You Cried 'Wolf' Once Too Often...

...and the parents now know there aren't any.

Parents who take their children out of school to go on holiday are damaging their life chances, the shadow education secretary warned yesterday.

Bridget Phillipson urged parents to 'reflect seriously' on the impact of unnecessary absences on their youngsters and the wider school community. In an interview yesterday, she said that while it can be 'tough', it is 'really important that children are in school' as 'every day matters'.

Do you think parents are going to swallow that now? When you did nothing during lockdown but slavisly support the government? 

Ms Phillipson's comments came as a new poll found almost one in three parents believe the coronavirus pandemic has shown it is not essential for children to attend school every day.

One wonders exactly what's wrong with the other two thirds that they don't believe that. 

He Who Pays The Piper, Robert...

A particularly troubling aspect of Gay’s resignation concerns the apparent clout of wealthy Harvard alumni​...

You want their money, and they want...well, not to be hectored and told black is really white. And while you need their money, they get to call the tune.  

I can understand the frustrations of these donors. But to use their influence to force the ouster of these university presidents is an abuse of power. It sets a dangerous precedent of mega-donor intrusion into university life. It endangers the autonomy of America’s universities to determine for themselves how to strike the right balance between freedom of expression and hateful speech.

But they aren't using that autonomy properly, are they? They are taking that money and spitting in the faces of those who are giving it. And they've decided enough is enough. 

As have I. What is it? Is it ''We have to employ more smart well-educated black minorities to show us their worth' or is it 'Oh noes, our smart well-educated black minorities have fallen into a trap so obvious a child could see it coming'..?

It can't really be both, can it? 

The core problem is that one of the major jobs of today’s university presidents is to solicit money.

It does make the world go round, after all... 

As a Jew, I also cannot help but worry that the actions of these donors – many of them Jewish, many from Wall Street – could fuel the very antisemitism they claim to oppose, based on the age-old stereotype of wealthy Jewish bankers controlling the world.

If they really were doing that, Ms Gay would still be in the kitchen or on reception. or wearing a janitor's uniform. Assuming she's smart enough to know which end of the broom to push.  

And Why Shouldn’t You Be Questioned?

Guardian interviews with school leaders elsewhere revealed widespread concern about deteriorating behaviour among pupils, coupled with a lack of support for school policies from some parents, both issues highlighted in the Ofsted annual report last week.

“Behaviour has got worse, but what we don’t get is any support from the parents,” said one head of a secondary school in the Midlands, who did not want to be named. “They don’t want their children being sanctioned. They question more than they support.”

Why shouldn’t they question you? You’ve proven yourselves to be partisan, secretive and lazy. 

“In the past students were in lessons. They might be disruptive in lessons and you’d have to deal with that kind of behaviour. “But there’s a new thing coming up in schools in the last year and a half – students are turning up to school, but they don’t go into any lessons and they just wander around the building. They want to come for the social, but they don’t want to go into their lessons.

“So then I have to put a sanction in place and I’m having to suspend or put them in a removal room. But most of the time they don’t comply and the parents have no sway with the children either.”

Gosh, maybe that lockdown did some good after all, if it’s burst the ‘teacher as god’ bubble. 

There are more fights between pupils and more disruption from the setting off of fire alarms.

“But for us, the biggest issue is students just refusing to follow instructions point blank.”

In some cases when a child refuses to leave a classroom, the whole of the class has to move elsewhere instead.

Well, since schools are usually fans of collective punishment, I find it rather hard to really care…after all, it’s a rod you’ve clearly made for your own backs, after all:

Glyn Potts, headteacher of Saint John Henry Newman RC College in Oldham, said suspensions had doubled at his school, from 81 days last year to 161 days this year.

“I don’t necessarily think behaviour has got worse,” said Potts. “What I would say is the level of need and the level of complexity of young people has increased exponentially.”

Unmet special needs, mental health issues and persistent post-pandemic absence are all creating tensions in schools, which can result in breaches of the behaviour code.

“In the past we had naughty boys and girls who did things that were naughty,” Potts added. “Now it’s just far more complex than that.”

Maybe it isn’t, though? 

You've Only Yourselves To Blame...

