🛎Want to read about what happened and the lessons learnt from 15 authors with deep knowledge and experience of education in Birmingham? Leaders of schools, MATs, charities, governance and academics have contributed. Out soon from
@CrownHousePub
#trojanhorseaffair
Shameful post. I know that you get bored in the holidays and need some attention but this is wholly unacceptable. I doubt you’ve ever been to Southport. You are stoking the flames of extremism and as an education leader you should know better. Your governors need to rein you in.
The Left says of Southport: bunch of racist Far Right idiots.
The ordinary ppl of Southport say enough of the lies.
Southport is an example of multiculturalism failing.
But it doesn’t have to fail.
I try here in 10 mins
@arc_forum
to explain why/how.
…
As OfSTED receive 13,000 letters praising teachers’ work (and just 260 complaints...mostly from a mysterious SW1 postcode 😂) it’s clear that schools are making the difference for pupils and families. Enjoy this morning’s rainbow. It’s Friday. Lots of love and respect to all ❤️
What a stunning interview
@Channel4News
@jonsnowC4
#akala
More wisdom than anyone I have heard here apart from
@nazirafzal
We desperately need to harness these voices and listen properly to what young people from the inner cities are telling us instead of same old menu from govt.
EdTwitter I don’t have a school or LA to lead now but watching the levels of concern and stress grow as a result of poor leadership and scant concern for your safety is painful. If any ed leaders want to talk off line about any of this DM me. Totally private. YNWA as ever ❤️
The most popular thing I ever did as Director of Education in Brum was to declare two snow closure days across the city. Never mind all that school improvement stuff ❄️❄️❄️☃️
#winter
#snow
#weatherleadership
I often learn much from Uber drivers. Mo was imprisoned and tortured by the Taliban for 7 months, got out and settled his family here. 4 kids all doing well in sch. He’s learning En at College. Asked me about my job and to write down 5 key things about leadership. Humbled.
Proud to share my appointment as Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Birmingham. So pleased to continue in Brum and build on the work of so many brilliant school leaders. This one is for mum and dad - thank you for best start in life in Liverpool 8 xx
The current inspection model is deeply flawed. My research (and experience) is clear: school leaders in socially challenged areas dig deeper in the community, are more empathetic, adapt constantly and transform lives against the odds every day. Beyond ‘outstanding’ Amanda.
Ministers were warned months ago that the algorithm would work against disadvantaged students but did nothing until the last min tweak. Complete absence of ethics and moral leadership from DfE treating schs with derision. Time to revisit Tomlinson’s recs.
#AlevelResults
I’ve posted this as it shows a senior politician engaging wonderfully with a primary class. Great questions, mutually well-informed discussion and no patronising waffle or incomprehensible ruminating. It can be done ✅🤓
@ela_uob
Wishing everyone in schools across the country a wonderful Christmas 🎄 You’ve worked flat out since March, never missed a beat, reached out into communities and kept learning going in the most testing of times. Huge respect for your utter professionalism and dedication ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I have seen many examples of school staff becoming very ill and some dying of
#COVID19
in England. Does anyone have data? It’s been shared for NHS staff by government but the impact in schools constantly played down.
Just been blocked by Tom Bennett and James Theobald for having the temerity to criticise *one* of Tom’s tweets 🤣🤣 Oh my, we don’t like any voices beyond the echo chamber, do we? Enjoy the sycophancy gentlemen.
Rarely does a week go by in Birmingham without Tim coming up in the conversation 20 years after he left for the London Challenge. The best Director of Education by a country mile whose legacy endures. Feel so lucky to have met him and worked together. Condolences to his family 💔
This is formal but here goes. The family of Sir Tim Brighouse are very sad to announce that Tim died in the John Radcliffe Hospital today after a short illness. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather and a towering figure in the word of education. 1/
This is so irresponsible and dangerous showboating. Recommend anyone you like to MPs but to trash attachment theory and trauma-informed practice is a cheap shot. AT is the bedrock of understanding child development and relationships in schools. Read Bolby.
As we digest harrowing evidence presented at Ruth Perry’s inquest, a reminder DfE has known for years via its own research there are better ways to inspect schools. Ofsted’s model is an obsolete outlier. Its survival can only be because DfE wants schools under the cosh.
'The evidence-based approach to raising standards and reducing blood pressure would be to abandon our crude, narrow way of defining success' -
@Anfieldexile
😢 12,000 children killed by the IDF since 7 Oct. Let that sink in. Ethnic cleansing continues with tacit support from the UK govt. I am not seeing much concern expressed from
#edtwitter
Why? Too hot to handle? Fear of ‘taking sides’? Easier to teach history than here and now?
