King’s Maths School (KCLMS) ideology pushed on students

[PilarT]

I posted this on another thread but the OP didn’t like the conversation and so Mumsnet removed it.. I’m posting it again here in case it’s useful for any prospective parents. I know I would have appreciated the information before my child applied.

Here are some examples of the extreme woke ideology taught at the school:
They teach sex positivity: class discussions on sex include things like whether you should spit or swallow when someone ejaculates in your mouth, what sexual activities you would like to try and what you are going to do about it. They say they want to break down the taboos around sex and make it so nothing is inappropriate to discuss with them, eg. BDSM. As another parent pointed out, they are using an external provider for the sex education, who have been flagged to the Safe Schools Alliance.
They also have classes to challenge the norms of monogamy and being in a relationship at all.
They teach gender theory, that gender is fluid and you can explore and decide what gender you are. 2 years ago they were sending out an email to students in the first term asking if they want to change their pronouns, with an online form to fill in asking what pronoun and name you would like used at school and what pronouns and names you would like the school to use with your parents, so that your parents don’t find out. They seem to not be doing this now, maybe because of the government guidance published earlier in the year.
Earlier this term the boys and girls were separated and the boys were given a lesson on how to be less assertive so that they don’t make girls uncomfortable. An example of things they shouldn’t do is write too high on the white board because it might upset girls. Personally, I think boys can be shy and can need to learn to be more assertive so I find this gender stereotyping very unpleasant.
There is a lot about racism from a critical race theory angle. How it’s not enough to not be racist, how you must be antiracist, etc. Classes on how it’s racist that maths uses Pythagoras theorem a lot, for example, because that’s European. A lot of anti-white rhetoric, aimed at making people feel guilty for being white, and compulsory homeworks on anti-racism, such as making an anti-racist New Year’s resolution and doing research about critical race theory.
When the teachers went on strike a couple of years ago, an email was sent out explaining the motive behind the strike from the viewpoint of Marxist philosophy. That term was literally used, so at least some of the teachers must think of themselves as Marxist.
I have loads of documents showing all this and much more. These are just a few examples.
All this is fine if it aligns with the parents values, but if it doesn’t then the aggressive pushing of it is unpleasant, and it is not made clear to parents that that is what they are doing, particularly not before joining. If I had known, I would not have suggested my child apply.

Really helpful to have this in the public domain.

The school should not be foisting this on students without the parents’ knowledge.

My son applied to the school and didn’t get in. Having learnt this info I am grateful as this ideology doesn’t align with our family’s values.

"I have loads of documents showing all this and much more."

Show. Don't tell. Let us see the documents. In particular those which evidence the more implausible claims such as:

"Classes on how it’s racist that maths uses Pythagoras theorem a lot, for example, because that’s European. A lot of anti-white rhetoric, aimed at making people feel guilty for being white"

If this is what you want your children to be taught, that’s fine. But I don’t and I think the school should be more open about it to parents.

It only lets me add 5 images per post

Critical thinking is an essential educational good. But a top maths school questioning whether “algebra is necessary” on the basis that it was developed by white mathematicians is not critical thinking. Only mathematical reasons can question the necessity of algebra. This is sad reading.

The funny thing is I think a lot of the foundations of maths comes from before the Greeks, from the Babylonians, Indians and Chinese. Like I think Pythagorean theorem actually predates Pythagoras by a lot. Which could be an interesting discussion, to look at the history of maths. But they aren’t doing that, it’s all about whiteness and racism.

😂 Mumsnet did not remove it because "I didn't like it" ffs. You accused teachers of grooming children. Which is a very very serious accusation.

No, I didn’t.

Could you share links rather than screenshots so that we can see where they come from and the context please. Some of this I would like clarification from KCLMS on. I presume your child went there which is how you know?

Well, I am sure Mumsnet can clarify. But you did. You said they were grooming children. You didn't like that I found this offensive having been groomed by a teacher, and having said teacher groom many others (and be on his third prison sentence).

Jeez, there was I thinking they just taught high level maths!

