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Original poster

To not understand why Katharine Birbalsingh is so controversial

341 replies

TemporaryPosition · 22/02/2025 12:34

Just that. Am I being unreasonable in thinking the results she achieves at her school and start in life her students get which they likely otherwise wouldn't - is something to be celebrated and perhaps we should look to what's going wrong in schools which face the the same socioeconomic challenges but get far poorer results. Surely I'm not being unreasonable to wonder this.

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Allthebrokenplaces · 01/03/2025 19:48

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 01/03/2025 18:37

Confused She sounds very confused about what 'British' and 'English' mean!

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It looks like she is saying that English people are white English but people who have perhaps been here for decades/centuries but are not white English could be considered "British".
So my friend who was born in England to Irish parents and has children who were born here, that these children are British but not English.

That tweet deserves a thread of its own.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 01/03/2025 18:37

noblegiraffe · 01/03/2025 11:27

Here

Confused She sounds very confused about what 'British' and 'English' mean!

IdaGlossop · 01/03/2025 17:56

cardibach · 24/02/2025 20:11

They can’t at Michaela. I was trained to adapt materials for each class and to try to engage through relationships. Michaela is so prescriptive those things are t possible.

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I can see that deskilling of teachers is an unwanted consequence of the Michaela approach.

noblegiraffe · 01/03/2025 11:27

Here

To not understand why Katharine Birbalsingh is so controversial
noblegiraffe · 01/03/2025 11:26

Twitter, of course.

Allthebrokenplaces · 01/03/2025 11:25

LaineyCee · 28/02/2025 23:13

She asserts that brown people can’t be English

Where did she say this?

LaineyCee · 28/02/2025 23:13

She asserts that brown people can’t be English

cardibach · 28/02/2025 18:34

KTheGrey · 28/02/2025 18:02

I have 43 years of experience of education.

I did not use the word nobody at all, I used the word notably. This hasn’t stopped you answering something I only said in your imagination so well done have a cookie 🍪

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Apologies. I misread.
Everything I said is true though.

KTheGrey · 28/02/2025 18:02

cardibach · 24/02/2025 10:19

Schools can exclude if they don’t care (or need to care) what Ofsted have to say.
It’s nothing to do with her colour or political persuasion, and all to do with my 35 years of experience in education. How many years do you have?
Mind you, calling someone who has made it into government a ‘nobody’ does illustrate who it is that dislikes someone just in the basis of their political persuasion…

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I have 43 years of experience of education.

I did not use the word nobody at all, I used the word notably. This hasn’t stopped you answering something I only said in your imagination so well done have a cookie 🍪

noblegiraffe · 26/02/2025 17:16

CecilyP · 26/02/2025 17:00

But the GCSE results based on prior attainment does show:
9 low, 49 middle and 45 high prior attainment. Surely that is quite high for a comprehensive. Would the average not be around around 25, 50, 25%? I have checked a school that is in a genuinely deprived inner city area (SE1) and the numbers are 47, 87, 12 for a cohort of 155.

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It depends on the area though. Here's another non-selective school in the same area (I know nothing about London, it just came up next on the list) https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/138457/wembley-high-technology-college/secondary/results-by-pupil-characteristics?accordionstate=1

It seems to be similarly skewed towards the higher end. Michaela can only accept pupils that apply to it though - their admissions policy certainly isn't selective from their end.

CecilyP · 26/02/2025 17:07

Universities now look at your top eight subjects
^Given 82% of Michaela kids go to Oxbridge/Russell Group then this is not correct information.

Though the 6th form sounds almost like a separate school with 40 places reserved for external applicants.

CecilyP · 26/02/2025 17:00

noblegiraffe · 26/02/2025 13:24

No, the FOI request didn’t specify excellent SATs result.

More than half the intake have expected or below expected SATs results.

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But the GCSE results based on prior attainment does show:
9 low, 49 middle and 45 high prior attainment. Surely that is quite high for a comprehensive. Would the average not be around around 25, 50, 25%? I have checked a school that is in a genuinely deprived inner city area (SE1) and the numbers are 47, 87, 12 for a cohort of 155.

CecilyP · 26/02/2025 16:52

roses2 · 26/02/2025 08:55

I see it says 7 but if you add up the individual GCSEs it comes to 8 per child:

116 kids sits 7 core GCSEs (double science) then there are 116 kids that sit either history/geography/art

Universities now look at your top eight subjects
Given 82% of Michaela kids go to Oxbridge/Russell Group then this is not correct information.

