferences.

She has spoken at, I believe, a single Conservative conference. She is not, by any public statement, a Conservative (she calls herself a small 'c' conservative) and is not a member of the party.

She only spoke at the conference because the Conservative policy would mean she could open her school. She had been effectively disbarred from the state sector for openly talking about her beliefs in education - beliefs which have formed the foundation of the BEST school in the country.

From memory, I believe the Conservatives were in opposition when she spoke.

[Rowls]

OK, so now we're talking of a handful of cases in something like ten million kids.

No, we're not "now" talking about a handful of examples, we were *always* talking about a few examples.

Why is she concerned with examples that we can all admit are the most extreme examples? The answer is simple and it's hiding in plain sight: Because these extreme examples point to a wider malaise.

The problem, as KBS has identified and rectified in her own school is one one culture. If we sanctify personal feelings and subjective feelings of "identity" above other aspects of what makes up our culture, and follow this to it's logical conclusion you *will* end up with these crazy examples. Nobody is claiming they are representative. The claim is that they point to a wider problem in what we have chosen to prioritize.

As Katherine Birbalsingh will articulate (if you have the courage to listen to her with open ears and open mind) is that culture is the key factor. Chiefly in her school the cultural values she pushes the children find unity in their shared nationality, practice gratitude, self-discipline, courteousness, punctuality... etc.

It's not rocket science but it is sorely neglected by so many institutes in our society and education system. By building her school around these values she has made it the BEST school in the entire country. Isn't that brilliant? Isn't that something we should be looking to replicate, especially in other deprived areas?

You can read more about the values and ethos of the Michaela school here:

https://michaela.education/home/seconda ... l-wembley/

[Clovius Boofus]

I won't believe that kids identify as pasta until I see a good sauce.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

She has spoken at, I believe, a single Conservative conference. She is not, by any public statement, a Conservative (she calls herself a small 'c' conservative) and is not a member of the party.

She only spoke at the conference because the Conservative policy would mean she could open her school. She had been effectively disbarred from the state sector for openly talking about her beliefs in education - beliefs which have formed the foundation of the BEST school in the country.

From memory, I believe the Conservatives were in opposition when she spoke.

She spoke at a right wing conference last year. Sure you’d be as supportive of a headteacher doing the same at the opposite side of the political spectrum.

[Volvoclaret]

Do the posters The Family Cat and Bosscat identify as furries?

[Bosscat]

Do the posters The Family Cat and Bosscat identify as furries?

Sometimes I am "Furious"

[Volvoclaret]

A furious furry wow. Do you hiss and spit?

[Rowls]

She spoke at a right wing conference last year. Sure you’d be as supportive of a headteacher doing the same at the opposite side of the political spectrum.

If they were getting the results KBS is getting and they weren't expressly party political in their work (just as KBS is not) then I can't see the problem in it.

The issue isn't KBS's politics. It's the adoption of bad education practices taken up as some kind of doctrine by large sections of the Left wing.

The Labour Party and the Left, generally, should embrace the teaching methods, practices and culture that KBS has nurtured. That people from this side of the debate choose not to is to their discredit.

[helmclaret]

Rowls, have you got a room dedicated to her at home, like Alan Partridge’s stalker Jed?

[aggi]

No, we're not "now" talking about a handful of examples, we were *always* talking about a few examples.

Why is she concerned with examples that we can all admit are the most extreme examples? The answer is simple and it's hiding in plain sight: Because these extreme examples point to a wider malaise.

The problem, as KBS has identified and rectified in her own school is one one culture. If we sanctify personal feelings and subjective feelings of "identity" above other aspects of what makes up our culture, and follow this to it's logical conclusion you *will* end up with these crazy examples. Nobody is claiming they are representative. The claim is that they point to a wider problem in what we have chosen to prioritize.

As Katherine Birbalsingh will articulate (if you have the courage to listen to her with open ears and open mind) is that culture is the key factor. Chiefly in her school the cultural values she pushes the children find unity in their shared nationality, practice gratitude, self-discipline, courteousness, punctuality... etc.

It's not rocket science but it is sorely neglected by so many institutes in our society and education system. By building her school around these values she has made it the BEST school in the entire country. Isn't that brilliant? Isn't that something we should be looking to replicate, especially in other deprived areas?

