Thursday 11th May 2023

[refitman]

Morning all.

[frog222]

Morning refit

This one put me in a much-needed good mood just now --

When Ofsted got a taste of its own medicine

Our school’s strategy was to openly record any interactions with inspectors – and it paid off, writes Anne Johns

Maybe schools should treat Ofsted inspectors (Letters, 30 April) to some of their own medicine as we did. When they came to my very racially diverse urban comprehensive school, all staff were issued with bright yellow forms on which to record every inspector’s visit to a class, and any interaction with students or staff during the lesson. This was done quite overtly, so Ofsted knew what was happening.

Interviews with heads of department and senior staff outside the classroom were audio-recorded. Students knew what was happening and closed ranks against the perceived “enemy”. Behaviour was exemplary, and they all praised the school to the skies.

The head was able to challenge any judgment made – for example, by saying: “But you only saw 10 minutes of that class/year/subject, so how can you make a judgment?”

Ofsted later told the school that it had made inspectors very uneasy and it ensured that they had to back up any criticism. They were also careful to give praise where due. Needless to say, the school was judged to be “outstanding” – but we all knew that anyway.

Anne Johns
Derby

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... n-medicine

[refitman]

[refitman]

[refitman]

Possibly a little bit of good news? (Courtesy of PfY)

[RogerOThornhill]

So had that been in force 50 years ago, that would have included every book that Jan Morris wrote after 1972?

Hmm...

[RogerOThornhill]

Ooh!

[tinyclanger2]

I loved this so much:


that I guess this year's entry from Ukraine could only be a disappointment. And it sadly was.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Want a bet that we still do?

[RogerOThornhill]

Sparrow on Badenoch.

As well as Badenoch’s new-found Brexit pragmatism, the other stand-out feature of her performance during her urgent question today was her astonishing rudeness. Badenoch has always been abrasive, and in the past her blunt, scornful, no-nonsense response to critcism from opposition MPs has probably gone down well with members of her party.

But today she was just crass and offensive, repeately accussing the opposition of not understanding what she was doing (they do understand), and blithely claiming to be happy about facing scrutiny in parliament, when she clearly isn’t. And she wasn’t just patronsing the oppostion; Tory MPs got some of this too. A minister can get away with being arrogant when they are in a strong position, but that’s not where Badenoch was today, and much of it just sounded tin-eared and unpleasant.

[gilsey]

Ooh!

As someone said online, who are you and what have you done with Lindsay Hoyle?

[gilsey]

Want a bet that we still do?

If you run the whole clip she goes back to the official line. Shame.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Hoyle is very easy going and the Tories definitely exploit that.

But that also means that when he *does* become displeased, they certainly know about it.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Lib Dems and Greens combined get more votes than Labour or the Tories. Any sign of them on QT? Nope.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Mind you that's roughly a 3-2 left/right split, which is better than they often manage.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Possibly a little bit of good news?

There's no possibly about it. TransPennine Express have been a disgrace for years, this has been a long time coming. Northern were transformed from a shambolic disaster to a decent service in months after it was nationalised so hopefully it will be the same with TPE.

The last time I used them trying to get back from Manchester there weren't even any trains, just replacement buses with over an hour's wait in Huddersfield. What should have taken an hour took nearly four and I vowed never to use them again. Now I take the longer rural line with Northern instead. It takes nearly an hour longer but it's reliable and the views are nicer.

There will be thousands of commuters across the North celebrating this decision.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Transpennine make Northern look good in comparison - further comment is surely superfluous.

[refitman]

Has everyone heard the new Underground announcement?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

QT tonight came to you from Bexhill, the audience were mostly a decent, good natured lot, apart from one woman objecting to refugees being housed in a disused prison near where she lives. Not because it's a horrible thing to do to them, but because they're somehow a threat to everyone from babies to pensioners in care homes. I don't know about nurseries but if she thinks immigrants are a danger in care homes she's in for a shock when she learns the entire care industry would collapse overnight without them.

For the Tories we had Helen Whately. Helen was given the freedom to go on what felt like a ten minute, interruption free, monologue about immigration tonight by Fiona Bruce and she still ended up being laughed at, twice. If a Tory on the South coast of England can't win over the best part of an audience, most of whom previously voted Conservative, despite being given carte blanche to bullshit at length about 'stopping the boats' you've got to think they're doomed. Of course Helen doesn't help herself by perpetually looking confused and upset as if she's lost part of her brain, but surely even the most cerebrally challenged would realise that telling an audience whose sea is literally swimming in shit that their government's plan for dealing with the water companies will take 25 years is not going to go down well.

For Labour we had Thangam Debonnaire. I do like Thangam but was disappointed by the lack of a nice jumper this evening though I suppose it is warming up a bit (finally) so she can be forgiven. Despite being constantly interrupted and questioned by the impartial host who let Whately dribble on unhindered for what felt like an eternity I thought Thangam did ok. She did a good job of pointing out Labour simply wouldn't have the parliamentary time to undo all the Tory legislation they didn't like if they won the next election but they would be able to gut and amend things like the immigration bill. She pointed out the flaws in trying to compare local elections (that weren't held in large parts of the country) to a national election and explained it would cost billions to buy out the water companies. All the while appearing humble and admitting Labour needed to do more. She took flack from the left and right of the panel and gave a good account of herself. It's just a shame someone so evidently capable is having to take that flak because she's got such a useless boss.

For Novara Media we had Ash Sarkar. Ash was excellent. From pointing out the inhumanity of the immigration bill to laying out, with figures from the FT, just how much the water companies are siphoning off into their shareholders bank accounts. When given the opportunity to have a go at Labour she pointed to Starmer's many broken pledges and promises and who can blame her? She and I might have political differences but everything she said tonight was undeniably true.

For right wing populist blow hards we had Nick Ferrari. I fucking hate people like Nick. He's your typical pig ignorant bore who thinks there's a simple solution to everything and he has it. Tonight it was jailing water company bosses for five years if they pump shit in the sea. Sounds great, got a loud round of applause, but...is Nick against this system of privatisation which has resulted in shit being pumped into the sea? Nope. Is he against the government who allowed it to happen? Nope. In fact he was bigging up their chances of winning the next election. He disgusts me.

For retired vicars on the radio we had Richard Coles. Richard said all the right things tonight. He pointed out the inhumanity of the immigration bill, questioned the vast profits of private companies providing failing public services and took issue with how feeble the offerings from the Labour party currently are. Then he politely sat back after each answer and rested on his quite considerable laurels leaving him a (presumably willing) bystander for most of the programme.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Also just thought I'd mention, in a seat that has been resolutely Conservative since its creation in the 1980's the audience were asked to raise their hands if they were undecided about who they would vote for. A majority of them raised their hands. Our impartial host Fiona Bruce went straight to Thangam Debonnaire to ask why Labour wasn't winning them over, while Helen Whately was left unmolested to keep worrying about where that bit of her brain had gone. Did her dog eat it? Was that really cauliflower she was chopping after that big sneeze she did when making soup?

[refitman]

Cheers Sky.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Cheers Sky.

You're welcome.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

[Sky'sGoneOut]