To really dislike Bridget Phillipson?

[Sensiblyplease]

I just absolutely can’t stand the woman.

The lady seems to be making decisions based on personal prejudices and causing intentional division in our education system.
She’s not listening to anyone, and the consequences her decisions are having is far too impactful to ignore. As someone in her power she should model balanced politics, based on evidence, instead of in-sighting hate and division.

My children are in state school- we’ve had 3
more children come into their year group with SEN but no EHCPs as their previous independent schools could cope without one. The parents inform me it’ll take a few years and that’s if they get one- and then they can either go back to their previous independent school (as apparently they won’t have to pay VAT with an ECHP?) or have the help they need according to the results of the ECHP.

Im just so angry. I have nothing against these children and can understand they can’t afford the VAT increase and needed to move back into state schools, but it’s now really disrupted the class. The TA is apparently out the class all the time now and the class teacher has 32 children on her own. It appears that Bridget’s insistence and personal hate against the private sector is damaging to state school children. It’s really pissing me off - our children’s education is important and not to be messed around with.

I feel like the woman likes a good headline but is prepared to throw our children’s education away in order to meet her personal objectives / vendettas.

What is she actually doing for state schools? Her headline grabbing titles is deflecting from her actually trying to improve state education in any meaningful and impactful way. 6500 teachers - so my kids get 1/3 of a teacher for their school? That’s shocking. More children entering the state system now puts pressure on their school, and their teachers. What is she actually doing to address this. Where is she magic-ing these trained and qualified teachers from? What is she doing to retain teachers and help with their current work load?

I’m fed up with her agenda effecting normal people. We need someone with a level head to sort schools out. End of rant!

Exactly! It’s detracting from addressing and finding solutions to the day to day really problems in state schools . Probably why BP did it though as it gives her a distractor whilst the problems in state school remain . I’ve read her plan - it’s weak and poor she only cites repeatedly the 6500 increase in teachers and came up with a mad idea to help retention by not being in the classroom and working from home. Her policy is poor and she’s not being pulled up on this.

I actually lost my job at a school due to Gove . They changed the school and they had to budget like a business and teachers pay came into that , I was too high on the pay scale and was made redundant. But! I agreed with his idea- and it was fair enough. But this woman seems to be a loose cannon.

I actually saw this the other day and also found it surprising and interesting- have to admit to being facetious re the value of anecdotal evidence in my previous post as my 6th form was really good and we took loads of pupils from local private school - and they did get the benefit of applying form state, so one got money when he got into UCL!

Apparently the IFS was a report done by a labour friend and is now in dispute.

Yes exactly - a proper plan needs to be in place as to where funding is coming from and it certainly needs to be a lot lot higher than the remains of an ill thought out VAT policy.

Yes, there was another thread on that but it’s been taken down for some reason.

Even forgetting the serious question about how “independent” the IFS report was, it’s full of flawed assumptions and too many variables which have been ignored.

I am an academy trustee for a trust with a number of primaries. Yes, funding is a huge problem for schools, as is managing SEN in primary school on current funding. Our schools are very stretched, and I agree SEN funding is simply not adequate, particularly as (in our schools at least) more and more students are coming into primary with SEN. However this is something that has been the case for some time - and actually, the government hasn't fully laid out its offering wrt education just yet. Per pupil funding and funding for SEN may be increased in the budget (crossing my fingers although given the government's negative signalling I am not holding my breath).

However, I can absolutely say that having a full class (as the OP's children's class now is) is much much better for a school than not. 3 extra children means £12,000+ for the school per year. Small class sizes might seem like a good thing, but from schools' perspective they are not on the current funding model.

Schools and councils absolutely are looking at birthrate with trepidation with regard to school funding. Particularly because there was a population bump about 10 years ago, many areas built schools on the assumption this was an upward trend that would continue. The idea that the school system doesn't have capacity to receive any children from a private sector shrink is just not evidenced based as far as I can tell.

I was looking at the council website at lunchtime and stumbled across a link to see what places were available in my town if children were trying to move and there were none available- this is in the Grammar school and the non Grammar … one town but a very similar position in the next town across too - I’m on a County boundary

This is what I’m trying to work out- the school was at full capacity - 3 children left and the children moving from independent schools got offered these places and then 3 extra children joined who are ‘looked after children’ so the class size for 3 classes is now 33 as they’ve been split them across. So what they’ve had to do is accept and increase the class size . And where does that end?

I appreciate some areas there will be spaces but not many.

I think she's great too. One of my favourite front benchers. I have a lot of teaching friends & family & they feel really supported by her and confident that things will change.

this will be an underdeveloped reply but it is a bit different for LAC admissions - although the school shouldn’t have communicated they were LAC! In this case the class size actually isn’t to do with private school kids? Also if LAC placements have been made the school should in theory be one with a good reputation for managing additional needs.

There is certain criteria that doesn’t make a school over subscribed. For instance, if a school is up to PAN and I name it as the school on the EHCP for my son, they can’t refuse admission. Maybe that’s the same for the “looked after children”.

I am so angry with Bridget Phillipson for her tweet (copied below) of Oct 5th. It's so divisive and designed to upset and annoy people and to justify a terrible policy.

This is her tweet
Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery.
Our children need mental health support more than private schools need new pools.
Our students need careers advice more than private schools need AstroTurf pitches.