An honour to join Liverpool’s Ed Improvement Board and look forward to working with everyone in the city. As a boy from the Dingle whose life was transformed by education this means a lot. The toughest of times in schools right now but things will get better soon 🌞
#Liverpool
❤️❤️ ❤️Much love in the room as we celebrate Tim Brighouse’s Life for Education in Oxford, Birmingham and London. Here, Mick Waters had us all in stitches as he talked about walking in Tim’s shoes - literally! A brilliant event at a time of political optimism for education 🌹
This is appalling. All power to
@ParkfieldSchool
standing up for an inclusive, tolerant society that has been fought for and enshrined in legislation. Crude homophobia at its worst and you will not win. Great to see the support from
@educationgovuk
and
@BhamCityCouncil
🏳️🌈
Watching this is absolutely gut wrenching.
Listen to what he's shouting. What the parents and kids are chanting.
"Telling people that it is okay... for you to be gay. Shame. Shame. Shame Shame."
Wise words from Estelle Morris on the impact of cuts in today’s
@guardian
This is the perfect storm: cuts in ed, soc care, libraries, youth clubs, careers advice and benefits. Our schools are doing brilliantly to hold things together. Feeding kids and washing clothes....
Recoiling from what happened to Sarah Everard. How much are schools making their male students aware of the safety etiquette they need to absorb and practise to make sure women can feel safe out alone at night? Should this be a mandatory core element of PSHE? Gets my vote.
Great to see our grandparents’ piano out on the street again today. It was there on VE Day in Liverpool with grandad tickling the ivories and been played by four generations of the family since then
#VEDay
#wellmeetagain
🇬🇧🍻🍻🎹🎹
1/2 🛎 As ‘catch up’ fever takes hold and drives ed policy, let’s pause to check out how our children see things. Not good.
We are *27th* and tanking in this new
#UNICEF
report. Years of obsessing with league tables, ignoring well-being & mental health has caused huge damage ⬇️
‘20% of schools not teaching D & T’ now. Thx Gove for EBacc, the most retrograde policy ever as we prepare students for the 21C. No IT, D&T, arts. A neo-grammar school lash up which the original city academy heads rejected as ‘not fit for purpose’ in 2011
Happy New Year everyone ❤️ It’s been a night of mixed emotions here with the bushfires raging 🇦🇺 My mates in SA have had to evacuate their houses. So let’s commit to a decade of loving our planet 🌍 and educate for a sustainable, compassionate, inclusive future 🥂
#SydneyNYE
Great to be back in the Jewellery Quarter tonight. Big fat desi takeaway from the Hen and Chickens and a decent bottle of red 🍷to set up the night. Clock still on BST. It’s been a while Birmingham ❤️
Ian talks about his childhood and how Mr Pidgeon, his primary teacher, believed in him, loved him, gave his responsibility, and his first significant male adult attachment that stayed forever.
@lehain
Mark - please listen - this is attachment theory in action at its best ❤️
I’ve voted tactically today in Minehead and Tiverton. I’m Labour fifth generation🌹but went 🧡 to get rid of the self-serving, lying, throwback that is Ian Liddell Grainger. I hope enough Labour supporters do the same around here
✖️
As we approach Remembrance Sunday it’s important to recall the contribution of soldiers, saliors and airmen of all faiths from across the Empire (and many occupied European countries). Some people have convenient amnesia right now
#RemembranceSunday
#nooutsiders
Vital that this teaching continues in Birmingham. Lessons from Trojan Horse tell us this it won’t stop here. Schools must be supported and protected from external forces and free to teach about those protected by the EA 2010.
@ParkfieldSchool
@moffat_andrew
Pl RT
No Outsiders and in particular the teaching of LGBT issues must continue, if we want to protect the values that are enshrined in British law, says
@Anfieldexile
RIP Maurice Irfan Coles Founder of the Compassionate Education Foundation and the very best of us. Right now let’s remember the good times with his family and the Co-Ed extended family last summer. He lost the CV19 battle but we will continue his vital work. YNWA dear friend ❤️
Is Amanda Spielman HM Chief Inspector or Chief *Enforcer*? This looks like a populist statement to back up DfE rather than reflecting the gravity of the second wave and new Covid variant. We all want schools open safely ASAP but not at any cost to staff.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟The brilliant and awesome Razia Butt collected her MBE today. One of the most deserved honours ever and such a beautiful photo. Here’s to you Raz and Gaz 🍾🥂 xx (thanks for letting me share it)
I don’t normally post anything loaded with expletives but this is dynamite. The most brilliant dissection of 14 years misrule which has trashed our country. Give it 5 mins. You won’t regret 🔥🌹
Mum’s birthday. She would be 92 today. Left school at 14. Worked in the school offices at Granby Street and Paddington Comp for years. Loved her job. Her sister was a dinner lady. Both believed in education so made sure their kids got the opportunities
#Liverpool
❤️
Pitch perfect statement from
@nazirafzal
He speaks with statesmanlike authority and demolishes the myths around what’s taught at
@AndertonPark
@MrsSHC
I hope that people behind the protests take heed and leave this excellent school to teach all its children in peace.
