Breaking my Twitter silence to say how chuffed I am to join
@WoottonTrust
in the autumn.
It's long had a place in my heart: I started teaching there in 2003 & my girls attend/will attend
@STEMcollege
.
Until then: lots still to do at DfE!
I'll be off Twitter for the foreseeable, but just wanted to say thank you for all the lovely messages about the new/old job.
If there's something specific you think ministers need to know or think about, DMs are open & will find their way to me.
For now though: au revoir!
Is it fair to penalise parents for taking their kids on holiday during the term time or is it right to slap them with a fine?
Headteacher Mark Lehain says parents 'sign a social contract' when they choose to send their kids to school.
He adds that education is 'even more
“One thing that I like to do, from time to time, is I just perform for the kids for a whole lesson, just to give them a sort of benchmark of how things are done, so they can see how someone at a professional industry level handles the performance side of things.”
Sent out my 1st letter to
@WoottonTrust
families today. Think I ticked all the Lehain Bingo phrases:
- "father of 4" ✅
- "warm-strict" ✅
- "ABCD of great schools" ✅
- "ignore whatever
@StuartLock
says about me." ✅
Will be on
@theJeremyVine
in a few mins to discuss the hardy perennial that is term time holidays.
(The team here
@WoottonUpper
have been working wonders on attendance with students & families. Some great progress made this year.) 🙌
Furious to see that Bedford didn't make this list of "15 coolest neighbourhoods". Not even the "1 street away from Bedford Park" part. Unbelievable. A proper miscarriage of justice.
NEW POST: Teachers pensions and the future of national pay bargaining <-- Why I think ULT's pension/salary proposals could ultimately affect all teachers.
Rusty Headteacher question here: where can I find national average attendance data broken down by year group?
(I've a Y9-11 upper school, so need to strip out Y7&8 from the secondary nat. stats.)
A mum said it was a 'no brainer' to take her daughters out of primary school during term-time, despite being fined £240 for the move. The mum said she saved £3,000 on their family holiday in Egypt.
But is it right to fine parents who take their kids on holiday during term-time?