Is this the mother of all calling out - Katherine Birbalsingh

[DramaFatigue]

Katherine Birbalsingh has done the mother of all calling out and I can't help but sit here with my jaw on the kitchen table in awe.

She has written a 4-page open letter to Sir Kerr Starmer calling out Jess Phillip's behaviour online. Whilst I don't always agree with KB's methods of the school she runs, I do think that Jess Phillips behaviour towards her is shocking and unbefitting of someone who could be running the country. JP should resign TBH.

https://news.sky.com/story/headteacher-katharine-birbalsingh-brands-labour-mp-jess-phillips-social-media-posts-racist-and-bullying-12913139

^Shehas single-handedly provided an inner city community with an outstanding education and, with it, hope of breaking the cycle of social deprivation. Social deprivation and domestic violence can often go hand in hand. Jess Philips should be applauding her not ripping her down. I’m so disappointed in her as I have always thought Jess was a great labour voice.

Shes done nothing of the kind! Have you ever been to Wembley? And domestic violence does exist among all social classes and people who appear very successful.

Not the point of this thread but am I the only person who hates the expression “ calling someone out “? And it is so overused.

Not someone expecting high standards of behaviour from poor kids! Whatever next?!

plenty of immigrant families value education, boundaries and discipline.

I am seeing the subtle racism of lowered expectations.

Politicians should stay off Twitter

I've never read or seen anything about Katherine Birbalsingh that doesn't make her sound completely and utterly unhinged, and deeply stupid. She's obviously worrying credulous and believes everything she reads online and everything anyone tells her, and throwing tantrums like a toddler every time she faces even the mildest criticism or different opinion from her is very worrying.

I don't believe she should be around children.

"that headteacher woman" Rude.
"hold the line" Taking the piss out of a speech she had done. Rude.

"good times" Tone deaf but no evidence whatsoever it was done deliberately.

And I'm seeing the not so subtle - absolutely blatant - stench of having zero interest in counteracting barriers to education in favour of kicking some of the most disadvantaged children to the kerb at the first opportunity.

Empathy and kindness are important. There is a huge lack of that in the makeup of her school, regardless of what exam grades they get (which I know many on MN see as the only marker of a good school vs a bad one).

But then I home educate my DC so I suspect my views on education are going to be very different to anyone who thinks Katherine Birbalsingh's way of educating children is the best one.

No, it's definitely not the 'mother of all calling out' I think you should get our more OP

She spoke at the problematic Nat-C conference too I believe.

And I think that Calvin Robinson is one of her governors?

Her views above are extremely problematic, can kids at her sch disclose racial abuse? If not, what else won’t they believed about?
What if they had a ChildQ situation?

I’m not a JP fan but she was right (and didn’t even instigate the pile on).

Nor do I believe KB tweet was a mistake, who the hell did she think was in the pic with TT? She was blatantly trolling then silencing any upset over this.

Ofsted has just inspected her school.

Outstanding...

Agree.
Think she had a moment and needs to calm down

I don’t think so. A politician targeting a HT like this isn’t great

I wish the HT at my DGC school was more like her.

The rowdiness, bullying, disrespect to and from staff and the staff turnover is horrific. I am awaiting pretty poor GCSE results.

So I'd far rather it was more like Michaela

That doesn't exactly mean much.

When my son was at nursery they were denied an outstanding rating because the children weren't given enough opportunities to do maths, or something equally random. What they did have was absolutely minimal staff turnover, with lovely kind people who treated the little ones like their own kids, cuddled them when they cried and were generally just wonderful. By contrast, I thought the nursery down the road -which did achieve outstanding - was an awful, clinical environment. I witnessed, when visiting, crying children - tiny children, some not even two years old - left to their own devices and put in the corner as punishment.

I don't think ofsted reports are worth the paper they're written on, frankly.

I think there’s a middle balance.

KB claimed to be a huge TT fan, then to have had no idea who IT was. Then she blamed tech, then she blamed something else. She NEVER admits to just getting things wrong and apologises. The same thing happened over the false Churchill quotation on her school wall. It was far from just JP. Everyone pointed this out to her. And she dug her heels in as usual.

It was an extraordinarily badly judged tweet and Jess Philips was not the only one to say so.

It may have been a mistake.

This letter is also a mistake. It is badly written and too long. The Aslan mistake makes her look foolish - hopefully she isn’t teaching comprehension. But she is a controversialist who likes attention so she probably thinks she’s justified whereas she really looks rather silly.

Michaela doesn't have any GCSE results yet, as they only have years 7-9.

It'll be interesting in two years' time to see what the Progress 8 scores are and whether turnover increases once there's an actual measure beyond children wearing badges to show they haven't been disabled, sick or bereaved through the school year.

I agree. It should not be either/or.

And as for the Aslan misread. She did something similar where she muddled Lord of the Flies and Lord of the Rings (clue: only one is on the GCSE Lit spec)

I'm sure there is.

Sadly not here atm

Someone above stated KB sch had good oxbridge entry etc, I think they are getting this sch mixed up with Brampton Manor in East London - a maj ethnic minority sch with outstanding results.

@NeverDropYourMooncup tbf they do have GCSE and A level results

michaela.education/results/

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