Dr Ruth Smith

Has Bridget Phillipson heard about the ripple tank experiment? And that it can be done on phones apparently without incident? 📵 #ASEchat #uksciteach

I think it's lazy politics. Society is stronger when the people are educated. But even a 400+ Labour parliament won't try to invest properly in education. The government pays more than people think, picking up the loans tab, but not enough to keep unis afloat and thriving.

The fact they shafted fees on to those who were 17 in May 1997 stayed with me. That and Iraq made me a Lib Dem when I first wanted to join a party. But the Coalition made me see through them. I am a Labour member and councillor. I think Labour values should lead to state funded higher education.

Rachel Reeves went to uni in the last year that didn't have to pay tuition fees. I am 8 months younger and went in the first year of Blair's fees, 1998, with £1000 upfront fees. She has the luxury of ignorance when she says that fees are fair and reasonable. Only from where she is standing.

Heavens, they might actually understand it if we did that.
But yes, it is powerful. I am seeing more students do A level chem from combined science when we teach it in all its glory rather than dumbing it down somewhat.

"No one told me I had to remember it", a Y11 once told me of acids and alkalis when I said you should know them from Y7. Then yesterday, my Y10s were shocked when I quizzed them on the list of acid +... rxns for the nth time and said they need to remember the general equations. That sort of thing?

Haha. There was that time at a ResearchEd panel long ago that I asked Sean H about cut and paste instances I had seen very locally where the paragraph was not even relevant to the school. Vehement denial.

And has anyone in the DfE defined social media yet?

They might get up to all sorts of well documented things, many more risky than social media. That's why schools don't send the most vulnerable students home when suspended. But are we saying parenting is so beyond repair that we can't send any students to their home environments?

Do not always send suspended students home, government tells schools Changes to England's school system say on-site suspensions should be used for non-violent behaviour.

They might "retreat to social media" says Ed Sec. It's the social media bogeyman again, held up to distract from failure to address child poverty, inequality and proper funding of public services.

BBCDo not always send suspended students home, government tells schools
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I am thinking Germ Theory, Alien Life (AS) or Brain Chemistry or Climate Science (A2) for an academic enrichment series. I have the books I just only ever did it with sixth formers.

#ASEchat #Sciteachuk
Hello to science teachers with long memories. Who remembers using Science in Society AS or A level units for extension with Y9? I can't find anything about that online any more. Did any of you do it? Which units?

So it is!

Here's what teachers responded yesterday on teachertapp.co.uk
The extra £1000 per pupil is 3rd place. People have forgotten what education is like with more money in the system Remember HLTAs for small groups, being allowed out for trips, student planners, actual Pritt sticks, KIT days, supply?

‘Everything is worse since Drax came here’: US residents say wood-pellet plant harming their town Residents of Gloster, Mississippi, are suing plant that exports wood pellets to UK and Europe. Company says it is reducing emissions

Drax is such a polluter.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

If 50% of teachers have not dealt with a misogynistic incident this week, 50% of teachers have not been paying attention.

Here's what teachers responded yesterday on teachertapp.co.uk

Imagine if Streeting had an NHS flag on a pole behind him on the news rather than a union flag.
The NHS needs a champion not a populist.

On Channel 4 news, there's a worried GP wearing a surgical mask to see patients, such is the damage that was done to public understanding of masking during the COVID pandemic. Even GPs are not informed . She needs a close-fitting FFP2/N95.

We could listen to you for another hour! Thanks so much to The Very Reverend Sally Foster-Fulton #ForGood25 #SocialJustice #JPIT

I am super excited to be going to the For Goodness Sake @publicissues.bsky.social conference in Derby tomorrow.

Home | Bridging Divides | British Red Cross Bridging Divides is a free five-week week video series by the British Red Cross to help you have difficult conversations around divisive topics.

A few offerings:
Bridging Divides by The Red Cross
www.bridgingdivides.org.uk
Resources from the Refugee Council about having difficult conversations
refugee-council.yourmovement.org/p/a-little-k...
The UCL Disagreeing Well resources (I've trained councillors w these)
www.ucl.ac.uk/about/disagr...

Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t

Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).

And I will add: I also know many of the do-ers - those doing the work of caring and supporting but not writing about it. ❤️

Yes! That's my mayor! So lucky to be working with a mayor with such heart and professional experience.
Andy Bailey piece at @labourlist.bsky.social
labourlist.org/2025/09/refu...

Email from CND pointed out that the announcement of intention to buy nuclear-bomb-capable jets was not discussed in parliament and, if implemented, breaks the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

It's the age old trope of evil targeting all that is dearest to God - life, lives, breath, image-bearers, truth, peace, love...
As R.E.M. sang, of a milder government, "wrecking all things virtuous and true".

I am trying to find the right characterisation of the evil motif at play - whereby Cruz talks of "blessing" in the context of bombing people, just as Trump goes on about "peace" then threatens the unspeakable. Even Carlson can sort of see it.

It's John Finnemore's Farenheit vs Celsius day - a highlight of the teaching calendar. Y12s are embarking on thermal physics, beyond AS level, and are ready to be initiated to the finer things. Thank you @johnfinnemore.bsky.social

Society may have overestimated risk of the ‘manosphere’, UK researchers say Many who engage are ‘discriminating and value-driven’, with a minority consuming ‘extremely misogynistic content’, study for Ofcom suggests

Sample size 38 adult volunteers.
Author man.
Stand down everyone.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Pupils to enjoy extra time off as schools close early for Oasis shows Up to 80,000 music fans are expected to attend each of the five concerts at Heaton Park in July

The school I went to is wisely letting the pupils out well ahead of any Oasis soundcheck and fans. I remember the Euro 96 campsite at the park during my GCSEs, and camping there myself for Message 2000 Soul Survivor. #Blur

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...