You can read more about the values and ethos of the Michaela school here:

https://michaela.education/home/seconda ... l-wembley/

I was giving her the benefit of the doubt, if it is just a few examples then it looks even worse for her. (Although obviously the strange situation that no-one can actually prove these "examples" makes it look even worse).

You can claim that is a logical conclusion, I can say that is absolute rubbish. The logical conclusion of allowing boys to identify as girls isn't that boys will identify as pasta.

All schools have an ethos but most have an ethos that also allows some individuality (or maybe you are just describing it badly). I don't see anything different in that blurb to many other schools.

I'm assuming you are defining it as the BEST school in the entire country based on one benchmark, the Progress 8 (a weird measure but so be it). I assume you know they come with a wide confidence interval so why are you not pushing for the methods of Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School to be replicated over the country. Statistically it could be better than the Michaela school after all.

When you look at Michaela is there seems to be some interesting things that could indicate why they get better results (although I am not disputing they do get very good results). Pupils sit one fewer exam than the national average (Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School on the other hand sit two more) and the range of subjects is limited (there's no option to do biology, chemistry and physics for instance which may not be surprising given KB's comments on "hard subjects" previously).

But, I'll say again, the more she continues on weird crusades and rocking up to right wing conferences with anti-semitic conspiracy loons the more she is going to negatively impact her pupils and the school.

[Big Vinny K]

Rowls, have you got a room dedicated to her at home, like Alan Partridge’s stalker Jed?

One of the best AP episodes ever !!

Jed was played by some bloke who used to be in Emmerdale I think.

Even now all those years later every time i see a washing machine arielator I think of that episode

Just watched the episode again - brilliant !

[Swizzlestick]

One of the best AP episodes ever !!

Jed was played by some bloke who used to be in Emmerdale I think.

Even now all those years later every time i see a washing machine arielator I think of that episode

Just watched the episode again - brilliant !

"Not my face! I'm doing a photoshoot for Vision Express!"

[ClaretPete001]

Most of the top schools are religious schools who select whether explicitly or otherwise. The education system in this country is mediocre at best run by ideologues and their lackeys using a standards agency that is not fit for purpose and the only way schools get to the top of any list is through selection.

I don't think Michaela or the religious schools have much to say to the mostly secular liberal society that is modern Britain.

[aggi]

She really seems to have disappeared down the rabbithole now, complaining about children identifying as pasta.

https://twitter.com/Miss_Snuffy/status/ ... 7350616126

I've just watched the video that she retweeted. Turns out it was just a bloke with a loose grasp on reality who saw a kid in fancy dress. Makes the whole thing even more unhinged.

[Rowls]

Below is an open letter from KBS to the Secretary of State of education.

***

Dear Secretary of State,
thank you for meeting me and one of my deputies on Monday. You will have noticed in our meeting how disappointed we were with your responses to the questions teachers have about the government’s proposals. I assure you, we are not alone in that feeling.

As teachers, we often hear politicians say how much they care about education. One of two things follows: either they turn out to be that rare politician who is truly interested in schools; or they are that all too common politician who simply wants to appear that way. Our meeting confirmed that you are firmly in the latter category.

Politicians who truly want to raise standards for our most deprived communities would ordinarily be interested in hearing from the people who know best how to do it: teachers.

Take our own school, Michaela. Last year, pupils at Eton College (fees £60,000 per year) received 53 per cent grade 9s across all their GCSEs. Michaela (a non-selective state school in a converted office block in Wembley) achieved 52 per cent. Anyone who thinks that black and brown kids from the inner city are destined to be underachievers are wrong. They should meet our children. And with the right values, the right leadership, the right school freedoms, we prove them wrong every time. One would have thought a secretary of state keen to spread aspiration across the country would want to ask how this is done. How can standards be raised everywhere? Yet when we spoke of our successes, you were not interested in finding out how we achieve what we do.

There are other schools which show that seemingly ordinary kids from seemingly ordinary homes are anything but ordinary when they are given the power of a great education. We asked you which of the schools you have visited do you believe to be models of excellence. You could not answer.

We asked you to explain why it is that academies were able to drive up standards. Since you are removing their freedoms, you clearly don’t believe those freedoms lead to success. So what does? You could not answer that either. We asked you to name any single school that you believed is raising its standards. You spoke for a long time but, again, couldn’t answer.