I have not been able to speak on LGBT in schools debate - till now
“As we fight hate inc Homophobia & Islamaphobia, we cannot choose what hate victims deserve protection. It’s all or nothing.
Nobody can truly fight for equality by having some people more equal than others”
I’ll respond to the consultation on the new framework but OfSTED still hammers schools in challenged communities. Our most “outstanding” colleagues break their backs here but their contribution isn’t recognised. No wonder it’s hard to recruit and retain staff 🤔
Been at Anfield since ‘64, weaned in the boys pen.
@LFC
has progressively killed off the songs and culture in recent years Without the young supporters and family affordable access it becomes a global corporate tourist attraction ultimately. When it’s gone, it’s gone for good 💔
What’s wrong in wanting a part of the ground for 14/18 year olds who want to go the match with their mates and not have to compete with 100000s online when they could walk up to a ticket office at Anfield and purchase a ticket first come first served,make the match enjoyable
Shocked to learn that three WOC whose professionalism and friendship I value highly were attacked on Twitter at the weekend.
@AlisonKriel
@rrunsworth
@Valerie_JKD
are brilliant colleagues, wholly committed to equalities. Such attacks are deplorable and unacceptable YNWA 🖤❤️🖤
Most one dimensional tweet of the day 👏🏼 I would never want to be associated with this. Thank goodness there are so many schools which combine compassion, inclusivity with good outcomes.
Students from less privileged backgrounds don’t need special privileges, handouts, leg-ups, or dispensations. They just need the rules of the game to be applied equally and fairly. If you're talented and work hard—sometimes harder than others due to a lack of equal starting
Congratulations to
@HerminderChanna
on her OBE awarded in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Extremely well deserved for the transformation at
@ArkBoulton
(and we are delighted that you are our guest lecturer
@unibirmingham
@ela_uob
too!)
Thanks to a fine education at Matthew Arnold Primary in Toxteth and the Liverpool Collegiate School I had the opportunity to go uni. My kids state educated, rocked it at uni and now in fine jobs. Loud and red brick proud of our state schools ❤️
#stateschoolproud
@93percentclub
Warmest congratulations to headteacher Rachel Davis on being awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours. Always the head who goes that extra mile to help others in Birmingham. So well deserved 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🍾🥂
@littlesub75
#NewYearsHonours
#edutwitter
Look what the cat’s dragged into town to stir things up😳 There’s been near universal criticism of the anti-LGBT protests, including plenty from the left, so don’t bring your divisive, poisinous diatribe here Katie - go celebrate Eid instead as we are today.
🙏Thanks to all who joined my inaugural tonight. The book brings together 15 authors who know Birmingham well. It’s a complex intersectional narrative. Please read it, raise funds for
@UNICEF
and we will continue the discussion.
Today would have been dad’s 100th Birthday. Dumped in a children’s home at 8, six years’ service in WW2, tanker driver and bus driver. Labour TWGU always. Adopted into Scouse clan by mum. Took me to Anfield April ‘63 first match v THFC and we held European Cup together xx YNWA
‘Gis’ a job, I can do that’ summarised the damage done to a whole generation of Liverpudlians by Thatcher’s economics in the ‘80s. RIP Bernard Hill aka Yosser Hughes 😢 ❤️🌹
#BoysofTheBlackstuff
#AlanBleasdale
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟And here it is. The Chamberlain Clock re-erected back where it belongs. Sheer municipal magnificence. The new paint is positively gleaming in the sunshine.
