And the new Education Secretary is....Damian Hinds

[noblegiraffe]

Anyone got any opinions on him?

I was thinking that I didn't hate Justine Greening but then I remembered the whole grammar school thing. I wonder if we'll ever see the response to that consultation.

She was offered Work and Pensions but has decided to quit government completely instead. Apparently she really wanted to stay in Education. God knows why TM thought it was a good idea to move her, hope she does a Nicky Morgan and starts sniping at her trousers from the back benches.

Do you think we’re going to see another attempt to push grammars through? FFS.

Also, I’m slightly pissed off that they replaced a comp-educated gay woman with a grammar educated white male who did PPE at Oxbridge. Identikit politician

noblegiraffe I think May is fixated with the "Grammar" buzz word. I suspect that is why Toby Young claims to have been a Grammar School boy despite the fact that the school was a comp. by the time he attended.

Noble did you actually like Justine Greening her being a Tory or was she not as bad straight white Oxford educated Tory !

By the way my nephew was educated at St Ambrose and they did a great job turning out another potential 'Tory' Mp like Paul Maynard as well.

Only joking . However, we need more St Ambrose's not less in the education system.

Do you think we’re going to see another attempt to push grammars through? FFS.

The parliamentary arithmetic is still the same though. It was the election result that stopped the legislation for new grammars not Justine Greening.
More likely they will have a go at stretching the existing legislation. I wonder if any grammar school will want the stress and hassle of setting up an "annexe" in this unstable political situation as any incoming Labour government would put a stop to it immediately. The attempt at an annexe in Maidenhead had fallen through even before the election and the planned one in Croydon was apparently never in the offing

schoolsweek.co.uk/confusion-over-grammar-school-expansion-plans/

So common sense would say No, however Theresa has a monomaniac's obsession on this issue so who knows?

I don’t think TM has ever let common sense get in the way of anything.

It looks like she might be lining up the ducks to give it another go even if everyone else can see it’s a complete non-starter.

mountford I think she was reasonable, rather than actively evil like some Tory MPS. She wasn't fan of grammars, she wanted more funding for schools, but she pushed grammars publicly and didn't achieve much about funding (although I know she tried) so she's not a particular hero.

Regarding the being a comp-educated gay woman thing, Theresa May said that this new cabinet was going to increase diversity, then sacks someone who fits several severe shortage criteria and replaces her with a cardboard cutout of a standard Tory. Could be anyone.

I'm so glad you had started a thread on this noble. I couldn't find one yesterday and I thought you had let me down/ gone soft/ become apathetic...

No fear!

Also, I’m slightly pissed off that they replaced a comp-educated gay woman with a grammar educated white male who did PPE at Oxbridge.
tee hee.

More to the point they have created a very articulate, rather pissed off Back Bencher

presumably he had to be thought up very quickly. It's all very odd.

Other than having been to school, he has no credentials.

Accord Coalition on Damian Hinds: accordcoalition.org.uk/2018/01/09/new-education-secretary-urged-to-press-ahead-with-inclusive-reforms/

let me down/ gone soft/ become apathetic

Hah Piggy never!
I probably should have posted it in Education but it always seems to be a bit of a backwater over there. All the cool kids seem to hang out in secondary!

I see Nick Gibb is still Schools Minister. He is truly bombproof. I'm sure next time Labour win, they'll just let him carry on.

Haha! Probably!

Good grief, I am literally etching the days on my metaphorical cell wall until the next election.

Labour's education policies are crap too though. I'm hoping for an extraordinary Lib Dem surge. They wanted to take education policy out of the hands of politicians and give it to people who know what they're doing.

FFS we've had 4 education secretaries in 7 years and that's supposed to be fine? Yet West London Free School has the same number of heads in about the same timescale and people think that's a dreadful shambles.