Jim is a teacher and a leader at a big successful multi-academy trust. He’s also independent-minded and always worth listening to… - ThreadSky

antoniabance.bsky.social • 7 days ago

Jim is a teacher and a leader at a big successful multi-academy trust. He’s also independent-minded and always worth listening to…

Reposted from Jim Lauder

Sunday Times reporting Bridget Phillipson is set to go in a reshuffle. I continue to think this would be a mistake.

BP knows the sector well. Education is so prone to fads and superficial thinking that can lead to disastrous policy. It would be easy for any new SoS to fall into that trap.

Comments

mrjlauder.bsky.social•7 days ago

Thanks Antonia... Although I'd dispute 'always' there!

BP definitely deserves an extended stint.

simonknight100.bsky.social•7 days ago

I tend to agree, but from a Special school point of view things are getting noticeably worse and I’m not getting any sense that the Government is giving thought to us and our place in the system, let alone identifying suitable policy solutions to increasingly critical underfunding and overcrowding.

mrjlauder.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yeah fair enough. I know there's a lot in the works on the SEND system. A new SoS and a period of change/bedding in might slow things down further.

simonknight100.bsky.social•7 days ago

Which is why I tend to agree, but we need increasingly urgent action taken to safeguard Special schools’ operational safety and educational effectiveness. The current situation of the law privileging the rights of the child not in provision over the rights of those in the provision is untenable.

learnwhatyoulive.bsky.social•7 days ago

Even better if there is no tension, and all children have access to the provision that is right for them - which we are far from at the moment.

simonknight100.bsky.social•7 days ago

Absolutely. The consequences of failing to meaningfully address that over the past decade are why we are where we are now, to the detriment of all.

antoniabance.bsky.social•7 days ago

Genuinely I think there is proper thought and policy development going on - see this from earlier this week for example. Send is an issue raised weekly in Parliament - by MPs of all sides. You have many many champions

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-04-28/debates/F61CA4CA-8304-4606-8F4D-1F436E7EB974/SENDSupport

antoniabance.bsky.social•7 days ago

And thank you for the work you do

simonknight100.bsky.social•7 days ago

Thank you. That’s appreciated.

simonknight100.bsky.social•7 days ago

I think that there is with regard to SEND in the broader sense, but less so in regard to how the current systemic dysfunction impacts specifically on Special Schools, those who attend them and those who work within them, and what policy reform is required to mitigate those consequences.

lbrgen.bsky.social•6 days ago

Bridget is a 'black and white' thinker better suited to the back benches and isolated campaigns. One doesn't imagine her presence or removal is in itself a weather vane for anything but Lab certainly need to alter policy rapidly to stand any chance next time and avoid getting backed up.

antoniabance.bsky.social•6 days ago

I could not disagree more. She is an outstanding education secretary who came in with an agreed plan to deliver for the poor kids and the Send kids failed by the last govt, and is executing it. No free breakfast clubs without Bridget.

foxdie.bsky.social•7 days ago

The way she treated trans people after the SC ruling was appalling and if labour had any morals she would have been forced out the party.

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