@MyJQ
#Birmingham
🛎⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Feeling very proud to work in the School of Education today ❤️ Our research has been ranked in the UK top five for 4* publications. And overall
@unibirmingham
has shot up the Russell Group rankings. Definitely 🍾🥂later today 🤓
@CoSS_Birmingham
Check out 🛎🛎🛎🛎This is so powerful - pure, raw emotion as a terrible, inhumane, racist nightmare ends in the USA and stops poisoning the world
@efaeUK
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️❤️❤️❤️❤️ 🌏
@Julespg
There is an agenda here Julie. DfE officials are out on manoeuvres. Inspections being used to drive maintained schools and SATs into MATs. Chaos and destabilisation induced into the English state school system on top of everything else that’s going on 🙁
So it’s massive congratulations to the wonderful
@Raziabutt8
on her MBE. Rarely can a gong be more deserved. Here’s to one of the very best in Brum 👏👏🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 🍾🥂
A superb lecture to our Masters students from
@sajid_gulzar
tonight on leading educational change. A fascinating case study infused with moral values and brave leadership. My take away: the schools we lead must be those we would send our own children to. Many thanks 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🌟🌟🌟
Presenting the best in the nation: Jewel in the crown Birmingham Youth Symphony Orchestra 👏👏👏⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ And congrats as officially now the best Music Hub in Great Britain 🇬🇧. Birmingham is on a roll today 👏👏👏
Here’s my blog with guidance for parents who have suddenly become teachers incl 12 Top Tips. It’s a big job to take on and small group teaching is intense. So hope this is useful. Key messages: routines - yes, but cut the slack and avoid paywall products.
If
@educationgovuk
had listened to education leaders and funded schools directly via formula instead of bankrolling a private Dutch company none of this would have happened. Simple. QED.
Listened to a senior colleague who told me that the caretaker had just delivered a bed to a pupil’s house to help with things. Schools are going the extra mile every day to keep families cope 👏🏼👏🏼❤️❤️- outrageous their integrity is questioned
#schoolsreopening
#COVID
ー19
Never seen so much respect from Liverpool’s fan base for a Man Utd player.
@MarcusRashford
has ignited a national movement that transcends tribal loyalties. He’s united the decent majority who are appalled by child hunger. Maximum respect to you sir ❤️
#ENDCHILDFOODPOVERTY
💙💙💙 Thank you
#NHS
at Musgrove Hospital this morning. Everyone here is brilliant and the pride in our NHS is palpable. One Pfizer fizzer in my arm and it’s a seriously good feeling 💙💙💙
Opening my account on day one
@unibirmingham
School of Education ✅ Thanks for a very warm welcome and powerful induction programme. Exciting times 👍Email contact c.diamond
@bham
.ac.uk
🇦🇪 🌟🌟🌟Here’s a quick introduction to our awesome new campus
@birminghamdubai
which opens early next year. Just been on a tour led by Provost David Sadler. It’s magnificent 🌟🌟🌟
@unibirmingham
Powerful, authentic, compelling seminar tonight on anti-racist leadership and curriculum. Utterly values-driven and set out the burning platform for action. Felt quite emotional listening. Thanks to our chair and presenters for the best end of term possible ❤️
#BlackLivesMatter
Here’s to our teachers who share their love all year around and are having a well deserved rest this week after a 20 week half term 🌟🌟🌹 🌹🌟🌟
#ValentinesDay
#teachers
#edutwitter
🌟🌟Check out this Schools Week profile of one of Birmingham’s best education leaders - Ava Sturridge-Packer CBE (and she’s chairing our
@ela_uob
@steve_munby
seminar 4th Feb 👍🏾)
@DanielSturridge
#SCHOOL
Raw, real, intensely moving, essential viewing. Proud of my colleagues who must live by the maxim “do more with less” in our schools. But it doesn’t have to be like this: Educational austerity is a political choice and those cuts don’t heal....
Want to know why we have the
#ITTMarketReview
which is designed to remove academic independence in education? It’s ignorance like this from DfE’s Tom Bennett who hasn’t the first idea of what happens in uni ITT - but hey, let’s not have evidence get in the way of ideology.
I’m gutted to read that letter. I’m feeling v emotional. But angry too because this govt doesn’t give a Flying Fuck about family and child poverty. 6th richest nation on earth with 4.1m kids in poverty and growing on its watch. Excuse my language but this is a national scandal.
Full support to
@moffat_andrew
and
@ParkfieldSchool
for being rock solid here. The coverage is on “LGBT classes” but we must remember
#nooutsiders
is about the full range of characteristics protected by the EA 2010. It’s groundbreaking teaching that is catching on nationally.
Here’s my blog in praise of school leaders’ extraordinary responses to CV-19 and how it can be the opportunity to create a better education system in England for the long-term. We’ll be writing more with our partner schools next term
@ela_uob