红桃影视

I always find the start of 鈥榮pring鈥� term the toughest. It鈥檚 dark, cold and coughs, colds and sore throats seem to permeate schools. So, it was lovely to start my digital staffroom conversation this term with a blog by The Secret Headteacher that really got to the heart of how I and probably many school leaders are feeling. It also served to remind me of the huge good that we do, no matter the struggles we face.聽

Of course, the blog also touches on the challenges we are addressing now and have been over the past few years. But the overall effect was to help me reflect on the past year and what it is I want to achieve this year. Bringing my 鈥榳hy鈥� to the forefront of my mind and reconnecting with my moral purpose was just what I needed.

Picket apart

It鈥檚 been a controversial week, with the results of union votes starting to come through. NASUWT came in first, and in a result echoed later by the NAHT, despite the overwhelming number of cast ballots favouring strike action, too few were received to meet the legal threshold for action.

Many to air their disappointment and feelings ran high, but I came across many genuine reasons for abstaining. I was more concerned, however, to learn that postal strikes had resulted in many ballots being lost or arriving too late, and I was surprised to discover that those on maternity leave who had paused their memberships were unable to have their say.

Meanwhile, the government鈥檚 plans for more could make the next ballot even harder. Nevertheless, this week鈥檚 NEU ballot result indicates that a winter of discontent may yet be on the cards. Whether we voted to strike or not, we will need to steel ourselves against media and general public opinion until a resolution is reached.

罢锚迟别-脿-罢补迟别

Brewing away in the background, there is ongoing concern about the rise in interest in Andrew Tate and . Paradoxically perhaps, his influence first became a national story last August when resulted in his being banned from Tik Tok.

Since then, many schools have noted a rise in misogynistic behaviours from some of their students, and some teachers have been rushing to create resources on Tate to try and combat this trend. But finding a balance between warning pupils and drawing more attention to it is difficult.

, the rise in misogyny is not just down to one person. Well-taught PSHE and RSE remains the best way to address the issue, and a focus on this individual risks hampering efforts to get to the heart of it 鈥� allowing other Tates to make hay.

Lastly, Ofsted鈥檚 latest podcast to summarise their annual report included some words of appreciation from chief inspector, Amanda Spielman. Noting the difficulties the sector has faced this year, Spielman speaks of a 鈥渢riple whammy鈥� 鈥� managing backlogs in their own work, delays in securing support from other services and having to do that with ongoing workforce issues. 鈥淚t’s been so hard,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd I think I want to start by acknowledging that and saying that what’s been achieved, I think, is in many contexts nothing short of astonishing.鈥�

But this week has also seen Teacher Toolkit鈥檚 Ross Morrison McGill publish into Ofsted鈥檚 鈥渟tuck schools鈥� (those that remain 鈥楻equires Improvement鈥� over more than one inspection). These schools overwhelmingly tend to be are those with more challenging circumstances overall (higher rates of FSM, higher proportions of people living in more deprived neighbourhoods according to IDACI data, and higher rates of children with moderate learning difficulties and SEND).

Acknowledging the challenges schools face is kind, but the next step should surely be to look at how to make judgment fair in a system that clearly isn鈥檛.