Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Meanwhile, Red Rishi is happy to write off half a billion of fraudulent COVID loans and refuse a windfall tax on energy companies that will make record profits. All because saddling teenagers with 100k of debt for 30-40 years is apparently much more sustainable.

Nigredo wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 10:29 am Meanwhile, Red Rishi is happy to write off half a billion of fraudulent COVID loans and refuse a windfall tax on energy companies that will make record profits. All because saddling teenagers with 100k of debt for 30-40 years is apparently much more sustainable.

'tis the way loans and banks work: I am fortunate enough to now be in a position to pay off my Business Bounce-Back Loan in full, way ahead of schedule. However, whilst the scheme (and the bank) permits of repaying the loan in full early and without penalty, do they tell you how to do it? No. Even the adviser I spoke to on the phone was clueless.

However... plenty of advice on how to extend the term to ten years, make it interest-only for a period, that kind of thing.

My mum used to work in banking. Her advice - turn up in branch with a bag of cash. Lovely and straightforward.

I can remember, at the height of the Thatcher insanity, canvassing in a Tory area and being told that it was unfair to use people's taxes on education if they didn't have children of school age. Thatcherism reduced to its essence.

I've met cunts like that on car forums - "why should I pay for libraries, I don't use them." One particular twat on a BMW forum was the perfect Randist. Didn't see why he should pay tax to fund anything he didn't use. I don't 'do' car forums any more: too many selfish pricks who have long gone down the "me, me, me" route, eschewing "the greater good".

See also: subsidising railways, schools, and a whole raft of stuff like that.

What's the phrase? "This is why we can't have nice things." ?

Tell em to assume their tax purely pays for asylum seeker detention centres, Trident, or whatever else their tiny dicks get a quiver from. It's as meaningful as their blathering selfishness, at least.

https://archive.ph/2022.04.17-085915/ht ... -2325wjrx6

Soon enough, Zahawi will be crowing about The Dickensian Aspect and doing more with less

Taken from the BBC SYB on the restarting of the LHC:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... ility-head

Of course, they only need basic arithmetic to count their stitches and weigh ingredients for cooking.

Did anyone else see Birbalsingh on Politics Live earlier?

She's been misquoted. She's been taken out of context. She was only talking about her school.

And of course, she's not an expert.

Car crash.

But she's aTory's wet dream of a headmistress...

In her own way, rather inspiring for girls who want to take STEM subjects, giving a selfless lesson in what can happen if you reach a conclusion without evidential rigour or experiment.

Birbalsingh got another run out on GB News this evening. Colin Brazier kicked off the interview by slagging off all her critics and declaring that he was a big fan of hers before basically letting her churn out some very dubious claims without challenging her in anyway. She was blowing her own trumpet claiming how successful her school was but the figures she used were fairly dodgy.

She kept quoting the attainment 8 figures which supposedly measure progress made from when kids started secondary school until they get their GCSE's. I've always thought should a measurement is rather flawed because there can often be a big turnover of kids over the 5 years so it is hard to see how they come up with the figures. At the school where I work we often lose quite a few of the brighter kids at the end of year 9 because they are poached by the local Catholic High School which always has outstanding results. At the same time we seem to take in a lot of pupils at the start of year 10 who have either missed a lot of school or who have a lot of special needs. This usual results in the school having a fairly low attainment 8 score. It is easy to see how schools can manipulate these figures to their advantage.

The DFE has been all over social media today publicizing SATs which are taking place in primary school next week.

Next to the graphic they placed this statement.

Most Year Six pupils will soon be taking their SATs.

These tests are used to measure school performance and to make sure pupils have the support they need as they move into secondary school.

This is utter bollox. The SATS tests that take place at the end of year 6 are not diagnostic tests. They are a test of how much time schools have ploughed into getting kids ready for tests and how good the kids are a taking tests. If kids do perform badly in the tests there is no guarantee that they will get extra help when they get to secondary school.

