To really dislike Bridget Phillipson?

True, she's just come in to post. I just dislike her messaging. Also, remember she's a career politician, with no experience of the education sector at all, just like Williamson - and all the many before them. Wouldn't it be nice if education was run entirely separately to the circus of political parties - where a minister works with them only so far as to identify sources of funding, but has no say in operations, curriculum or ideology. And that department could be run entirely by ex teachers, or educators who actually know the system inside out.

I was at school with her and I can attest that she is a woman of principles.

I think there are some really hard conversations to be had . We live in an increasingly globally competitive world - our kids really do need to achieve but on the other hand we need to encourage someone to actually want to teach them .

I’ve suggested teaching to my kids as a career - they both think it’s a terrible idea , mostly because they’ve picked up on how done in their own teachers are

I think she’s actually a lot more clued up about education than the previous education secretary. Teacher retention is just such a shit show there’s not a lot she will have been able to do in 3 months. There’ll are no quick fixes to any of the big, difficult questions in education.

There was a thread on here the other day with a chart showing the number of new PGCE applicants in different subject areas . There were woefully inadequate new numbers of most subject teachers coming through the system - especially subjects like Physics and Computer Science - I think it was something g like 25/100 ! The 6500 new teachers won’t materialise

To BP's credit (and I have mixed views on VAT for schools) she specifically asked to spend yesterday at a Jewish school for an October 7 commemoration. She's not Jewish, and there's absolutely no electoral benefit for her, so it can only be a matter of principle.

I like her a lot she is certainly a lot better than the last few education secretaries we have had. Michael Gove caused more damage than any other education secretary I can think of and . Gavin Williamson was clueless.

Where will these 6500 teachers come from? Having the money for them is one thing, finding them is totally another. We have teachers in this country, they just have been driven out of teaching.

there won’t be a mass influx of teachers from independent schools by the way. Many schools will not close, and of those that do lose their job they won’t necessarily move to state sector teaching. My SIL teaches in an independent school. If it closes, she won’t be teaching in the state sector, she will do something else entirely.

I agree with OP about Bridget Phillipson. I don’t agree with this policy but I’ve had conversations with friends who support it in which they have expressed their views reasonably. She expresses her views in an ignorant and aggressive manner and I’ve no respect for her at all.

But how do spare places in London help in Essex? Also, the primary population overall is not decreasing as much as first thought. The figures were adjusted earlier this year.

Classes of over 30 are shit. In fact classes of 30 are shit. Labour should be using any decrease in school population as an opportunity to reduce class sizes. But that would be far too positive a move for them.

I can recognise populist messaging when I see it, and she's started to do this. It's what the political class does if they want to win favour and don't have any real achievements to pin it on. If she really prioritised education, there would be far more (and better secured) funding for it, from multiple sources. Even with the teachers - that sounds like a great number (6500, hooray!) until you read that over 43000 leave the sector each year, many more than are recruited. That number boggles the mind. There is such a massive retention problem, how will they even begin to meet the 6500 NEW teachers they have promised? That number is a lie as that wouldn't even cover the shortfall. Plus simple things like free breakfast clubs (hooray!) and then you hear that actually the logistics and operations weren't worked out, which means schools are under even more pressure with no actual support.

I said she and Gove were destructive, but I suppose I meant disingenuous. I don't feel like I can trust she is in post to do the right thing, and in that way, it's very destructive to how things will pan out.

Don’t want to get into the VAT debate too much but I am worried about how the influx of kids from private schools will impact applications to the best schools at year 7 and 12 . I’ve got two DDs year 10 and 11 who would both like to move for A levels as there current school has much lower results compared to the local Grammar . Feel desperately sorry for the eldest as I think her chances will be less as a result … adding 20% onto school fees is a big amount and I can fully see why lots of private school parents can’t afford it . I know it’s all relative but they have cost of living strains too - imagine there mortgages have gone up just like ours . Not sure how the Government could have been so short sighted to be honest

3 schools opening in Essex are dwarfed by the number of school closures in London in the last few years and doesn't change the fact that the primary population is shrinking by more than 7% over the next 5 years alone. To the OP's point, more pupils in the school is good for the school and will be being celebrated by the school, because the bulk of funding is per pupil. And the school should help the parents apply for an EHCP, which will not take years to get.

…but there aren’t VAT on school fees as of yet.

So since the election these parents have taken thier children out of private school, found places at a local primary, and applied for an EHCP??

Apart from that seemingly a fairly extraordinary timescale ..are these the only private school children that have come to your class, and they all have SEN, and none of the parents can pay the (yet to be imposed) VAT? hmmm

yet ANOTHER VAT on school fees thread, only from a allegedly different angle.

Yanbu

It sounds like her woeful tweet got a lot of backlash so you’re not alone

I agree. Not getting into the VAT debate but I saw an interview with her before the election and definitely detected an ideological gleam in her eye.

Except that in my country three new primaries were opened in September alone to
meet population demands.

Realistically, there will not be any back-pedaling on this policy decision now. We will all have to live with it.

There's HUGE amounts of stuff ongoing, particularly within the parents/carers of children and young people with SEND sector, outlining what is needed to make education work better. It may be more prudent to add your energies and contributions to campaigns already running than to start yet another one.

Do you contribute to consultations? The Curriculum Review is open right now - this is a great opportunity to add your voice: a changed curriculum is nothing if it is not staffed by enough teachers/by suitably qualified teachers, resourced properly, and without adequate differentiation and support for learners with SEND embedded.

What destructive changes to the state sector has she wrought so far?

This policy has the benefit of being poorly executed as well as poorly thought through.

Both parties seem hell bent on using the education sector as ideological football. I would be first in line to sign a petition to keep the sector out of ministerial reach in some way. Maybe civil servants run it, and it doesn't keep changing according to the rotating cast of characters that want to make their mark. Gove, Phillipson et al, so many destructive changes to how children learn and achieve at school and in life.

The challenge (financial and in many cases existential) for schools is FALLING pupil numbers - not too many! https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/school-funding-model-effect-of-falling-rolls/
https://www.cypnow.co.uk/content/analysis/tackling-decline-in-london-pupil-numbers/#:~:text=Boroughs%20in%20central%20London%20are,seven%20per%20cent%20in%20Camden.
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/falling-rolls-the-true-cost-of-declining-school-populations/#:~:text=Education%20Policy%20Institute%20analysis%20suggests,cent%20or%20more%20unfilled%20places.
www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/test-newsroom/2024/managing-falling-school-rolls-london