Simon Knight

if your teenager loses their shit and “recoils in disgust” because somebody who looks different to them interacts with them in public

that’s a hell of an indictment against your parenting

£22.5m boost for after-school clubs to help ‘isolated’ kids PM announces after-school club funding for up to 400 schools to help boost extra-curricular activities as he warns children 'disconnected from communities'

50% of people with a learning disability experience chronic loneliness, a pretty extreme example of being isolated. And yet I wonder how much of this investment is to enable children with learning disabilities to access the same social experiences as their mainstream peers in their own communities.

Online Training: Starting the Conversation - Thomas Pocklington Trust Learn about our free online training for professionals, how it can help you to support blind and partially sighted students, and how to get started!

There's a new, free, online training course helping non-specialist education staff to understand and meet the needs of blind and partially sighted students. The course, from charity, the @pocklington.bsky.social aims to build understanding, confidence, and skills. www.pocklington.org.uk/educa...

Abu Dhabi-owned SEND school firm profits soar to £45m Rise in private special school pupils helped deliver 30 per cent profit boost, company says

Abu Dhabi owned provider of special schools and children's homes sees profits rise by 28% to £44 million due to strong demand.

That's all taxpayer money that could be spent on improving state provision.

schoolsweek.co.uk/abu-dhabi-ow...

A dear friend of mine has recently taken up a role heading up SEND provision in a mainstream secondary. The first thing she did was order Stephen’s book. I agree that school leaders should be reading it.

I think that’s why it is so upsetting to read that section

Even though it’s describing views expressed a hundred years ago, they’re still as believable today and that is chilling

I’m not sure that those views are too far from the surface in contemporary society sadly. It’s why nobody is taking the knee for the learning disabled in the way it has been taken for other groups who are discriminated against.

What a kind and thoughtful thread…

Simon, thank you so much for this lovely thread (absolutely point taken about more on species schools). Do put this on Foyles / Amazon or whatever if you could. And, also, if there’s an opportunity for me to talk about it in your sector, do get in touch. THANK YOU!

It’s a fantastic book

I’m working my way through it but am having to pace myself

Just doing the section on eugenics and it’s heartbreaking - not least how widespread the cheerleading of it was amongst the great and the good

You’re most welcome. And I’ll copy it across in due course. It would be great to catch up at some point, there is so much to think about in terms of how our sector exists in a conflicted position & how that tension can be magnified or mitigated depending on how our responsibilities are discharged.

about that it should be in the staff library of every special school and read by everyone leading our type of provision or thinking about how to improve the SEND education system. We have, in some ways come quite far, but we still have a long way to go as a sector, but also as a society. 4/4

I think that there’s a lot to unpick about how our organisational structures, cultures, curricular ambitions & relationships with our immediate & wider communities both challenge & perpetuate the consequences of segregated provision. But overall this book provides so much for our sector to think 3/4

embracing of diversity within society. It is also hopeful, & a great promoter of the questions we should ask both personally & professionally, particularly for those of us who work with people with learning disabilities. I’d have loved the role of Special schools to have featured a bit more, as 2/4

@stephenunwin.bsky.social ‘s book Beautiful Lives is an extraordinary read, that should be a must for anyone who wants to better understand the roots of systemic intolerance faced by those with learning disabilities and why it still stubbornly persists, despite wider moves towards the broader 1/4

My eldest barely makes it through a song, but then Drake was the same when we saw him, a medley of bit of hits. 🤷‍♂️
Five leaves Left-Nick Drake
Paul’s Boutique-Beastie Boys
Dear Catastrophe Waitress-Belle & Sebastian
Every Valley-Public Service Broadcasting
We are all alone in this together - Dave

#WorldLungCancerDay
If you’re struggling to get your doctor to check you out, maybe show them this campaign video.

Early diagnosis can be life saving.
#AllYouNeedIsLungs

It’s a real issue in North Oxfordshire too, along with littering. The council put up new stickers, but have never seen anyone enforce any of it. The public environment seems to be on a downward trajectory, whether that be by individual responsibility or corporate.

How is that not a Russ Meyer film?

ICYMI:

Letter from Martyn Oliver to the Secretary of State for Justice about Oakhill Secure Training Centre Ofsted's Chief Inspector sets out the intention to invoke the urgent notification process for Oakhill Secure Training Centre, along with findings from recent visits.

When Ofsted is needed, it's really needed... This feels like it should be a big scandal.

Grim, grim reading.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

An image of a mountain in Crete where a bare patch of rock and two naturally occurring bushes have created an image similar to the face of Gonzo from The Muppets

On the mountain behind our hotel is a naturally occurring image of Gonzo. A kind of Muppet Mount Rushmore.

An image of a mountain in Crete where a bare patch of rock and two naturally occurring bushes have created an image similar to the face of Gonzo from The Muppets

On the mountain behind our hotel is a naturally occurring image of Gonzo. A kind of Muppet Mount Rushmore.

image shows the Let me In students and lecturers with their award and post title

NEW POST: Let Me In: How students with disabilities at @treloars.bsky.social College are offering accessibility expertise to transform communities. This is the first of three articles, featuring winners of the @natspec.bsky.social Innovation awards www.specialneedsjungle.com/d...

I’ve been more rocked by the number of people who insist on driving in the middle lane of the motorway.

The booming business of special needs education in England The public spending watchdog warns that the system is becoming ‘financially unsustainable’ for councils

There are a few, but this one might be a good start - www.ft.com/content/fb3d...

Reading the FT’s output on Special schools is interesting when considering it from the point of view of the tension between service and business.

In the interest of balance, higher costs do sometimes reflect the support required by children whose needs cannot be effectively met in state schools, & sometimes reflect inputs, such as health, that for state schools are funded directly by the state. However, this level of profit is uncomfortable.

Abu Dhabi-owned SEND school firm profits soar to £45m Rise in private special school pupils helped deliver 30 per cent profit boost, company says

An excellent piece in @schoolsweek.bsky.social by @cjayanetti.bsky.social with typically on point comment from @captaink77.bsky.social

As someone actually trained in behavioural psychology—unlike most MPs—I can tell you: financial precarity doesn’t “incentivise” sick people to work. It breaks them. Stress worsens health. Fear doesn’t create productivity. It creates collapse. #TakingThePIP