Live webchat with Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, Thursday 18 December 11am - 12pm

[KateHMumsnet]

We're pleased to announce that Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities, will be joining us for a webchat on Thursday 18 December at 11.00am.

Nicky was elected for the Loughborough seat for the Conservatives in the 2010 General Election, and was appointed was appointed Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities on 15 July this year. She is married and a mother of one.

Nicky will be joining us on Thursday to discuss all things education-related, and in particular will welcome discussion of behaviour and bullying, mental health, character and careers. Of course, we will welcome questions from across the education spectrum and Nicky will reply to as many as she is able to between 11am and 12pm.

Please do join us live on Thursday, or post your questions in advance on this thread.

Hello Nicky

Bit of a fan here

How have you found it working at the Department for Education? It's been a fairly controversial place over the last few years.

Hi Nicky,

What are your views on sex and relationship education? Would you agree that SRE should be a compulsory subject in secondary schools?

Oh yes. Was coming on to post something else but I'd really like to hear what Nicky thinks about compulsory SRE. It's so important for girls' safety. And boys too of course.

Do you understand why lots of non-religious parents are very cross that their taxes pay for faith schools that their children don't have a hope of getting in to? Would you consider at least removing the religious qualification aspect from faith schools' entry criteria?

Are you ever going to do anything about the dire PE provision in secondary schools? Thread after thread on here we discuss how poor the teaching is, how exposed developing teenagers feel. (Communal changing and showers!) and how bullying is rife...and it never changes. It was like it 30yrs ago and I don't think it's much better now.

Schools have to help foster a love of activity and keeping fit, all they seem to do is kill it off.

Why isnt British Sign Language offered as a language option in schools?

Without going into huge details (but you can search my posts and others) - DD1's school spent the entirety of Y6 focusing on pupils below the NC L4 standard by dividing the class in two and leaving those of NC L4+ attainment to substitutes/ KS1 Teachers.

The school did get 93% of 2014 cohort (single form entry) to NC L4+ in English/ Maths combined - but...BUT...at the price of a very boring year for more able pupils.

I commend the school for achieving this - and absolutely understand the reasons why that was the priority - but wonder why 'the system' doesn't reward schools who don't pull out all the stops like this but instead attain similar or better results whilst continuing to deliver a stable and rich curriculum to Y6 pupils?

Should OFSTED be inspecting the delivery of curriculum in Y6 to avert this kind of 'hot housing' for results?

We've just had another judged 'outstanding' teacher leave my local primary school. Governors gave her an exit interview and her response was that while she loves teaching and the children, the constant scrutiny, moving goalposts, overwork had 'sucked the joy out of the profession'.

You only have to look at the threads on Mumsnet to see that 1000s of excellent, experienced primary teachers are leaving the profession for these reasons. It seems to be a particular problem when the teachers have children - the profession is incompatible with family life. Our school is now over 50% NQT, who I expect will leave teaching once it wears them down/they have children.

Have you any thoughts on what can be done to retain good teachers?

Sedgehill school is set to have an IEB installed and all current governors removed. The school predicts 65% A*-CEM in 2015 after suffering a drop in 2014 along with many other schools nationally.

The IEB will most likely commence a partnership with Bethnal Green Academy. (The IEB will be made up of BGA staff).

BGA is a school that had a SEVEN year journey from special measures to outstanding. Sedgehill is still on its journey and the LA will not allow the current governors to continue the journey because of the drop in the national average in 2014.

My question is: can you please a) compare the improvement plan (Challenge Partners) that the current governors are proposing (this has been in place since October 2014) with the plans of BGA (the governors have not seen this plan because BGA said they need to assess Sedgehill's needs before they make any plans). Please also take into consideration that the year 11 students will be doing there pre public exams in January: these children are already stressed. The parents, staff and children are against this take over (as you will know already). If we REALLY care about these children like we say we do, we will find a way to support the improvement plan that the school has in place and not disrupt the children's learning any further. This GB was judged as 'good' by Ofsted last year.

Will you allow Lewisham LA to impose an IEB on Sedgehill School based on 2014's flawed GCSE results and LA's desire to academise rather than allow this Ofsted-judged 'well led' (Oct2013) community school implement its comprehensive improvement plan that was dismissed outright by LA? Please help us only you can now #SaveSedgehill there no time left.

Entire community parents, students, staff are united behind current leadership and feel IEB is being forced through based on untruths (poor results, when A-Levels up 4 years in a row and GCSEs up 3 years prior to changed system & on track to get 65% GCSE 5+A*-C Eng&Maths; dropping admissions when actually highest Yr 7 intake in 6 years). The true facts speak for themselves.

Hi everyone,

Nicky is running a little bit late, but she'll be here in just a few minutes to answer your questions.

Hi everyone. Looking forward to answering your questions...

Dear Nicky Morgan,

I've just been reading your Wiki entry! Are you worried about losing your Loughborough seat in 2015? It is suggested the student vote and the unpopularity of £9k per year tuition fees makes you vulnerable.

Thanks.

@LearningForLife2015

Whilst girls' achievement continues to improve the same can not be said be for boys, especially the most able. Clearly this is an issue of major concern for teachers and parents alike.

