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thehighcliffeguy Profile picture
thehighcliffeguy
@AdamHighcliffe
Personal views on life, Britain, SEND, local politics, the Independent Republic of Highcliffe, and whatever else I get dragged into.
Jun 1 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
A curriculum for everyone?

Reading this blog, I was struck at how there's always a straw man close to any use of the neoconservative phrase 'soft bigotry of low expectations'.
And in this piece it comes right at the start.

A short 🧵. Image There are three critical points to be made in favour of adjustments in the English schools curriculum.
None of them are about refusing to challenge working-class kids.
What's needed, what's been demanded so consistently across England for years, is something else.
⬇️ Image
May 10 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
A shockingly misleading & dangerous piece from @matthewhood on @SchoolsWeek, lobbying for an end to EHCPs.
With Matt Hood's Oak Academy enjoying influence over @educationgovuk thinking, this should worry all parents & teachers.
And worst of all, the piece is just plain wrong.
🧵 Image The misdirection begins at once, describing "the EHCP approach" as "the primary cause of the SEND crisis".
But as every parent & school knows, the crisis isn't caused by a child's individual needs, or the attempts to support them.
It's caused by lack of resources & commitment.
⬇️ Image
May 3 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
Do councillors really run councils?

The answer may surprise you.
The reality will certainly be a shock for Reform, now holding 10 English councils.
And it might also offer a lifebelt to Labour... if it can actually grab it...
🧵 Image The key influence over councils isn't councillors, but central govt.
First, funding.
From 2010-20, real-terms funding of councils by govt was cut by 55%. This led councils to cut staff & services by around £25bn in just 12 years.
Less money coming in = less services going out.
⬇️ Image
Apr 19 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Ofsted's Big Listen.
Did the parent survey show clear parental support for the proposed Report Card grading system?

Short answer? No.
Long answer? 🧵 Image The claim is based on this finding in the parent feedback (see link & chart).
Ofsted says this shows that 76% of parents wanted separate grades for each inspection area.
But... does it really?
Um, nope.
⬇️
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66d06d7f…Image
Mar 19 • 17 tweets • 5 min read
March 20th is exactly 5 years since I picked my son up from school ahead of UK lockdown.
It would be his last day there for 6 months.
What happened next was a betrayal of all our children.
No, I'm not debating Covid, or protesting lockdown.
I'm talking about what came after.
🧵 Image To understand what I mean, you have to see that time through the eyes of a young child.
Imagine a Yr6 girl looking ahead nervously to secondary school.
Or a Yr1 boy like my son was, still near the start of primary.
Or a toddler, adapting to preschool.
And now...
⬇️
Oct 13, 2024 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
There's only one Attendance Contract needed in England's schools right now.

@bphillipsonMP & @educationgovuk, you'd like to crack down on school absence.
Okay.
But first, you need to crack down on the things schools do which stop kids from learning.

Let's take a tour...
🧵 Image Kids can't do class learning if they're not in the class.
So crack down on schools isolating or suspending them for their haircuts or socks, for speaking in the corridor or failing to SLANT.
If you want them in the class, stop schools needlessly removing them from the class. Image
Sep 30, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Followers of the BCP Council saga will recognise this: the first shoots of a Conservative media strategy to convince people they didn't actually trash the finances.
Long-suffering BCP residents have seen this at first hand from controversial ex council leader Phil Broadhead...
🧵 Broadhead's party lost power in BCP's 2023 election, in a crushing, humiliating defeat. This followed 3 years of financial chaos, poor governance, police investigation & criticism by their own Govt.
Yet almost from the start, Broadhead was in denial.
2/4
 bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23681500.…
Sep 28, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Schools from the United Learning group are forcing parents & pupils to sign an Attendance contract with their local school.
The terms include the commitment that kids will attend school "even if you feel unwell".
Parents were informed just yesterday and are said to be furious.
🧵
Image
Image The United letter expects all families to sign up to the "Attendance Pledge". In return, "we will ensure your child has access to quality first teaching".
The parents I've spoken to are angry, and many are refusing to sign.
A revolt could be brewing...
2/ Image
Sep 23, 2024 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Superb citizen journalism here from Alex, as always.
As he reports, a fiery Scrutiny session at BCP Council ended with the local Conservatives' leader Phil Broadhead having his ass publicly handed to him by councillors & officers alike.
But what's going on, and why..?
🧵 For those catching up with the BCP story: Broadhead was the last leader of a scandal-ridden Conservative administration, before losing the 2023 local election in a crushing, humiliating defeat.
But since then he seems to have vowed revenge...
bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23504636.…
Aug 3, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
As rac!st thugs rampage the streets and dominate our screens, don't take your eyes off the conductors of these riots.