She talks about private schools having embossed stationery. Well - newsflash, my DS just left a private 6th form and I bought his files and textbooks from Amazon. His school has a pool - for over 5 years, he had no access to this pool - there weren't swimming lessons, it was generally rented out and also state primaries were allowed to use it. Astro turf - I mean, yes the school has astro turf. Does she want it ripped up? How will that help anyone? He received zero careers advice anyway. Never been skiing or horseriding. He's autistic and we had reduced fees.

She is inciting hatred and it's unclear whether it's through complete ignorance and incompetence or whether she just hates people.

I might suggest this variation of her bitchy tweet, for her:

A child in poverty near you needs food more than you need a hair and makeup products.

Another thread about this got zapped earlier. I wonder if we aren't even allowed to speak freely anymore.

Shame on you Bridget.

OP where is this school? I'm in the commuter belt and 80% of our schools have falling rolls. It's a huge worry to headteachers looking at budgets. Three extra children in an oversubscribed class isn't ideal but it should pay for an extra adult at least in the mornings.

As previous posters have said we need to fix SEN funding in state schools. It currently takes far too long to get an EHCP and they are often rejected. There are also a huge lack of people wanting to be TAs to support SEN children as it is so poorly paid. Also very few places for children in SEN schools.

In some cases a local authority will pay for a child to go to a private SEN school if they can only meet their needs that way, which is hugely expensive for the taxpayer.

The vast majority of people can't afford private even without VAT. So really by forcing parents who can only just afford it into the private system the government is failing them. Much better to fix state provision for SEN so they have all options.

Easing the insane and arbitrary pressure of Ofsted will keep experienced teachers in the profession and free up leaders to lead and support. This will benefit all children.

Doing ppa at home seems a bit of a non issue as lots of schools already allow this.

I do agree some of her messaging has been needlessly confrontational but I'm waiting to see how/whether she improves education before I make a judgement.

It really was this bad. They should scrap the policy and she should resign from the post

Education is too important for this playground spite.

A truly vicious POW, pandering to the worst in some people.

She should be ashamed of herself.

That is indeed a wanky tweet. It’s not enough to make me write her off though, I don’t think the policy is inherently terrible. Even on this thread it turns out that the issue isn’t caused by the VAT policy.

I'm pretty sure you've missed a zero out of the number of teachers quitting, OP. Over 40 000 left last year. Not 4000. Even if they could find an extra 6500 (which they won't), it wouldn't make much of a dent in 40 000.

The main thing they need to do is drastically reduce teacher workload. The only real way to do that is by cutting contact time. The only way to do that is by hiring more teachers. To do that, you need a) lots of money and b) lots of people willing to be teachers,which won't happen until you've cut workload... And round and round we go!

They also need to do something about behaviour in schools, but I'm not sure what tbh.

”What’s not to like?” Have you read the thread? Your gushing, baseless, mendacious post is frankly hard to take seriously. “There will be at least 6500 new teachers paid for by this….” Have you ready any of the analysis of how the numbers break down in terms of new teachers per school or the likelihood of the policy yielding money for the state sector or the fact that the money won’t be hypothecated? Better go and tell Bridge that she needs to try harder.

Private schools have been opening branches overseas for many years, mainly in popular expat regions like Dubai, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It is nothing new and won't make a jot of difference as it is seen more prestigious for many well off foreign families for their children to attend British school in Britain itself rather than China or the Middle East where they will be surrounded by children who speak English as a second language. They want their children to be emerged in British culture.

Why is it just accepted the private school parents must be the ones to financially sort out the state system? Why isn't it for all of society to sort out, given education benefits all of society?

And before anyone says the broadest shoulders and all that - what about the many wealthy parents with children in state schools? Why are their broad shoulders not being asked to take on some of the burden?

What's not to like?

I don’t think ministers should be making petty and spiteful comments on Facebook on a Saturday evening, and then deleting any comments disagreeing with her. At least have the courage of her own convictions and stand up for the principles she apparently believes in.

She’s arguing that “our children need mental health support”, funded by private school parents, whilst accepting a £14k birthday party from a wealthy Labour donor. It’s hypocritical at best.

There will be at least 6500 new teachers

Schools struggle to recruit specialist teachers even now. Where are these new teachers coming from?

The IFS have described the (optimistic) tax raised as “tiny” and have confirmed that it won’t make a difference to public services (ie state education)

If the policy was going to raise money, I could understand it, but it isn’t. It could end up costing the taxpayer money.

It’s not new, but schools are increasingly doing it, including schools which haven’t done so previously.

The number of international students still hasn’t fully recovered after Covid in many schools, and additional VAT of £10-15k per year may well be enough for families to consider using international branches.

Ah yes this is what im referring to in my dislike to her. The teachers who I know working in private schools (from my PGCE) posted on our what’s app and were quite cross.

They say they’re being portrayed as Eton schools which are few and far between. And instead they are non profit schools but take a lot of children who come from aboard and need to start education when they arrive instead of moving in and waiting for a place to come up; they take a higher proportion of children with SEN and also others choose these schools due to wrap around and holiday cover requirements. Many are doctors ect who need flexi boarding if they are working night shifts. Now where is the media covering this?

I don’t work so I don’t require wrap around but I’d be stuck as my kids school don’t offer this and my husband works abroad 70/30 so if i worked we would be stuck

I think it’s a shame she’s lowered herself to this standard as a politician.

This is the problem-

They need to raise the money from elsewhere from a proper source- increase everyone’s taxes overall and put that into the system and really make changes. Maybe it’s a game to her?