As far as "Classes on how it’s racist that maths uses Pythagoras theorem a lot, for example, because that’s European." I don't think that's substantiated by what you've posted. They asked "to what extent do you agree or disagree" with a selection of quotes, one of which alludes to the fact that pythagoras gets the credit for a theorem known before his time. The airbrushing of the significant achievements of non-white civilisations (e.g. development of algebra by the Persians) out of our curricula is a legitimate issue to discuss. They haven't said it's racist that maths uses Pythagoras' theorem a lot.
Most of the other material you've posted is anti-racism, not anti-white. It's also third-party, not written by staff at the school. If these are resources provided as part of a wider discussion on anti-racism facilitated by the school then I wouldn't necessarily take objection to it, though they do seem to harp on excessively.
Your other wilder claims about spit or swallow, BDSM etc. would also need to be substantiated.

Are you referring to sexual grooming? Because there are all types of grooming.
In fact grooming can apply to any way of thinking.

I don't know if your post is worth my time but here, I'll bite.
1: so many theories and concepts in maths were already being used by Arabs, Indians, Egyptians. Yet maths concept are often discussed as western concepts from Greeks, Romans, Italians (looking at you Fibonacci numbers) and brown and black people seen as never having had mathematical discoveries. This is then used to create a racial hierarchy of intelligence and oppress. So what do you disagree about maths as its taught being racist?
It's important that people don't just disagree with racists but work to learn all forms racists and white privilege takes.. And unconscious bias. And work to dismantle racist systems. Be allies for oppressed people not hoity toity (hallo inspector Grim) saviour of black and brown people. That is part of being anti racists. Do you disagree? Explain.
It's important that in a society where over half of teen and preteen girls report sexual violence, sexual coercion and where choking and hitting is seen as given, that they learn what these mean, that there are various sexual acts good all bad and they decide for themselves and can consent or not. So many parents will not discuss these and the first time they hear or experience may be while they are naked on a tinder date, feeling vulnerable. So yes there has to be space to discuss these. And you can then pick those discussions at home (but then perhaps you don't want the dismantling of structural racism)

The OP has a child in the school who has presumably reported back on how this material was presented and discussed in class.

The provider of their sex ed classes has also given lots of details of how they present their material so allegations of the OP making “wild claims” are also factually untrue.

The Safe Schools Alliance is the body which characterises this explicit sex ed as a form of grooming:
https://safeschoolsallianceuk.net/2023/02/05/the-school-of-sexuality-education/

Here’s the screenshot with the relevant paragraph, but it’s worth clicking through for the detail.

It was referring to sex education lessons.

Links would also be appreciated as I can't read the screen shots. Possibly because I am viewing on a screen, not a phone, but they are blurred and unreadable.

I am also keen to contact the school for clarity.

Maths teacher

I have written and run several workshops on the international roots of and history of maths.

It is generally accepted the Pythagoras wrote down the theorem which we refer to as "Pythagoras theorem" but he didn't invent it.

There are maths textbooks from ancient Egypt before the greens which use it, and at the moment there is some discussion about an ancient Assyrian clay tablet which seems to imply the assyrians knew it,

It's quite a nice example of how nobody actually knows who discovered it but different cultures have different names attached to it - we call it Pythagoras' theorem, the Chinese call it the gougu theorem.

I don't understand how studying the history of maths s a problem,

I can’t see the problem with any of the ‘evidence’ you’ve posted.

You can look back at the thread before and see that it wasn’t me who said that. I said basically what I said in the first post on this thread and you responded by saying when do they fit all this in?

Then I have no idea why they deleted your post. Maybe a question for Mumsnet rather than getting in a tizzy and blaming me?

Again though, could you let me have the links for the above. I am emailing the school for clarification, and I can't read the screen shots.

It looks blurry when I open them from Mumsnet, too. But the photos I attached aren’t blurry. They’re not on a website so I don’t know how to attach a link, I have files.

@Octavia64 I said this above. I think studying the history of maths is really interesting, and something I am personally interested in, as well as ancient cultures.

It’s fine for all the people who agree with the ideas in this kind of teaching, and are happy for their child to be taught it. My point is that I wish I’d known before suggesting that my child apply, and I am sure that many parents would appreciate this extra information before making the decision of where to apply,

A lot of anti-white rhetoric, aimed at making people feel guilty for being white

That’s how you’ve described the information you’ve linked to above. I don’t think the school is the issue.