A NotebookLM discussion on this blog can be found here: https://schl.cc:443/gz

The header picture this week shows the ‘beautiful disaster’ that was the Musk SpaceX Starship coming down over the Gulf of Mexico America last Thursday. Characterising any weekly blog by a suitable title that captures the news headlines of the moment and translates for a local audience is really difficult, made especially so the declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza over the weekend, then Monday commencing as it did with the spectacular show that was Donald Trump’s inauguration and the week progressing with the local politics of Britain and Europe being as fractious as ever. It’s a wonder that the Universe has actually tried to remind us that seeking some alignment across the world of humanity’s problems might be a good idea, and so has given us the night sky spectacular of a 6 ‘planetary parade’ as a reminder.

So down to Education business this week. Leaving aside the immediate and ongoing dispute between the Government’s imposition of an unfair new tax being imposed on private school tuition fees, I bring to the fore the parliamentary work commencing around the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December, now being examined by parliamentary committee since Tuesday, and it’s quite clear from every point of view that the bill is not going down well. Headteacher Katherine Birbalsingh’s letter in the Observer summed-up the problem from her state-side position brilliantly, with each section including the question “What problem were you trying to solve”. You can read the whole 4 pages of her letter here, in which she highlights the genuine good news available in schools that the government could be celebrating, yet it chooses to legislate against.

In summary, funding special opportunities in state schools to study Latin is a great idea, as is establishing ‘Computing hubs’ so why cut the funding halfway through the academic year and close the courses. Giving state schools the freedom to tweak the curriculum to encourage diversity and creativity to suit their intake works really well, so why forbid that and impose a strict, universal diet on all? Across England, we are currently working through and embedding the curriculum changes implemented 5 years ago, at a great cost in time and money. As a consequence, we’ve seen our primary and secondary outcomes rise up the international league tables and for reading literacy the English lead the Western world. Why spend precious energy, political capital and parliamentary time on destroying the reforms that led to this success? Across the country, the government programmes to recruit graduates into the teaching profession are failing, yet the school-based programmes have been a great success, so why forbid them to continue or try to reduce teacher pay? We know state school attendance has become a real problem, but the best schools use uniforms, badges, ties and kits to create a sense of belonging and value – why forbid such well-understood strategies, used so well by sports teams etc.?

Regular readers of my Blog know I’ve been offering the Secretary of State help for 18 months now, even when she was in opposition. Phillipson apparently has booked now an opportunity for KB to meet at the DfE, but that’s a ‘show reaction’ to the bad press she’s received in recent weeks. For the government, the press is only going to get worse, with Secretary of State for Health, Wes Sweeting wishing to shut down SEND funding for children with both physical and learning differences, and the HMRC insisting on taxing SEND tuition fees as shown on invoices, with Local Authorities in return refusing to repay schools for the ‘tax lost’, because they’ve already gone down the route of giving personal budgets to parents, which of course were always ‘without VAT’. Because I know that no-one in government will read letters, I’ve taken to ‘vlogging’, my latest on this issue can be found below:

The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP attended BETT2025 this week on Wednesday, at the same time as my colleague Jawad Laouira, Deputy Head Academic at Juniors, where Meryln Mind (an American AI company that Claires Court has been working with for 3 years) were showcasing their latest offering, Merlyn Origin, for which Jawad and ICTteacher/school photographer, Chris Rowan created this intro film. Well, the film was incredibly well received and a packed Tech-in-Action audience of educators from many different countries were able to question Jawad and the rest of the panel, including VP Merlyn Jason Mayland and UK Partner, Ian Nairn. The message that the panel shared was that there is a real depth of Learning Science behind what Merlyn is helping teachers achieve in their classrooms and in addition Merlyn saves teachers circa 15% of time every lesson. We’ve also found our children are able to interact directly by voice with Merlyn, and as a consequence, we are seeing a direct improvement in the accuracy of their oral questioning. Wins all round.

My closing message to this blog is pretty obvious really. When GBS originally wrote of the Lunatics, that was well before I was born. I can’t find a precise date, but we are talking about the time of the rise of the fascist dictators in Europe and the chaos that brought. Despite all, humans managed to develop antibiotics, modern conveniences such as the Hoover, the motor car, and above all of course, Sliced Bread, packaged and promoted in the UK as early as 1928! I’ve loved watching the latest series of ‘Inside the Factory’ on BBCTV, with Paddy McGuiness. The Warburton’s loaf factory in which he used to clean the machines at the start of his employment packs 1.4 million loaves a year. That’s progress for sure, and as a nation, our food is secure through major companies doing what they know best. Paddy like me worries about his children, and I just wish Bridget would work with major schools like mine – of course, we are always ready to learn, but we do start from a very strong position of knowing what we do.