Britain's Strictest Headmistress

[purpleme12]

Did anyone watch this??
I'm interested to see if anyone likes this method of schooling

Just me 🤣

Well I don't know, I suppose they get results, and like the Head said there is no room for really bad behaviour. It does seem very repressive though, as if the kids are being prepared for life in the army rather than normal jobs or university.

The folded arms, detentions for any tiny thing. Poor kids. When do they get the chance to socialise or express themselves? I couldn't have sent DD there. It's stricter than when my parents were at school! (1950s).

DP (teacher) sat there laughing at them. It is all an act really I suppose and the kids learn how to play along. 'Two cheers for X' etc. There must be a happy medium.

I thought they all seemed like robots. Seemed to me like they were just reciting lines/parroting when they were talking about how good it is for them.
I guess I can see why if a child is misbehaving badly why the parents might want to send them as like you said it reminds you of the army.
It's just so unnatural - arms folded, give 2 claps - all said in the exact same way.

I agree, it made me quite uncomfortable. I think there are some schools (maybe inner-city?) where you do get groups of kids bullying others, intimidating teachers even bringing knifes into school. And stopping others from learning. That's worse I suppose and with this Michaela school, if the staff are to be believed, there is no chance of bullying, fighting etc.

It just seems so extreme though and unnaturally regimented. Could the staff not keep control without all the arm folding crap and daily detentions? Is that really the only way? It seems almost facist really, the head is so intense and convinced of her own righteousness. I'm relieved I didn't go to school anywhere like that and neither did DD, although her secondary school was highly rated by OFSTED and got great results without all this crap. Was she saying black kids can't succeed without being totally surpressed like this? That seems very dodgy and racist, can you not keep control whilst also treating the kids like human beings?

But then that mum at the end (mum of Angelo?) bursting into tears of joy because her son got a place...

Just watched it on catch up and thought it was great. The aspirations that the head has for her students, who are coming from some of the most deprived areas of the country, and the fact that these students are getting into top universities shows that the ideology is one that achieves results.

Yes it's strict. Is every rule and regulation wholly necessary - hard to say. But if it avoids the pitfalls of a lot of schools and gives these children opportunities to succeed in life then it seems a shame that there aren't more schools like this.

I went to private schools my whole life and am grateful I was given the opportunity to excel in education, to have great teaching and not to have been put down by other pupils for striving to achieve academic excellence. I think the lessons espoused by the head are indeed important life lessons: taking responsibility and ownership for your own decisions and mistakes, striving for excellence, avoiding a victim mentality, working hard. For many of those children, education is the only route out of poverty and to a better future and I can fully understand why the parents are desperate for their children to grasp the opportunities that the school affords them.

You do know that it should be possible, and indeed is possible, to get an excellent education without 1. Using the extreme methods of Katharine Buralsingh or whatever her name is or 2.paying privately? Your parents could have saved money by trying hard to get you into a good state school. I appreciate this sometimes involves moving and not everyone is able to do this. Perhaps this includes the parents of children at the Michaela school. I understand they perhaps think it is their best and only hope for their children. But would you really be happy to send your child somewhere so soul-crushing?

All kids deserve good schools and the best chance in life. I am not convinced that the methods of the Michaela school are the answer though.

The problem is that it only gets the children whose parents support the school. Where do all the kids whose parents can't or won't control them? Where do the kids who won't comply go?
If this method works, she should take over an existing school with difficult students and see if she can get buy in there.

It's non selective it said and according to her they get everyone to submit to their behaviour policy!

Totally agree! It was brilliant! It should be rolled out further!

Your parents could have saved money by trying hard to get you into a good state school. I appreciate this sometimes involves movig and not everyone is able to do this.

Not everyone is able to do this?! Massive understatement... Besides, lots of theoretically 'good' schools really aren't.

Not watched it but will do. I think that clear rules work. What's not to like about a diverse range of abilities, social classes and backgrounds getting above expected grades & getting places at top unis?

I thought it was very interesting. Great that all children can focus and learn. Many of the children would be crying out for clear boundaries and expectations. Both of which can be missing at home.

I haven't seen it yet but have seen the trailers. Having been to a school that was essentially crowd control where the (majority) of the teachers were scared of us kids I would support such a disciplined environment.

No-one who's not been to one of the sink schools themselves can understand just how terrifying that is for the pupils. At our school kids regularly set classrooms on fire!

Yes exactly. Everyone has to agree to their policy. If you don't agree you don't go there. This is selecting only the parents and children who will follow these rules. Those that don't agree go to the standard comp and pass around there. I actually think it is very unfair for this school to compare its to normal schools who are battling kids and parents who couldn't care less day in day out.