How is the government planning to tackle this problem from a national perspective and what advice would you offer to the parents of able boys who are reluctant learners?

Hi LearningforLife2015. I agree this is a concern. I think one way to tackle this is to show how what boys learn at school is relevant for future jobs eg. some schools have linked learning coding to a job in gaming. I hope the careers announcement I made last week, to grow links between schools and employers will help. What do you think?

I would like to hear your opinions on enforced Christian worship in state schools.
I realise there is an online petition for its removal (which I have signed)

Do you see Christian worship being removed from state schools in the near future?

Mp's; I find it totes amazeballs they never arrive in time for the 11 a.m. bell. lol

jeanette please would you PM me the link to the petition or start a new thread on Chat about it as I'm not sure if if I have signed it yet.

Good morning Ms Morgan & welcome to mumsnet.

@Angeleno

Hi Nicky,

What are your views on sex and relationship education? Would you agree that SRE should be a compulsory subject in secondary schools?

Hi Angeleno. Well it is compulsory in secondary maintained schools and we know most secondary academies teach it too. I am keen to see as much emphasis on the relationship part of the curriculum and in particular issues such as consent with boys and girls. I also think many schools teach SRE as part of a broader curriculum for life eg. talking about bullying, online safety, financial management etc. I discussed this with an excellent Head at a secondary school in Yorkshire last week.

Happy to magrats

change.org/p/end-compulsory-worship-in-schools

Thanks Jeanette :)

@IsItMeOr

Glad you asked about mental health.

Nurseries, schools, colleges and universities all need to be supporting our children to grow up emotionally and mentally resilient, so that when they meet life's inevitable downs/challenges they are not destroyed by them. If we are going to tackle the ignorance and stigma that still surrounds mental ill-health, so that people are able to get the support they need, it needs to be embedded in education.

Do you think it is time for this to be reflected in the statutory curriculum?

Hi IsItMeOr. Great question and this has been one of my top priorities both as an MP and now as Secretary of State. In 2012 I led the first general debate in the House of Commons on mental health and it was truly remarkable. For the first time a DfE Minister, Sam Gyimah, has responsibility for CAMHs as part of his portfolio. I have been talking this week about character education and resilience and self-esteem are a key part of this. We have also asked the PSHE Association to develop guidance on how best to teach mental wellbeing making sure teachers are equipped to do this in the best way for young people.

If a vibrant, improving community secondary like Sedgehill School in Lewisham is wrongly targeted for an IEB by its Local Authority based on 2014's flawed GCSE results - despite previous 3 years' improvement including exceeding national average in 2013, 4 years' improved A-Levels & increased intake - will you approve the LA's IEB application & ignore Ofsted's judgement that Sedgehill's Leadership & Management is 'Good'?

We chose Sedgehill School for our daughter, not Sedgehill Academy, based on its inclusive, aspirational ethos and outstanding Headteacher & Leadership Team. You're our last chance to save our school; please help.

The School submitted a comprehensive plan for stepping up improvement to the LA but it was rejected as they had already - prematurely - chosen the Head of Bethnal Green Academy to come in and run Sedgehill.

@meglet

Are you ever going to do anything about the dire PE provision in secondary schools? Thread after thread on here we discuss how poor the teaching is, how exposed developing teenagers feel. (Communal changing and showers!) and how bullying is rife...and it never changes. It was like it 30yrs ago and I don't think it's much better now.

Schools have to help foster a love of activity and keeping fit, all they seem to do is kill it off.

Hi Meglet. I do agree with you about the need to encourage all young people to be active and to keep fit. Finding the right sport/activity is crucial because people need to enjoy what they are doing and feel energised by it. I know how much I didn't like hockey at school and tried to avoid it but I've now discovered how much I like running! We are now giving schools significant funding (£450m over 3 years) via the sport premium and schools are using that money in all sorts of innovative ways such as working with other local schools and employing sports teachers and, in my constituency, sports apprentices. Figures show that pupils are now spending more time doing PE something I want to see continue to rise.

Have you ever attended a camhs appointment , you wait nearly nine months on a waiting list speak with an assessed who decides which person best suited to you case sound good that last part right , wrong person we seen , had that much time off it wasn't worth our time going and when he did see my child he wouldn't actually see him on his own and couldn't get him to open up with him.
I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to see private counsellor , which has work so much better for him , totally respect him as a young adult rather than treating him like a little child .
He might have additional needs but even someone from your own department couldn't spot him out from his peers at his new school , because they have made such an effort with him.
Just because a school isn't outstanding doesn't make it a bad school .

There has been some progress made over the last year for Flexibility for admission for summer born children, including new guidelines to LAs. It now seems as if this government is backtracking on enforcing those guidelines so LAs and schools spend large amounts of tax payers resources on declining flexible applications and then SEN resources on supporting many summer born children in school. There is confusion on what is being said to concerned parents and what is being said to LAs and schools. What SPECIFIC steps are you going to take to ensure that any parent has the LEGAL RIGHT to apply for their summer born child to start school in Reception at COMPULSORY SCHOOL AGE (ie 5)? (and to keep that year group through education). thank you