I heard that when he was interviewed for the head of Birmingham’s schools he was asked what he would do to improve educational standards, his answer was “ raise birthweights”.
The opposite is now also true. One of the most effective public health interventions (longer lives, less sickness) is to make sure kids are ready for school when they are four and five.
I remembered another story from Birmingham about 25 years ago. Headteacher congratulated on best exam results and asked what he’d done differently to make it happen, he said he hadn’t done anything really, and the kids in that year were pretty much the same as the kids in the past year. But 1/n
Was thinking about the links between housing and education yesterday in relation to the children I work with - overcrowding and temporary homes have such a negative impact on their young lives.
2/n the kids in the main came from the big council estate, and that had had all the doors and windows replaced and a new heating system. The homes were warmer, kids could do homework on their own in the bedrooms not all crowded in the one warm room with the television. The works had other benefits
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