Academies tailor their curricula to the communities they serve and are only able to do this because they have the freedom to set them for themselves. You insisted that some schools were not meeting your ‘floor’ curriculum requirements. We asked you to name one school that does not offer a core curriculum to its pupils. You could not name a single one.

There are pressing problems in education that every headteacher is dealing with: provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities, absence, recruitment shortages and others. You are doing nothing to solve any of these.

You have said that you want to address recruitment. But you are making it harder for schools to hire new staff. There will be fewer maths teachers in our classrooms because of your butchery of the Advanced Maths Support Programme. You are removing schools’ ability to hire teachers without the mountains of bureaucracy that your state-sanctioned, centralised stamping requires.

You are passing a law that we must all follow a brand-new curriculum, before you have even told us what it is. Every teacher knows what this means: more money spent on new resources – such as textbooks – and thousands of man-hours ploughed into a fresh curriculum that hasn’t been finalised and might be changed. Time away from children means time away from raising standards. We tried to explain this, but to no avail.

I believe your lack of clarity and interest unfortunately stems from a deeper problem. It became apparent to me when we met that you do not appear to know your own bill.

When we asked you to explain how the recruitment of new teachers would function, you said that this detail was covered in the bill. When we read to you the relevant extracts from the bill, you said that it would be clarified elsewhere. But when we looked elsewhere, we didn’t find any answers to our questions.

When we asked you to explain how the changes to published admissions numbers would function, again you did not appear to understand. This rule change means that local councils can deliberately reduce the capacity at popular, good schools in order to force families towards less good schools which are undersubscribed. When we asked what you would say to a mother desperate for a place for her child in a successful school, who misses out because the capacity at these institutions has been deliberately reduced, you were unable to answer.

Your party has had 14 years in opposition to prepare for this. You were the shadow education secretary for three years ahead of the election. It should not be left to school leaders to point out the holes in this bill.

So why do all this? Why claim to love academies when you are in fact turning all academies into the equivalent of local authority schools? The reality is that your record in parliament reveals what you really think of academies, which is that you hate them. You repeatedly voted against academy reforms from 2010 to 2016. You claim to be a great believer in the high standards which academies have brought, but we saw you twist your face with disgust every time you said the word in our meeting, repeating that the worst schools ‘are, in fact, academies’.

You are pretending to like academies now that you are Education Secretary, because it is hard to openly oppose them in the way that you have done throughout your parliamentary career, in the face of such obvious success. You don’t want school leaders to have the freedom to innovate and do what is right for their children. You want the state to have control, which is not much of a surprise; I’ve repeatedly pointed out your Marxist leanings. You should stick to your convictions and admit that you do not believe academy freedoms are a good thing and that you believe central government is the answer. At least that would be honest.

You should have higher ambitions for our children. You should show more respect to our teachers. As I said at our meeting, take a few hours away from Whitehall and visit our school in Wembley so that you can see what I mean. Or you can stick by your Marxist beliefs and debate me on a public platform. Which is better for our children: school leaders who make the decisions for our schools, or you in central government?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Katharine Birbalsingh

Headmistress, Michaela Community School

[Enola Gay]

She's not gonna sleep with you, mate...

[mdd2]

Anyone who thinks that black and brown kids from the inner city are destined to be underachievers are wrong.

Close her academy now.
KB 50 lines
I must not write anyone are again
Followed by
Instead I should write anyone is
eg Anyone who thinks that black and brown kids from the inner city are destined to be underachievers is wrong.

[steve1264b]

I might take her letter more seriously if she herself was not involved in politics and busy making speeches at right wing conferences.

She is the head teacher at ONE school, she has done well, but she doesn't speak for education or all academy headteachers.

She is anti Labour and while she might have some valid points she herself is not above criticism.

[aggi]

As I've said previously, education really needs to stop being used as a politcical football.

This was an interesting article on a visit to the Michaela School (the author is a retired teacher, was previously the head of one of Scotland's best schools).

https://ahouseinjoppa.wordpress.com/202 ... the-lunch/

[Colburn_Claret]

Education and the NHS have always been political footballs.

