[davidjay]

It's not so much having friends as no-one, so far as I can see, has ever been found or has stood up to say what a great school it was for them and how it changed their life, which is a bit strange given how often she says she empowers disadvantaged children. .

[Watchman]

She’s so thin skinned all ex-pupils probably have to sign NDA’s

[Tubby Isaacs]

It's not so much having friends as no-one, so far as I can see, has ever been found or has stood up to say what a great school it was for them and how it changed their life, which is a bit strange given how often she says she empowers disadvantaged children. .

This isn't the sort of thing 16 year olds are inclined to do, and if they were, they'd probably think in terms of their teachers rather than the headteacher. But the Progress 8 is real enough, even with the advantages that the school has. James Ball rather mucked up his article by not mentioning it at all.

As I say, the big problems I have with Michaela is the pretense that all schools can be like that if only every school was run by a Birbalsingh. It's success depends on their being other schools to take pupils who it wouldn't suit. And I don't like the curriculum- see Warwick Mansell's thread. I asked various Twitter supporters of hers if their kids went to schools like that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Head teacher encourages law breaking and civil disobedience.

Ofsted?

[MisterMuncher]

Come, come Malcolm. Surely you're aware that it's only completely arbitrary and vindictive rules that she's made up that must be strictly obeyed by those without any hope of a fair fight?

Everything outside of that is completely up for grabs

[satnav]

I wonder if Birbalsingh allows pupils at her school to pay for their lunches with cash because nearly every secondary school I know only allow prepayment cards in their canteens.

[Bones McCoy]

I wonder if Birbalsingh allows pupils at her school to pay for their lunches with cash because nearly every secondary school I know only allow prepayment cards in their canteens.

If only somebody had beaten Corbyn P up, and stolen his "lunch money".

[davidjay]

Ms Birbalsingh has explained her apparent double standards by saying that children should obey the rules but adults don't have to.

[Bones McCoy]

Head teacher encourages law breaking and civil disobedience.

Ofsted?

Strong Freemen of the Land energy there.

But Ofsted have their hands full chasing imaginary cat-people.


Nya

[Andy McDandy]

Well, there's no need to OFSTED our friends, is there?

[Bones McCoy]

Well, there's no need to OFSTED our friends, is there?

Nor audit, nor investigate electoral irregularities, nor apply broadcasting regulations...

We are heading in the direction of the Saxon/Norman laws.

[mattomac]

For bigger shops they should still offer this service, smaller organisations will probably probably retain more, I know our subs suddenly shot up at football it’s also no longer a hassle to keep the money around.

[Youngian]

The point about Aldi is you know all frills and customer services are stripped to bare minimum in order to discount. Lots of people use cash and most supermarkets will continue to provide the service.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Today's culture war bollocks. Kids can't read because they're doing yoga.

Precisely how much time in school is spent on yoga? I can remember my primary school having some kids who weren't great at reading. They got some extra help, but what was the school supposed to do? Turf them out of art and PE lessons to do more reading? Or should the whole school give up PE and art to do more reading?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I was under the impression that (minimum) time for maths & literacy was set by the DfE and inspected by Ofsted.

[MisterMuncher]

Realistically, if a child is having significant difficulty in meeting literacy and numeracy targets under regular classroom instruction, it's an underlying social or educational needs issue. Snuffy here insulates herself from that by running a school that uses PR to create de facto academic selection.

Now, I can't hope to pin down if her stories and attitudes are down to real or affected ignorance, or if her motives are down to culture warring or a simple arrogance that she's better than all those other lazy, stupid teachers, parents and pupils, but I'm pretty sure where I think it stems from.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I hadn't noticed the reference to gardening there.

I'd have thought her base regarded that as a good thing to do at school. Outdoors, practical, ties in with stuff they do in biology (or as they call it at her school, combined science) etc. She's suggesting that's now stopped for kids who can't read very well?

[Yug]

I don't think she's suggesting anything of the sort. She's just making shit up which she thinks will appeal to her fans and earn her the praise she so obviously craves.

She's coming across to me as a vain and stupid person who has been elevated way beyond her capabilities. I predict that when her supporters in government are sitting on the Opposition benches (those who managed to retain their seats) she will rapidly fade into the background noise, and eventually disappear from the public stage altogether.