...because your actions helped the scales fall from their eyes:

Pre-pandemic, ensuring daily attendance was considered a tenet of good parenting, but now it's socially acceptable to take children on holiday in term time. From there, it's not such a big step to abandoning school altogether.

And for very good reasons... 

All pointed to an education system in crisis. Some parents felt schools were failing their children academically or emotionally, painting a picture of a generation of children anxious in the aftermath of lockdown. Others felt they were hotbeds of violence and bullying. Some cited a new educational 'woke' agenda which they felt had become uncomfortably prevalent, and was being presented to children at far too young an age.

Something we can genuinely thank the hysteria over covid for is that it enabled parents to get a good look at what went on in schools.  

'Home education is changing out of all recognition at the moment,' explained Jacky, the lead for home education at a local authority in the north of England, who spoke to me off the record. 'Covid revealed a lot,' added Ziggy Moore, founder of Moore Education, an online tuition programme for maths and English, who has seen a boom in business because of parents home-schooling and also using private tutors. Thanks to online lessons during lockdown, parents observed how schools were educating their kids up close — and what they saw did not please them.

One wonders why more parents don't seem concerned... 

The curriculum is another cause for concern. Emily, from an upper-middle-class family, worked for a charitable foundation until an incident at her daughter's state school forced her to opt for home-schooling. Her seven-year-old daughter had become increasingly anxious and depressed. 'She finally admitted she was scared men with terrifying weapons were going to come and take her away and told me: 'And I won't see you again!' ' Baffled, Emily looked through her daughter's school workbooks — and found they contained the story of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education activist who was shot in the head by the Taliban aged 15 on her way to school. 'My daughter is seven. She does not know where Pakistan is. This is an issue in Islamic countries, but no teacher will point that out because it's considered racist. So my daughter thinks this is happening in Clapham.'

If the Education Secretary had his way, it probably would!  

So Am I, Brent, So Am I...

...it's appalling.

 

But surely what's even more appalling is that they are trying to 'educate' children that babies gestate in the digestive system, rather than the womb? 

You know, that organ men don't have, and never will?

Enforced Celebration...

A Welsh-speaking school has been put into special measures...

Discipline problems? Pupils failing to read, write, add up? 

...for letting children speak too much English.

*blinks* 

Inspectors found many of the 331 pupils at the primary 'turn to English naturally' when chatting and were not given enough chances to 'celebrate their Welshness'.

There's an '...or else!' hanging there, isn't there? Think about what they are actually saying - they want to force the children to do something unnatural. 

Their report said: 'The quality of teaching is inconsistent.

'At times, work that is incorrect is marked as being correct and given positive comments.'

What happened to 'all must have prizes'..? Doesn't that translate well into Welsh? 

The school will be checked every four to six months and given areas to improve. Penarth consistently appears in lists of Britain's best places to live and is sought after for its seaside charm as well as its proximity to Cardiff.

I wonder how long that will continue? 

Why The Sudden Change?

Canewdon Preschool and Daycare, in High Street, Canewdon, has been rated “requires improvement” in all areas by Ofsted following an inspection in November.

Oh, and why? 

It stated: “Staff do not help children to manage their feelings and emotions effectively or to understand how their actions affect others.

“When children's behaviour escalates, staff try different ways to explain why their response was inappropriate.

“However, this is not done in a way that helps children to understand, and they do not learn how to self-regulate their behaviour.”

Why is this an issue? More specifically, why is this the responsibility of the nursery staff, and not their parents? 

How old are these children? 

At the time of the inspection, there were 20 children on roll, all aged between two and four.

Huh!  

The preschool was previously rated “good” by Ofsted in an inspection in 2017.

So, what's changed? The staff? The children? Or the criteria for awarding the rating, perhaps..?

Thank God For 'Experts'!

Ask any child their favourite film, and there is quite a high chance they will name a Disney movie, like 'Beauty and the Beast' or 'Aladdin'.

However, experts believe that these films are giving them the wrong idea about what a healthy relationship looks like.

You mean, it's not a good idea to fall in love with a thief? Or take up bestiality?  

Researchers at the University of Exeter surveyed young people and found they had the desire to learn skills to help them develop relationships at school.

