John Cosgrove
Husband, father, grandfather, writer and retired teacher.
I blog at johncosgrove55.wordpress.com
Visit my Amazon Author page here: amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B001K…
- The DfE has acted on school exclusions for trivial reasons and served notice that internal exclusion must be "a short, structured intervention with meaningful learning." Some of us have argued for years that schools too quick to exclude harm pupils. johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/t...
- Just making coffee. Sparks flew from the milk frother which then died. So I got the old one from the back of the cupboard... and stopped. Hang on! What have I become? Who owns a BACK UP milk frother? 😱
- Frightening.
- 🔴A Year of Living Dangerously in Trump’s America I no longer feel safe to speak or act freely in a country where people are being arbitrarily detained and killed and where the truth is becoming whatever Donald Trump says it is, reports @alexhh.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/01/15/a...
- Company providing residential care for young people makes £157,000 profit for every youngster. (From Private Eye.)
- Reposted by John CosgroveMake it viral.
- Reposted by John CosgroveForensic analysis of objective video evidence. This is how you serve readers searching for clarity.
- "My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky..." On the first day of the New Year, an auspicious sight on the Helford: according to The Bible, a sign of God's promise that things will get better.
- Reposted by John Cosgrove‘The best and most successful schools have a coherence that flows from the implementation of their basic philosophy, it doesn’t come about by accident’ @johncosgrove.bsky.social in @raesnape.bsky.social The Headteacher’s Handbook
- Short 🧵 2 cases from the Teaching Regulation Agency last Friday. First, HT ZZZ of [REDACTED], banned from teaching for malicious emails to staff and placing pupils at risk by illegal exclusions. With no explanation, his name, whereabouts and the date are all concealed. (continues)
- 2) A teacher not banned after being found guilty in a court of law of “assaulting a child by beating.” He admitted the offence, which was “not a momentary lapse in judgment [but] a sustained loss of control [and] lasted approximately eight minutes.” (continues)
- 3) Why no ban? Two reasons: the teacher “expressed what the panel accepted to be sincere and genuine remorse for his actions.” (ZZZ, by contrast, apologised in a way that “was self-serving and did not show the level of insight the panel would expect.) (continues)
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View full thread5) Pupils, parents, society and not least teachers themselves, deserve a teaching profession properly regulated by an appropriate process. The TRA is a failing institution and should be scrapped. (As I wrote in this blog first published in 2024.) (Ends) johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2024/08/18/t...
- The TRA names and shames those it finds guilty. "Teacher ZZZ" of "REDACTED" must feel very humiliated and the 19 people whose details HAVE been published so far this month must be full of admiration for the TRA's fairness. (Here's a blog I wrote earlier.) johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2024/08/18/t...
- It's pouring with rain. There are 2 buckets catching drips from a leaky roof, just in front of the Reception desk at the GP surgery. "We'll have to be careful we don't kick the bucket while we're waiting," I joked to the woman in the queue in front of me. She didn't have a clue what I meant.
- I do like this.
- Leaders of a Catholic church in Massachusetts kept a Nativity display with an anti-ICE message in place on Monday, defying an order from the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to remove it. The display shows Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus missing, replaced by a sign reading “ICE WAS HERE.” trib.al/adPW46y
- To be honest, there isn't much to laugh at in politics today so Michael Glasheen, who is apparently in charge of anti-terrorism at the FBI Comedy Club, deserves our thanks. He is hilarious.
- In 2023 Ofsted rated Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy Outstanding in all areas. This week it suddenly discovers the "inflexible" behaviour policies, which it has encouraged and praised for years, harm children - as many of us have repeatedly pointed out. This dreadful organisation needs to go. NOW.
- A simple 8 word headline to remind us all that, yes, The Spectator really is as bad as you might expect for a periodical once edited by Boris Johnson and now under the stewardship of a certain Michael Gove.
- What a delightful headline to wake up to on a December morning.
- Anne Longfield has been announced as chair of the Inquiry into Grooming Gangs. Far more important than the identity of the Chair is what happens with the inquiry's recommendations. Will they be ignored, as so often in the past? johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/01/26/i...
- Reposted by John CosgroveIt depends on how one is measuring ‘success.’ Because this is what we are currently dealing with. Pat McFadden, SoS for Work and Pensions expressed concern over this state of affairs at the weekend. I would suggest the government put all the factors together and respond cohesively. #EduSky
- Reposted by John CosgroveNorthern Ireland is a fantasy land, far far far away from the reality in which Kemi Badenoch inhabits
- Reposted by John CosgroveFriends of @wombat37.bsky.social unite! By quote reposting this, I’m hoping to make a virtual chain of people around Wombie. Full of love and happy memories of this great friend of ours, so he can feel us making a huge circle of love and care around him. Are you in? #CirleofLoveForWombie
- If you want to know what's going really badly wrong with SEND (and much else in education) in England, just note that the Gove -Gibbs -Wilshaw -Spielman -Oliver falsehood that the "best" schools are those with the "best" academic outcomes has been accepted as fact by our media.
- Congratulations to the fabulous Dorothy Lepkowska and welcome "SENDsationalfutures" a new magazine-website which launches this week with news, views and information about the SEND sector aimed at professionals and families. Check it out at: sendsationalfutures.com
- All this froth and indignation about Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer "lying" ought to remind us of how the press unfailingly called out Boris Johnson's apparent inability to ever tell the truth. Strangely, I can't bring up those memories or recall the headlines. Can you?
- Reposted by John Cosgrove‘Children with SEND just have to survive school.’ How have we got here, #EduSky? And what are we (urgently) going to do about it? All of these children featured should be able to have their needs met, and thrive in mainstream state education.
- Reposted by John CosgroveToday we’ll get latest net immigration figures - They’ll show immigration for work is plummeting. Why is this not part of the discussion on Rachel Reeves balancing her books & stalled growth? For every 100,000 drop in net immigration, the OBR adds £7bn to the deficit. #r4today
- Reposted by John CosgroveBy far the best analysis I’ve seen.
- Excellent, insightful article: thank you TES and @mmulholland.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/ana...
- Martyn Oliver says he wants school leaders "to feel comfortable and motivated... not anxious but energised" by this term's changes to Ofsted inspections. If that's really what he wants he should have brought in sensible, serious reforms... johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/09/12/o...
- Reposted by John CosgroveI don’t like to say ‘I told them so,’ but I will, because it might help stop it all happening all over again. #CovidInquiry
- Reposted by John CosgroveA whole nation betrayed for a second time by its feckless ‘oven ready Brexit’ government. And still, no individuals have ever taken sufficient responsibility for any of this. #CovidInquiry #FBPE @bylinetimes.bsky.social @yorkshirebylines.co.uk @bylinesnetwork.co.uk
- So, I posted about this before, but now I would like to know which cabinet member approved spending £6m to place children in danger, and who sits on the committee that nodded it through? £6m is not an officer's decision. www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwal...
- Reposted by John CosgroveNot in my name, Starmer.
- Reposted by John CosgroveLabour’s “we have to do it, or racism will get worse” argument is striking. Any other public policy failures British ethnic minorities should be on the hook for? Can we be blamed en bloc for Rachel Reeves’ budget next week too? www.ft.com/content/37b0...
- Well done Mr Tice. You win today's prize for: "ignorant and proud of it." search.app/PRvyL