At the school where I work we currently only have 4 teaching assistance in a school with nearly 800 pupils. The only pupils that get regular support are pupils who have Education Health Care plans (previously called statements). The trust has a policy of making 'reasonable adjustments' for pupils with special needs which in reality means doing the bare minimum.

https://archive.ph/lLMXV

Nadim Zahawi is fiddling about with grammar schools again.

We need more Heads like this one

Leeds head teacher tells pupils that SATS are 'useless exams'

The head teacher at Parklands Primary School in Seacroft said pupils are only sitting the exams due to government instruction

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds ... 890147.amp

He said: "Dear Y6 children. Whatever happens during SATs week does not shape your future one little bit. Just try your best, smile, and look forward to climbing a tree, playing football, singing, dancing, cooking or reading when you get home. After all the disruption you have had over the past three years, my heart goes out to you sitting these useless exams. Sadly the Government say you have to do them, so we have no choice. We can as teachers, Head Teachers, be there for you if you feel anxious - so talking is good.".

...Karen Shakeleton said: "They are useless, my daughter got her GCSE targets as F due to her SATS - yet this week we attended her Master's degree graduation."

Cyclist wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 12:18 pm We need more Heads like this one

Leeds head teacher tells pupils that SATS are 'useless exams'

The head teacher at Parklands Primary School in Seacroft said pupils are only sitting the exams due to government instruction

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds ... 890147.amp

He said: "Dear Y6 children. Whatever happens during SATs week does not shape your future one little bit. Just try your best, smile, and look forward to climbing a tree, playing football, singing, dancing, cooking or reading when you get home. After all the disruption you have had over the past three years, my heart goes out to you sitting these useless exams. Sadly the Government say you have to do them, so we have no choice. We can as teachers, Head Teachers, be there for you if you feel anxious - so talking is good.".

...Karen Shakeleton said: "They are useless, my daughter got her GCSE targets as F due to her SATS - yet this week we attended her Master's degree graduation."

Yup, my sister got top marks for her SATS and was still refused entry to the local selective quasi-Grammar school on account of she wasn't a regular church goer (her thick as mince friend lied in the affirmative and was admitted).

Five years and a place on an England sporting pathway later, they were suddenly very keen on drafting my sister in...

Zahawi is ably following in ratboy's footsteps. A worthy successor, one feels.

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has apologised to headteachers for announcing tutoring ‘league tables’ on a bank holiday Monday.

School leaders’ unions ASCL and the NAHT previously said they were “appalled” after Zahawi wrote to leaders on bank holiday Monday to tell them school-level tutoring data will be made public in the autumn, as well as being shared with Ofsted.

They said this was a “direct contravention” of the Department for Education’s own staff wellbeing charter...


https://schoolsweek.co.uk/zahawi-apolog ... ouncement/

...Unions welcomed the apology for the bank holiday release. But Geoff Barton, ASCL general secretary, said he was “disappointed” Zahawi “intends to press ahead” with publishing the data.

He added: “He says it is not a new accountability measure but we remain concerned that it will end up being a de facto league table, and we are disturbed that it is obviously going to be a source of information for Ofsted inspections.

“None of this was said when schools were first informed about this year’s NTP and there are a number of factors which will affect take-up – the disruption caused by Covid and the cost of topping up the partial NTP subsidy from school budgets which are under great strain, for example.

“We’re all for transparency but we’re also in favour of timely disclosure and consultation – neither of which has happened.”...

Nice to see the Tories maintaining their woeful record on education. Is it written down somewhere that only cunts will be considered for the top job at the DfE?

Could be worse - Moscow Dom could still be running the "Tory Education" twitter feed.

Their core support group likely despise teachers, think kids have it too easy, and think any education beyond the 3Rs is pointless. In that respect, Zahawi is doing his job - "aw diddums, the soft teachers can't do their jobs pwoperly and we can't hurt their feelings by being all nasty and howwid to them on one of their many holidays that you don't get.".