I liked the ethos of kindness too. The school is oversubscribed, I’m not surprised that parents who want their child to have better life chances might choose it. As @AnneElliott says, some schools offer little more than crowd control.

Mmm there's no need for some stuff in there.
Eg the gratitude thing you can do that another way rather than clearly having been instructed to stand up and all project their voice in one particular way and then say 2 claps. Ie there's no real feeling in it when it's done like that!

These types of schools are selective - they are selected by parents who choose to sign up to the behaviour policy.

I agree that it is important to have school rules, behaviour policies and, more importantly, that these are applied to everyone and by everyone. I don't think they need to be as rigid as they are in Michaela schools. Students are not robots, and neither are teachers.

Yes, they get good results. But I would argue that any school that has the parents on side can get good results. I would be interested to see how ell this regime would work in a school where many of the students come from homes where parenst do not give adamn about education and happily come into school at the drop of a hat to complain and shout if they school attempts to impose any sanction for poor behaviour.

I is parental support that is making the difference in Michaela schools.

Too regimented for me, I don't see how this can help develop independent or imaginative thinking. I actually think this will make them more vulnerable in the 'real world', no more so perhaps than in other similarly sheltered environments though. What happens when they leave and suddenly everyone around them isn't following the rules? I can see some benefits in terms of there being less distractions etc, but overall I wouldn't want this for my child.

I would really have struggled at that school. I’m a bit dyspraxic and having only ten seconds to get the right book out of my bag and ten minutes to eat lunch etc. would have been very stressful.

It’s good that the children are asked to think of things to be grateful for, however the way they have to shout it out and give two claps is so unnatural and cult-like.

I do like the avoidance of a victim mentality, the policy on smartphones and that there’s virtually no opportunity for bullying.

I think there’s a place for better discipline and certainly boundaries in schools.

But I also think this lionisation of KB is peculiar and not terribly helpful. She’s just one person. And I think the more she’s fêted as a kind of half-saint, half-Dementor she’ll end up trapped within her own legend, and unable to move her thinking on or refine any of her views.

Moving house and sending my kids to the highly rated state School wouldn't have saved me money. It is cheaper for me to send mine to private than to live in the catchment for the local ofsted outstanding comp.

I would have been miserable at a school like this as would my children. It gets great results but at what expense?

I was at school in the 1950s, it was much stricter than this. I remember getting the cane for getting a spelling wrong in a test. I did paralell instead of parallel. That was strict.

Wow that's actually cruel and quite Victorian, being caned for getting a spelling wrong! What does it achieve?

I guess all schools are different. My parents were also at school in the 50s and whilst the cane was used, it would be for serious stuff. Plus they were allowed to talk in the corridors! 😁

My DD started at an academy that was extremely strict like this. We thought it sounded great on paper and felt really lucky that my Dd got a place as it was hugely oversubscribed. DD is a bottom set child but with impeccable behaviour so I thought a strict school would be great for her.

In the end the constant witnessing of kids being sanctioned for really minor or accidental rule breaking sent her anxiety sky high and she started having panic attacks.

She was once given a detention just for being in the toilets at the same time as another child was discovered in there with a phone. I had to put my foot down to stop her being put on a month long behaviour report but had to accept the detention in order to win that battle. She had done nothing wrong except be in the toilet during lesson time ( she was in early stages of IBD at that point so needed the loo a lot)

They had no skirt option for girls because they didn't want to police skirt lengths. But then they started calling girls up and pinching the fabric of the trousers and would send them to isolation if deemed too tight. Humiliating for teenage girls and it's no wonder a culture of not eating lunch developed. My DD developed an eating disorder and is still struggling with that now.

No phones allowed on the premises and regular random pocket and bag searches were carried out. DD never had her phone on her but would have anxiety attacks where she suddenly worried that she may have accidentally left it in her bag.

Detentions issues for forgetting to bring one single item to school.

No option to sit out of PE. My DD was really ill with what we later discovered was Crohns and I was desperately trying to keep up her attendance even though she felt rotten. I got permission for her to sit out of PE but then discovered that she had been made to change into her kit and sit on the grass of a cold field in November in case she felt up to joining in ( she was bleeding from her bottom and suffering agonising pain at the time but the school said rules are rules - two days later she was in hospital as an emergency admission.

Eventually at the end of Y8 we had to remove her. The environment was toxic. The children were encouraged to snitch on each other and bullying outside of the classroom and on social media was rife. One child threatened to plant something on DD to get her into trouble when there was a falling out in a friendship group.

DD was terrified. All this while dealing with an illness that the school were not particularly supportive about ( they agreed verbally that she could use the disabled toilets but whenever she did she would get shouted at and questioned about her hidden disability )

She's at a new school which is far more relaxed and her school life is now enjoyable and productive.