Caroline Derbyshire
Former MAT leader.Now working in mentoring and school improvement.
- The first image may not be the best photo, but it was the best experience because we saw that koala in the wild. Being authentic matters far more than striking the right pose.
- None of us really knows what has and has not been said and agreed by Starmer and Burnham and most of what I read is speculation, but I do know that if I was Starmer I would have tried to make a pact and have him as my ‘in the tent’ succession plan. Perhaps Burnham would not wait for that. Who knows.
- I never had a Gap Year adventure, going straight from school to Cambridge and then into teaching. So I promised myself we would do it when I stepped away from being a school leader. So here I am in Singapore on a Wednesday in term time. Cheers!
- Whizzing up to the North East to see relatives at this time of year invariably involves a trip to NandonThai in Durham. Almost a tradition.
- Today a knock on the door. It was our new neighbours with a gift. We’ve become alarmed at knocks following the abuse we received for taking down flags in our village. Our neighbours are immigrants. Their response is significant and why we took action. Everyone is our neighbour. Merry Christmas!
- I have just heard Lucy Powell describe Farage as the love child of Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher. Spot on.
- Chris Mason should be sacked. He epitomises everything that needs sorting out at the BBC. I am So bored of his predictable nonsense.
- The only people I know who live in mansions worth £2 million live in London. None of them made the money to buy these houses through paid employment. There’s an awful lot of rich people moaning at a time when we should be hoping that the poorest in our communities can now live without Food Banks.
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- Nowadays we play ‘People Watching’ as we travel under the Tyne Tunnel to Cullercoats. Back in the day it was always Dire Straits and ‘Tunnel of Love’. Matching the soundtrack to the journey is one of my eccentric habits. Does anyone else do this?
- The BBC One Show does a great job with the National Teaching Awards. It always brings a tear to my eye to hear people on television presenting a positive image of the profession because we are so used to seeing quite the opposite in TV dramas.
- Taxing mansions? Yep I agree Encouraging investment? Yep I agree Raising living and minimum wages? Yep I agree Lifting 2 child benefit? Yep, I agree. Well done on lots of fronts. Now sort out the out-Faraging Farage when discussing immigration.
- Reposted by Caroline DerbyshireIf multiple people can remember someone being horribly racist, even by the appalling low bar of the racist 1970s, that is entirely noteworthy. As an adult Farage fanboyed Enoch Powell - the most infamous racist of the 1960s - and long cited him as his political hero. And that's noteworthy too.
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- There has been so much disinformation about the budget floating about for weeks now from the likes of The Telegraph. What on earth will they fabricate or falsely speculate over once tomorrow has come? Perhaps they might like to do some good old-fashioned news reporting instead.
- So while I was worrying about the sick children who had returned from a ski trip to Italy in February 2020 and wondering whether they had this scary Covid thing and what to do about it, Johnson was living out a Great Escape fantasy on his motorbike toy and having some days off. Never forget!
- Polanski went to private school, Farage went to private school, Badenoch went to private school. You can either conclude that their education gave them special agency and/or you can argue that they should not be trusted with any decisions over our state education system.
- Today at The Comprehensive Futures AGM we heard about the devastating impact on self-belief that failing the 11+ has on young children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Why does selection at 11 still happen in English state schools? It makes a mockery of the idea of inclusion.
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- I tend to agree. The Government has my support on many things, but its approach to immigration is not helpful and is disillusioning its voting base amongst those in the public services.
- We took the third set of flags down that had been put up in our village. We went in daylight, openly, chatting as we went to so many supportive people. We were thanked and bought cookies in thanks from the village cafe.
- The Lee Miller exhibition at Tate Britain has the lot: glamour, wit, play, brutal honesty, important exposure of brutality and a celebration of the efforts of women in war. I thoroughly recommend it as an antidote to jingoism and shallow but performative remembrance.
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[Not loaded yet] - So presumably all of the women are going to riot now that it has been confirmed that once more some blokes have committed a horrible violent crime. Wait….
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- The Rachel Reeves rent thing is just not a story. Yawn.
- Thoughts with the lovely Sam West and his family today. To lose both parents in the space of a year had quite an impact of me. Imagine how much more painful when they are Timothy West and Prunella Scales and their faces are everywhere you look.
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- Big fan of Gordon Brown too! These two have a fair bit in common.
- Nigel is still smarting because his teacher called him out for singing Nazi songs in the street. Diddums.
- If you are a member don’t forget to vote for the next Deputy PM. I like both Lucy and Bridget but I have worked with @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social and I know how strong and personally fierce her commitment to social justice is, so she got my vote.
- I would have happily seen the demise of The Conservative Party when they were in government, but the way in which a far right party like Reform has crowded into their opposition space is not the outcome I had hoped for. Be careful what you wish for.
- “Yet another colleague (from his school) described how, at a camp organised by the college, Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler Youth songs.” Reform can deny it all they like, but the reliable source is the teacher. Don’t back down David.
- When discussions are had about whether it was right to close schools during the pandemic, I hope that it is remembered that school colleagues died of COVID when schools were open and that employees in school were not prioritised for vaccination. I never understood that decision.
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- Civil War in Sudan resulting in 75 killed in a mosque, more dead following Putin’s attacks on Ukraine, mass killings in Gaza and now murders in Manchester. Sometimes it does not feel that human beings have evolved sufficiently. #HopeNotHate
- I want this to be a succession strategy not a schism. Own the need for a ten year plan and control the narrative. That strategy would, of course, include evolving leadership to meet the needs of each stage.
- I don’t particularly enjoy watching golf on television. But The Ryder Cup victory wasn’t golf. It became politics. And we won the argument.
- Whoop! I wonder how many of those obsessed with England flags have been watching! Wait….they haven’t have they.
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