What..? Really? 

Study author Simon Benham-Clarke said: 'Those we surveyed highlighted the importance of teaching skills such as relating, communication, empathy, respect, conflict resolution and repair and ending relationships kindly and safely.

'Our research shows schools need improved support to run relationships education, including specialist expertise and resources, and guidance on signposting pupils to external sources of help.

'Positive relationship behaviours should be modelled, integrated and built on throughout curriculums nationally and reflected in a school's ethos.'

Where on earth are schools to find the time for all this? What's this nonsence based on?

...the researchers conducted focus groups with 24 young people aged between 14 and 18.

*sighs* 

One female participant said: 'I think it actually does create this toxic image to some degree… it's very much the female is feeble, and she must be saved by the male, and it kind of creates a toxic masculinity.'

Another added: 'It's embedded into our heads that it's always Prince Charming and it's always the prince and the princess … you don't understand it until you actually get to it, and that's when you realise that it's not like Disney movies or anything.'

Well, love, that's life for you. Frankly, I understood that well before the age of 14...

Only One In Four..?

I'd have put it a lot higher if asked to guess...

One in four councils is promoting ‘highly contentious’ race theories in schools, a major report warns today. Town halls are using controversial terms including ‘white privilege’ and ‘unconscious bias’ in teacher training materials, research has found.

If only our 'conservative' government were as interested in this as they are in fighting like rabid weasels to get into the top spot, eh? 

Tony Sewell, who led last year’s landmark government inquiry into racism that was castigated by the Left, added: ‘As I found as chair of the Commission for Ethnic and Racial Disparities, and as this work underlines, it is increasingly apparent that a single, contentious interpretation of anti-racism has taken hold across many of our country’s institutions. Uncovering the ideological drift in schools is of vital importance both for creating a more balanced discussion on race, and for protecting the integrity of education itself.’

Oh, Tony, I think the integrity of education is a lost cause. Don't you? 

DDU began investigating after learning that Brighton & Hove City Council was recommending pupils as young as five be taught that they are either racists or victims.

Or in the case of cricketer Azeem Rafiq, both!

The Decline Of Personal Responsibility Accelerates...

In a landmark case that has deep implications for other higher education institutions, the parents of Natasha Abrahart successfully sued the University of Bristol under the Equality Act.

Abrahart, 20, a physics undergraduate who suffered from severe social anxiety, died a day before she was due to give a “terrifying” oral exam in front of teachers and fellow students.

Shouldn't oral exams be expected to be a part of university life? 

Her parents sued the university under the Equality Act for not taking reasonable care of their daughter’s wellbeing, health and safety, arguing it did not do enough to help her despite staff knowing she had a disability and was struggling deeply.

In a judgment issued on Friday at Bristol county court, judge Alex Ralton said: “There can be no doubt that there was direct discrimination, especially once the university knew or should have known that a mental health disability of some sort was preventing Natasha from performing.”

So, the wicked university did nothing to help her? Hmmm, not quite. 

But not enough, according to her parents, who seem to have expected the university to accommodate their daughter, and not their daughter to accommodate the requirements of her chosen subject: 

Abrahart said his daughter struggled to speak to people she did not know, particularly people in positions of authority.

“Expecting Natasha to take part in oral assessments was like expecting a student in a wheelchair to take an exam in a room at the top of a long flight of stairs.”

Except it isn't. The student can be provided with an exam in a ground floor, but still has to take the exam. 

And the university did offer alternatives:

“Our staff’s efforts also included offering alternative options for Natasha’s assessments to alleviate the anxiety she faced about presenting her laboratory findings to her peers.

“Given the significant impact this decision could have on how all higher education providers support their students, we are reviewing the decision carefully, including whether to appeal.”

Maybe on appeal, we'll find out why those offered alternatives weren't deemed suitable, because it's not explicit in this article: 

The university has argued that it had tried to offer Abrahart alternatives to the oral presentation.

But the judge observed that, “whilst a few ideas” regarding possible adjustments were “floated” by the university, “none were implemented”.

Why not? Is it because she turned them down? It would be good to know, wouldn't it? 