The only way to resolve it is to get all political parties, and teachers , to come up with a system that satisfies all. It would be impossible to please everyone. Once it is agreed all they have to argue about then is how to fund it.

I know from 12 years of working in the NHS how difficult it is when the goalposts are constantly moved. How the waste of money incurred with every change, that could be better spent on patient care, is a kick in the teeth to doctors and nurses alike.
Any politician who puts party mandate ahead of the needs of the people is a waste of space. Sadly we have about 600 of them.

[Greenmile]

Rowls, have you got a room dedicated to her at home, like Alan Partridge’s stalker Jed?

With Kemi Badenoch taking the David Copperfield role

[CoolClaret]

Education and the NHS have always been political footballs.

The only way to resolve it is to get all political parties, and teachers , to come up with a system that satisfies all. It would be impossible to please everyone. Once it is agreed all they have to argue about then is how to fund it.

I know from 12 years of working in the NHS how difficult it is when the goalposts are constantly moved. How the waste of money incurred with every change, that could be better spent on patient care, is a kick in the teeth to doctors and nurses alike.
Any politician who puts party mandate ahead of the needs of the people is a waste of space. Sadly we have about 600 of them.

Good points -

Consensus decisions on these institutions definitely makes the most sense; potentially chopping and changing every 5 years or so makes zero sense and as you say, it's only the populace that suffers.

The Chinese gov/regime gets a lot of criticism (and rightly so) - but when it comes to infrastructure planning and execution, there's no denying their system is more 'advantageous' than ours is. They have a long-term plan and just stick to it.

[AlargeClaret]

Anyone who thinks that black and brown kids from the inner city are destined to be underachievers are wrong.

Close her academy now.
KB 50 lines
I must not write anyone are again
Followed by
Instead I should write anyone is
eg Anyone who thinks that black and brown kids from the inner city are destined to be underachievers is wrong.

They’re not destined to underachieve because they’re “ black or brown “ it’s simply the result of overcrowded inner city “ sink estate type” schools with often 20-30+ languages , lack of discipline,gang culture , lack of parental help etc etc . The exact same if the kids were white and from the same estates /culture etc. The skin colour is by en large irrelevant.

[quoonbeatz]

Yesterday I heard that my English teacher from secondary school had died last month. He was a brilliant teacher, a proper bloke with a great sense of humour, who really got how to treat kids of that age; not like youngsters but not quite like adults. He was the king of the spelling test, to which I credit my fantastic spelling skills (but not my typing). A Bolton fan, he went to the Turf to watch them and bought copies of Marlon’s Gloves, which he gave to me, telling me to not read the swearing. He deftly made Macbeth seem like a comedy at times, most likely why I’ve been to see it 3 times as an adult despite finding it a bit of a slog in my teens. Most of all though, he knew that teaching isn’t just about passing exams, it’s about finding a passion, a love for a subject that can shape your future.

I’d rather kids went to schools that have a rounded approach and teachers like Mr Rice so they come out bright, sound people than become regimented drones, with information drilled into them by robots with the sole purpose of getting the school ‘results’.

The best teachers are the ones whose positive impact you can still draw on 30 years later.

[Greenmile]

They’re not destined to underachieve because they’re “ black or brown “ it’s simply the result of overcrowded inner city “ sink estate type” schools with often 20-30+ languages , lack of discipline,gang culture , lack of parental help etc etc . The exact same if the kids were white and from the same estates /culture etc. The skin colour is by en large irrelevant.

I think you’ve missed the point of the post you’ve quoted. Try reading it again.

[LDNBFC87]

KBS is the Headmistress of a state school - the most successful school in the country by the commonly accepted measurement. She is the definition of a grounded and sensible person.

The idea that a derranged lunatic could manage to run what is very literally the best performing school in the country is the idea that seems to be away with the fairies.

She's a total loon and her school isn't even in the top ten (Sunday Times 2025):

The UK’s best comprehensive state secondary schools for 2025
Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School, Blackburn
St Andrew’s Catholic School, Leatherhead
St Paul’s School For Girls, Edgbaston
Impington Village College, Impington
JFS, Harrow
JCoss (Jewish Community Secondary School), Barnet
The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, London
Sandringham School, St Albans
Hasmonean School For Girls, London
Mossbourne Community Academy, London