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Yes, I also see what you mean. How would they get progress 8 scores if the children only take 7. Is it possible that the person compiling the results only took double science to be one?

kesstrel · 26/02/2025 15:48

cooljerk

You are mistaken in your claims about the SATS results for Michaela entrants. The quote you gave was a response from the West London Free School, not from Michaela. See below.

www.whatdotheyknow.com/search/We%20have%20got%20KS2%20results%20for%20118/130%20pupils%20in%20this%20year%E2%80%99s%20year%207%20cohort.%20Of%20those%20results,%2014%25%20(17)%20are%20under%20100%20in%20English%20(Reading)%20and%207%25%20(8)%20are%20under%20100%20in%20maths./all

cooljerk · 26/02/2025 13:47

@noblegiraffe eh?

"We have got KS2 results for 118/130 pupils in this year’s year 7 cohort.
Of those results, 14% (17) are under 100 in English (Reading) and 7% (8)
are under 100 in maths."

noblegiraffe · 26/02/2025 13:24

cooljerk · 25/02/2025 09:32

@AquaPeer

The results of their Year 6 pupils reveals excellent attainment in all three SATs papers which does not compare or correlate at all with a 'normal' intake at a local authority school.

I quoted the relevant FoI request a while back.

No, the FOI request didn’t specify excellent SATs result.

More than half the intake have expected or below expected SATs results.

Hollyhedge · 26/02/2025 09:23

roses2 · 26/02/2025 08:55

I see it says 7 but if you add up the individual GCSEs it comes to 8 per child:

116 kids sits 7 core GCSEs (double science) then there are 116 kids that sit either history/geography/art

Universities now look at your top eight subjects
Given 82% of Michaela kids go to Oxbridge/Russell Group then this is not correct information.

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I see what you mean. Weird.

roses2 · 26/02/2025 08:55

Hollyhedge · 25/02/2025 21:34

It clearly says 7.

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I see it says 7 but if you add up the individual GCSEs it comes to 8 per child:

116 kids sits 7 core GCSEs (double science) then there are 116 kids that sit either history/geography/art

Universities now look at your top eight subjects
Given 82% of Michaela kids go to Oxbridge/Russell Group then this is not correct information.

To not understand why Katharine Birbalsingh is so controversial
Hollyhedge · 25/02/2025 21:34

roses2 · 25/02/2025 17:45

I see 8 on that list: 7 compulsory (Science is worth 2) + 1 appears to be optional based on the number of entries (geography/history/art).

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It clearly says 7.

To not understand why Katharine Birbalsingh is so controversial
Greywhippet · 25/02/2025 18:20

Birbalsingh is controversial because she wants to be. She is deliberately provocative and very good at straw man arguments. She has fully weaponised platforms like twitter.
There are some great merits in her educational ideas and some significant problems with them. Reasonable people can see that, dogmatic people can’t.
i think it’s best not to give her much attention

roses2 · 25/02/2025 17:45

Hollyhedge · 25/02/2025 17:31

It’s all here

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/140862/michaela-community-school/secondary

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I see 8 on that list: 7 compulsory (Science is worth 2) + 1 appears to be optional based on the number of entries (geography/history/art).

Hollyhedge · 25/02/2025 17:31

roses2 · 25/02/2025 10:20

Where are people getting the data from that the average number of GCSEs sat is 7?

Based on the data on this website there looks to be 9 on average per child excluding the home spoken languages (science is worth 2 GCSEs):

Michaela Community School - Crystal Roof

Based on the demographic of the parents and kids, the core subjects of maths, science and english will do them just fine as most of these kids are likely to go into science/engineering/finance careers based on parent pressure.

Compulsory GCSEs:

Edited

It’s all here

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/140862/michaela-community-school/secondary

IdaGlossop · 25/02/2025 15:11

loonyloo · 25/02/2025 10:28

Isn't that area of Sheffield quite affluent?

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Mercia itself is in an affluent part of the city (Carterknowle) but the catchment for the school is larger than the catchments for other schools in the city, covering the affluent south west but also the north west, which is not affluent. The least affluent parts of the city are mostly to the east.

urbanbuddha · 25/02/2025 11:32

@roses2

Where are you getting 9 GCSEs per pupil?
I can’t see it.
I think the concern is that pupils at the school require level 7 for entry to sixth form.

My concern would be that the sixth form is so small (only 66 students in year 12 and 52 in year 13) with similarly restricted subject choice, and that numbers in year 13 are more than 20% fewer than year 12.

For comparison Camden School for Girls admits a similar number to Michaela in year 7, has slightly more pupils on free school meals, but admits far more students to Sixth Form.
It requires level 6 at GCSE and is heavily oversubscribed. It offers a much more varied curriculum and excels in music.
Also worth noting perhaps - it’s a non-uniform school all the way through so isn’t wasting a lot of time faffing about on uniforms.

poetryandwine · 25/02/2025 10:33

loonyloo · 25/02/2025 10:28

Isn't that area of Sheffield quite affluent?

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Yes