New In The Guardian: 'How To Handicap Your Kid For Life'

Oooh, parenting advice in the dear old 'Grauniad' This should be good (for a laugh):

What sort of behaviour should I look out for?

There’s a certain sort of kid, warns O’Malley, who goes to school with a supercilious presumption that they’re better than the others. Make sure your child isn’t that child: the idea that your offspring is inherently smarter, better looking and more skilled across the board, is, in fact, a facet of your own dark side – and transmitting it to your child will lead to big problems.

Wait, what? But what if they are? What if they shine amongst dullards (yes, I know parents always think that, but sometimes it must actually be true)..? 

The much better approach is to think from the point of view of other children, and to encourage your child to do likewise. “When asking your child about their day, don’t just ask about lessons and what they had for lunch,” says O’Malley. “Ask them, did everyone have a friend at playtime today? And if they say someone was left out, ask them did they give that person a smile, or go to ask whether they wanted to play?”

Thus making them the prey of the vicious and manipulative. Like...the future offspring of 'Guardian' columnists, perchance? 

But Do You Want Them To Learn About Everything, Troy?

The footballer Troy Deeney is launching an impassioned plea for more widespread teaching of black, Asian and minority ethnic experiences by schools in England, to help combat racism and give children “a balanced and inclusive understanding” of Britain.

'Balanced'..? Really? I suspect that that's the last thing he really wants. 

“I have seen more and more how important it is for my children to be able to see themselves represented in what they are being taught, and learn about the contribution and background of people who look like them,” Deeney said.

“The importance of education at an early age to inform identity and combat racist beliefs and stereotypes cannot be understated.”

As I suspected. What 'stereotypes' do you want to combat, I wonder? The stereotypes of black footballers as barely human savages given far too much money but unable to disguise their basic natures? The stereotype of black people as fools who see 'the enemy' even when the police are trying to help them catch the murderer of one of their own?

“As my mum always says to me, you can’t understand where you’re going if you don’t understand where you’ve come from. Whether it’s too late for my generation, we need to lay a pathway for longer-lasting change for our kids as I believe the current system is failing children from ethnic minorities,” Deeney said.

How, exactly, is it failing children? How did you do at school? 

He was excluded from school at the age of 15 and left without any qualifications. Later, as a professional footballer, he studied and passed GCSEs in English, maths and science.

Say no more. Maybe if young black children aspired to do more with their lives than kick a ball (or their cat!) around, it'd be a start, eh? 

A Warning For Universities...

A 12-year-old who raped and abused a neglected nine-year-old schoolboy wasn't prosecuted due to a bungled investigation by his teachers, a report has shown.

Aren't the wokies always demanding universities do the same for rape allegations of (supposed) adults? 

The abuse happened while the unnamed boys were both students at Appletree School in Cumbria, a special school for children who have been abused or neglected.

Obviously, so they can be abused properly this time... 

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) heard how the victim was repeatedly sexually abused, 'maybe 100 times', by the 12-year-old and others while at the school.

Which others? More children? Or teachers? 

The damning findings are part of a report into abuse at residential schools published today.

Ooh, a government report, those are really worth paying attention t... 

An Ofsted inspection report from 2006 said that Appletree was 'an effective school which meets successfully the academic, personal and social needs of its pupils', adding that there was a 'consistent management of pupils' behaviour, for which there are high expectations'.

Oh. Maybe not. 

How About 'Errr, No, Melanie'..?

The education system needs to be “torn down and rebuilt”...

Amen! 

...so it can better support those who are autistic...

Wait, what? Which wackademic has been spouting this nonsense? 

...the TV presenter Melanie Sykes has said.

Oh... 

Discussing her recent diagnosis at the age of 51, which she announced earlier this week, Sykes reflected on the struggles she has faced throughout her youth and career, some of which she had previously put down to being northern and a “straight talker”.

Most 'straight talking Northerners' that I know wouldn't be whining at the age of 51 about how awful their schooldays were... 

“I left school at 15, and I just thought I was less mature than the others, but I now know the education system wasn’t set up in a way that I was able to function there. It crowbars you into a certain way of thinking and being, and if you don’t fit the bill you get left behind. That’s why we need to tear down the education system and rebuild it, so it suits everyone.”

