John Cosgrove

Reading the curriculum and assessment review. Very interesting, and will offer longer thoughts when through. But reflecting on lack of mention, at least at the start, for the copious concerning evidence we have on pupil wellbeing/engagement,+lack of a parent or pupil representation on review panel.

And on the proposals for mathematics...

I would love to welcome the new commitment to enrichment. Our schools, our curriculum, our children need enrichment BUT...

ALWAYS WITH THE JUDGING!

More and more new ways to fail create nothing but resentment, stress and low morale. They improve nothing.

SEND Reform: It’s not (just) about the money… Another day, another article about how the cost of provision for pupils with special needs (SEND) is bankrupting the country. This morning (Friday 31st October 2025) I read in the Guardian about a …

An excellent article helping to explain the important detail... But please let's remember: "It's not (just) about the money".

johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/11/02/s...

Thank you Helen.

I enjoyed this. Thank you @drpam.bsky.social

Thank you Pam.

Thank you Kathryn.

They were - and Sure Start's abolition came despite promises that it would be protected.

@johncosgrove.bsky.social manages to press many buttons in this very detailed and evidenced blog. Like John, I'm not sure that @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social has a strong grasp of the realities of inclusion. "Culture change" needs a mindset change; it's a principle, not just a word.

Thank you Chris. I am still hoping for that genuine change of mindset ...

Thank you Jenny. I agree.

SEND Reform: It’s not (just) about the money… Another day, another article about how the cost of provision for pupils with special needs (SEND) is bankrupting the country. This morning (Friday 31st October 2025) I read in the Guardian about a …

NEW BLOG POST: SEND Reform - It's not (just) about the money...

There is no amount of funding which can “put things right” because a rotten system can never be “right”.

johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/11/02/s...

Sadly true

Keir Starmer tries to look tough - and exposes himself as a coward The government's immigration policy is in desperate need of a bold change in direction.

3 things Starmer could do instead of camps in old barracks that would actually WORK👇

1. Create safe, regulated routes to apply for asylum in the UK

2. Let asylum seekers WORK & support themselves

3. Fast track status for people from obviously unsafe countries
metro.co.uk/2025/10/29/k...

An article by Amanda Spielman in The Spectator (editor M Gove) about a report authored by former DfE permanent secretary, Jonathan Slater, prompts the question: how did anyone with so little insight, understanding, humanityor even common sense ever get to be HMCI?

Beautiful.

From Private Eye... It amused me.

At a push Taunton or Gordano. Definitely not Bridgwater or Sedgemoor.

It's a nice idea but sadly Newton didn't invent the catflap and there's no evidence he ever owned a cat.

(Though my dad told me this urban legend, with the embellishment of a second hole for a kitten, some time in the 1960s and I believed it for years.)

Time to Think Again on Attendance At the start of this month, Bridget Phillipson made a speech to school leaders from the Midlands, about what she called her “mission” to improve attendance. This is what motivates her, she declared…

150 New Zealanders have accessed my blog this week. Their interest is in this post from June about attendance. Do the references to Phillipson, Keegan, De Souza, Gove et al... resonate in NZ? Maybe I need to keep the global audience actively in mind.

johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/06/28/t...

Mrs C's favourite pasties... 🙂 (I am less discerning.)

The walk that never fails to deliver... the soothing sounds of wind and sea... the view that for me sums up the privilege of living in West Cornwall.

Loving Camilla's "gothic hedgehog" costume for the Pope's fancy dress ball but, frankly, Charles could have tried harder.

Wonderful Tremenheere Sculpture Park this morning (currently half price for locals) with the Mount rising in ethereal splendour from the silver waters of the Bay.

Another Reform councillor ditches the party in Cornwall After another quitter, Reform UK is no longer the largest political group on Cornwall Council, less than six months after the election

And another one, she probably thinks they're too left wing.
It's believed another 4 are ready to jump ship.

TRA: NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE The teacher put on a red wig, sunglasses and a surgical mask. She hid her carving knife in a bunch of flowers and when the door was opened in response to her ring on the bell, she stabbed and slash…

Delighted to see @privateeyenews.bsky.social has published 2 items in a few weeks about how awful the TRA is (p50 current issue). Here's hoping they keep up the good work. Last year I wrote about why the TRA needs root and branch reform.
johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2024/08/18/t...

So much to say about the 90% phonics target. Most of it is about the ridiculousness of it.

We have been 90% and 92% the last two years before that with a very SEND heavy year 1 we were 70%, before that we were 84%. Nothing to do with teaching and everything to do with cohort…

Banks step up lobbying over threat of Reeves tax hikes The gap between the tax burden on British banks and their international rivals is widening, even before the imposition of any further levies in next month's budget, according to a report seen by Sky N...

UK banks oppose tax rise.

Falsely claim to be paying 46.4% tax rate.

The PwC generated number includes PAYE, employee national insurance which is paid by workers. VAT which is borne by customers.

it is extrapolated from a sample, can't be verified

Why do media reports not expose this sham claim?

Ofsted 'transparent' despite withholding reform feedback 'We set out really clearly the negativity that we heard,' says Oliver

Christine Gilbert says Ofsted’s new complaints process is “far better” than it used to be. “You can talk to a body, a person.” That's been the case for years; it's not the point. Waiting more months for a possible independent complaints process is not good enough.
schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-claim...