Anna Fazackerley

"If the safeguarding principles of professional curiosity and challenge are lost to the white noise of such a zealot-like approach, we have truly lost our way." Hackney safeguarding chair Jim Gamble lambasts DfE's school behaviour ambassador Tom Bennett. chscp.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Property porn with a difference: two children’s homes for sale, boasting an underlying profit margin of 48% (!!) despite being judged to require improvement to be good’

London academy staff instilled ‘climate of fear’ among pupils Report finds children at Mossbourne Victoria Park traumatised by disciplinary measures ‘designed to humiliate’

This story from yesterday didn't perhaps get the attention it should have. It's utterly shocking. It follows dogged reporting by the Observer (in its pre-sale era), which was repeatedly rejected by the academy federation concerned.

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Thanks Michael. Am so pleased the parents & teachers who were brave enough to speak out have been vindicated. Also reflecting that a govt tsar responded at the time by publicly labelling my investigation “trial by terrible journalism” and “gruesome” (but not because of the harm to children).

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.

The privilege of being straight is that you never have to look for these symbols. You don’t have to wait for someone to clock you or your partner, and wait to see how they’ll react.
It is easy when you’ve had that privilege to eye-roll about symbolism and how unnecessary it feels…

Fierce letter from Headrest & Headteachers Roundtable to the committee who will vet Spielman’s nomination for a peerage. Stark reminder that they had already warned the pressure would cause a death before the tragedy of Ruth Perry’s inspection and suicide. You can download and sign.

Statement opposing Amanda Spielman's peerage Headrest and the Headteachers' Roundtable have written jointly to the Appointments Commission opposing the Conservative Party recommendation that former HMCI Amanda Spielman be awarded a peerage. We o...

We have written to the appointments commission jointly with @headsroundtable.bsky.social opposing the peerage nomination of Amanda Spielman.

We’ve also sent a copy to No 10.

You can download our letter and send it to your MP and the commission as well.

Look out for the @headrestuk.bsky.social petition to put a stop to this.

‘An insult’: Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief at time of Ruth Perry’s suicide, to be given a peerage The nomination by Conservatives of the former chief inspector of schools has been met with outrage by the headteacher’s family, and called ‘obscene’ by school leaders

“Obscene”. “A deliberate insult to every teacher in the country.” Fury as we reveal Tories have nominated Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief when Ruth Perry killed herself after a bruising inspection, for a peerage. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Teenagers excluded from school ‘twice as likely’ to commit serious violence Large-scale analysis of UK police and education records reveals link between expulsion and violence within year

Big new research shows stark link between exclusion & violence. Traced 20,000 excluded kids & matched them with 20k kids of same background, same suspensions - but never kicked out. Excluded ones twice as likely to commit serious violence within a year. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

The Alternative Big Consultation (ABC) Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

I’m still hearing awful reports of brutal inspections, broken heads, after which Ofsted dismisses complaints. Don’t let them mark their own homework again. Will the new inspection proposals sort the big problems? Respond to the alternative consultation here now - www.surveymonkey.com/r/LQ7KG25

‘I’ve lost my work and been ostracised’: Oxford University accused of failing to act after ruling on ‘sham’ contracts Despite winning a landmark legal battle, academic Alice Jolly believes it won’t benefit others

Brave @alicejolly.bsky.social speaks out on Oxford Uni brushing her court win on “sham” contracts under carpet. “They compared our work to security guards & cleaners, I kept thinking: ‘Yes, those people have no chance of fighting the gig economy, but we do.’”
www.theguardian.com/education/20...

The tyrannical practices continue to be horrifying. @annafazack.bsky.social’s reporting continues to be unflinching and vital — what those pupils & parents mustn’t go through thinking they wouldn’t be heard and then have a journalist actually listen & show it is atrocious

Inside the London reception class where kids are taught to talk to help them stay out of gangs A new initiative aims to improve communication, as as pupils lacking speech and language skills more likely to be excluded and caught up in violence

Two thirds of kids at risk of exclusion have issues communicating. As do 60 per cent of young offenders. I loved visiting Rushey Green primary in Lewisham which is rewriting the story for half of their reception children who couldn’t talk when they got to school. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

‘Pupils are in fear every day’. Parents raise alarm at Essex schools taken over by Mossbourne before inquiry into allegations of emotional abuse launched. One secondary boy wet himself in front of class after toilet refused. Left in wet clothes all day. Disturbingly familiar allegations.

Let's get a sense of proportion about the schools bill Its provisions are as mild as they are necessary, and they don't even begin to challenge our underlying problem

Excellent piece. @jonnyuttley.bsky.social telling it how it is on the big questions being drowned out by all the ranting on the schools bill. (spoiler: the big stuff isn’t about why cheap trousers may end the world.) schoolsweek.co.uk/political-po...

‘I can’t sleep, I’m terrified’: the rise in mothers having their babies taken away within days of giving birth in England Charity finds ‘inhumane’ system is forcing women to defend themselves in court, sometimes from their hospital beds, while in fear of having their newborn child taken from them

Last week I watched as a mum who’d just given birth appeared in court, in hospital,via a laptop, fighting to stop her baby being taken into care. 3,000 newborns were in similar care proceedings in 22-3. Mums go home alone with no support. A brutal system. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Schools ‘need more help’ to tackle rising number of sexual assaults by pupils Charities say better guidance is needed over increasing number of sexual assaults in UK primary schools

Rape Crisis says schools need better advice on how to handle sexual abuse between pupils - incl at primary school. A mum whose scared 8 yr old disclosed rape told by head it was “relationship difficulties”. “I said ‘That isn’t what this is. It’s sexual assault.’” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Tony Slattery: ‘I had a very happy time until I went slightly barmy’ His appearances on Whose Line Is It Anyway? made him a major comedy and improv star in the 90s, but then his life fell apart. He talks about love, addiction, bipolar disorder and a long-buried secret

Lots of lovely tributes to the brilliant Tony Slattery. But I’d recommend revisiting this heartbreakingly human interview from 2019. Though I warn you it will make you cry messily. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Love how casual he is about bathing in the midst of the sparkly stuff.

This made me laugh for a long time. Sound on. Just lovely.

What shop could conjure up something so cute. I also predict you’ll still have it next year when the Christmas socks have holes in.

This would amount to a massive tax cut for the highest paid people in Britain, paid for by higher taxes for low earners and big cuts to public services

Oh I’m so glad. A very telling story and so pleased you had a happy ending.

To be fair a lot of parents had tried raising complaints. Calmly but persistently. The school banned some of them from the premises.

So sorry to hear this. Was this at MVPA or just a similar school?

At this trust I’ve now read more than 15 accounts of secondary children wetting or soiling themselves or menstruating through their clothes as they weren’t allowed to go to the toilet or too scared to ask. Also accounts of kids who stopped eating & drinking as that scared them.

So take this specific incident.
Do those defending the school think this is acceptable? That it didn't happen? That the person reporting it is misremembering? Lying? Just too sensitive?
I'd like to know. Not just bland "This school cares for its students & wants the best for them" (not direct quote)

never thought I’d see the day when unreason would eclipse such obvious scientific self-truths