Which is pretty impossible to ever achieve, as a few seconds thought would have told you. 

She says she’s keen to use her profile to incite change: “My activism has massively kicked in.”

Well, with a stellar profile like that, you're bound to ... err... what have you done, exactly? 

And Next, She'll Warn Us That Water Is Wet...

The head of the schools watchdog in England has denounced a “militant” new brand of activism in school communities, which she warned was leading to confrontation within and outside the school gates and having a potentially limiting effect on education.

You've only just noticed? Where have you been for the last 10 years?

In some cases, she said, children and teachers were being subjected to abuse and even violence for being the wrong religion, race or ethnicity, and she said pupils should not be forced to support their peers’ campaigns for fear of being ostracised if they do not.

Too little, too late. Where were you when a schoolteacher was hounded out of his school for showing an image of a religious figure? 

Free Speech For Me, Never For Thee...

Mike Roper, the headteacher of Allerton Grange high school in Leeds, was forced to apologise after he claimed in an assembly that some people saw the flag as a “symbol of antisemitism”.

Video of the speech was posted online, going viral and prompting a backlash and protests, with extra police having to be posted outside the school.

'The flag' being the Palestinian flag, of course. If he'd said the same about the Union flag the 'Guardian' would probably be giving him a guest writer's spot...

The assembly was intended, the school said, to address tensions within its multiracial student community caused by the situation in Israel.

But instead the speech brought accusations of “blatant Islamophobia” and staff being instructed to help students into and out of school safely following the furious response.

In other words, teachers had to plan for the usual screeching outside the school gates from the usual mob. 

Similar disputes have occurred in schools across the UK since the latest deadly violence in Israel and Gaza, with questions raised over why children expressing support for Palestine are being accused of antisemitism and in some cases subjected to disciplinary action.

So they are being disciplined for expressing an opinion? 

No. Don't be silly. That only happens to the staff!

During a protest at Clapton girls’ academy in east London, students sat down and chanted “free Palestine”, refusing to return to lessons.

See? They weren't disciplined for having an opinion at all, but for their actions in refusing to attend school and learn something other than the tribal hatreds they undoubtedly learn at home, or at the local mosque. 

The Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said: “Imagine being a Palestinian kid at this guy’s school, being told your national flag is inherently hateful. Absolutely outrageous.”

We get told ours is that all the time, usually by morons like you. We just laugh and shrug it off. 

The author and Cambridge University academic Priyamvada Gopal also reacted with dismay to the video.

Oh, well, this'll be good! 

She said: “Young people can be taught about the evils of antisemitism, and they can learn about the Palestinian flag and its importance to a people’s struggle for self-determination. We are all capable of holding more than one thought in our head at the same time, and students should not be patronised by pretending otherwise.”

There's no evidence you can manage even one, love. 

Daniel Kebede, a senior vice-president of the National Education Union, said schools should be a safe space that allowed young people to explore difficult subjects.

It should. But it should be the same for the staff, too. And it's not, is it? 

Sheffield Hallam's Gain Is Surrey Police's Loss...

As students and staff contemplate returning to campus after a long time away, I am moving in the opposite direction. After 13 years as an academic, in love with my subject and with teaching, and in the midst of a pandemic, I’m leaving – to join the police and contribute to society in a different way.

So declares Eddie Tembo. But ... why?

As a black academic in a UK university, I became accustomed to defending myself to students and sometimes to staff. “Yes, I really do have a doctorate.” “No, it was not awarded to me to fill a quota.” At early career conferences I encountered disbelief that I could have published a book.

Well, yes, and how much of this is fallout from the sort of affirmative action projects and schemes that the progressives have demanded? 

I’ve had painful experiences at the hands of former colleagues, including the use of racist language and the overt propagation of racist stereotypes.

Such as? We get no examples in the article. We never do, do we, Reader..? 

More subtle racism was harder to deal with, such as sidelining (always hard to prove) or the use of strategic appointments – a modern variant of the old boys’ club – to fill vacancies.

Ah, yes, the old 'I can't prove it's racism but that's what it must be' gambit. But ... why didn't you say anything at the time?

What I perhaps should have done was to report every incident to my line managers. Instead, I remained largely silent, confiding only in colleagues, friends and family. It is hard to say why it was difficult to speak up. Concern about being asked to provide tangible evidence of racism, not being supported, or simply being labelled a troublemaker by a management body that was far from ethnically diverse were all factors.

So you'd have fely better complaining to others of your own race? But we're the racists, not you? 

There has been some recognition of my work. I gained fellowship status of the Higher Education Academy. I was nominated for or won student-led awards: best dissertation supervisor; inspirational teaching; most inspiring lecturer; outstanding personal academic tutor. In 2019 I was shortlisted for a Nottinghamshire Black Achiever’s award.

And that wasn't enough to convince you? 

Despite this I had grown increasingly disillusioned by the lack of diversity and felt more needed to be done – an effort with which I had indicated I was willing to assist.

By leaving? For a 'company' that clearly hasn't done any due diligence into the sort of person they are hiring?

Right Headline, Wrong Answer...

 

Faced with a deluge of evidence that months of lockdown, patchy school attendance and a digital divide had widened attainment gaps between better and worse-off pupils, the 163 English grammars put their heads down, ploughed on, and managed to run just about the only examinations that took place last year.

Well, hurrah! Something more to celebrate, surely? 

Well, no. Not according to Fiona. This is the 'Guardian', after all...

Does anyone in government care? It seems not, and this is hardly a topic likely to fire up the prime minister, whose nauseating observation about IQ testing was to suggest that humans were innately of unequal ability, and like cornflakes in a cereal box. “The harder you shake the pack, the easier it will be for some cornflakes to get to the top,” he explained in the 2013 Margaret Thatcher lecture, which is certainly an interesting take on the concept of “levelling up”.

Does Fiona believe we are all born equally able, then? 

The 163 grammar schools may seem like small beer at the time of a national emergency, but for every selective school there is a larger local group of secondary moderns, a school type no one is campaigning to bring back.

They might not be, but is the answer really the wrong one? Only if you think that the key to the 'equality' you supposedly seek is to ensure no-one has the provable chance to better themselves... 

Who's Going To Be Ignored The Most?

TV tax collectors, bailiffs, or these guys?

Ministers are being urged to offer vaccines door to door in hard-to-reach, deprived and minority ethnic communities amid fears that coronavirus could become a disease of poverty.

And if still, no-one takes up the offer? What then? 

Speaking to the Guardian, Dr Halima Begum, the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust thinktank, said if people were not able or willing to go to GP surgeries, hospitals or vaccination centres, members of the NHS vaccine army should go to them.

Those 'not able' have plenty of alternative options. There's been quite a lot of requests in my local Facebook groups and newspaper for people to assist those without transport. And GPs are supposed to arrange home visits for the totally non-mobile.

Whoever is reluctant to take the jab, it's not due to inability to get there. It's due to reluctance to have it.

“We would urge the government to take the jab door to door where necessary,” she said.

“Although there are a lot of vaccination centres in inner cities, a lot of elderly and immobile people are simply unable to get there.”

They are catered for, and you know it. It's the unwilling that are the real issue. Do you really think knocking on their door will be the thing that persuades them?  

Well, You're Well Placed To Talk About 'Divisiveness'...

A newly retired head teacher says some school children will be "blighted" by time away from the classroom during the pandemic.

Really? Well, at least they won't be indoctrinated, so maybe we'll chalk it up as a draw? 

The former head believes the attainment gap will widen between children from a disadvantaged background, and more privileged ones, as more families struggle through the pandemic.

She said: "There are individual success stories but generally we haven't closed that attainment gap so we have to consider what's behind this and we know it's down to poverty.

"If you think about what's happening now our country is even more divided in terms of haves and have nots through this pandemic, increased number of people finding it difficult to make ends meet, all the strain that puts on families, so it will be an even bigger problem."

She's really fired up by 'division', isn't she? Say....does her name seem familiar to you? 

In 2019 she appeared on TV, on This Morning to defend her decision to ban children from handing out sweets on their birthday, a story which was also picked up by numerous national papers.

Ah. Say no more. The lady so concerned with divisiveness she decided to introduce a bit more.