The likes of Reform & their spokespeople will never get their hands dirty, but they perform two key roles in tandem with the mob.

A short 🧵 Image The hard-right appears every week on Question Time, and assumes the guise of respectability within politics & media.
But its message is the fuel for the fires burning this week.
Without Farage & others, there'd probably be no riots this week... Image
Jul 8, 2024 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
It's curious to see some #EduTwitter accounts now urging more help for SEND services, after years banging the drum for high-control schools.
There's something they don't seem to grasp, which is painfully clear to many SEND families.
A lot of content here has been anti-SEND.
🧵 You see, the SEND crisis isn't just about money.
The reason many vulnerable kids lose access to education, suffer from poor mental health, experience diminished life opportunities, isn't just about funding.
It's also about the way children are treated & understood at school.
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Jul 6, 2024 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Election aftermath: BCP Council.
One curious local story was the decision of Conservative group leader Phil Broadhead to abandon most of the home campaign & go on a tour of 16 vulnerable Tory seats.
Yet BCP Tories were in 4 tough battles here at the time.
So, how did he do?
🧵 Image The self-styled "Leader of Local Government" visited 16 Conservative constituencies, in his caravan.
He also returned to BCP briefly to leaflet for 4 home seats.

Total score:
Seats: 20
Lost: 18

11 went to Labour, and 7 to LDs.

The 4 home seats? All lost. Poole, by 18 votes.
Feb 4, 2024 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
The collapse of England's councils is bad enough. But there's not enough discussion about what happens next.
This isn't just about budgets, but service cuts, job losses, asset sales, and perhaps the demise of local businesses & economies.
And it will affect every region...
🧵 Image [Reminder: every year, councils have to produce a balanced budget for the year ahead.
If they can't do that, they enter insolvency.
It's an annual challenge, but after 14 years of under-funding, it's never been harder, and many are at breaking point.
Okay, let's move on.]
2/
Jan 4, 2024 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Schools & Safety Valve.
An intriguing meeting yesterday at BCP Council, on the Govt's controversial programme for SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities).
So, what just happened? Tonight's thread looks at the key highlights.
Brace yourselves: this is gonna hurt... 1. The DfE's Safety Valve project is alarming.
As shown last night, it demands savage cuts across a range of SEND services, especially EHCPs, and a major movement of SEND kids from special to mainstream schools.
The aim is reduction of costs.
The effect is reduction of services. Image
Nov 4, 2023 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
How Propaganda Works:
Suella Braverman's attack on homeless people today is possibly her most cruel, contemptuous, irresponsible & deceitful piece of Culture War propaganda yet.
To explain exactly what she's doing here, I've broken down the whole appalling thread.
Buckle in:
1/

Image
Image Tweet 1.
She sides with 'compassionate' Brits. As someone representing them, she implies she's one too.
So, anything she does is out of 'compassion' - for you, and for 'true' homeless people.
This sets the stage for what follows.
2/ Image
Sep 7, 2023 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
BCP Council latest.
A closure of sorts for BCP, as an independent report is revealed at tonight's Audit & Governance Cmtee.
The audit covers the 2021-23 era of former Conservative leaders Drew Mellor & Phil Broadhead, and slams their chaotic time in government.
1/ Image The headlines:
Red flags were raised against BCP's financial management, governance, efficiency & effectiveness.
Auditors found "risks of significant weakness in the Council’s arrangements" in 5 areas.
Leadership & political decision-making during 2021-23 was panned.
2/ Image
Jul 25, 2023 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
Dozens of UK councils face bankruptcy in 2026.
In response, Govt is forcing councils to slash their Special Educational Needs & Disabilities budgets.
The plan won’t work.
And thousands of SEND kids could be needlessly cast adrift as a result.
But there's a simple way out.
🧵
1/ Image How did this crisis arise?
Since 2010, councils have faced two huge pressures.
Core funding from UK Govt is about *half* pre-austerity levels. That noose was tightened by Covid & inflation.
And in 2014 the Children & Families Act set a new statutory duty of care on councils...
2/
May 30, 2023 • 20 tweets • 9 min read
Bournemouth is in trouble.
The centre is in decay, with big brands fleeing, violence hogging the headlines, and boarded-up windows a common sight.
But the legacy plan won’t work. Empty stores aren’t the problem. They’re the symptom.
So what's the answer?
Read on...
1/ Image The business-as-usual approach won't work. The so-called City Vision definitely won't.
Bournemouth needs surgery. The heart has stopped beating.
And that heart is here, in the area around the Square, Westover, Lower Gardens & beachfront.
Solve this, and you save the patient.
2/ Image
May 29, 2023 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
This letter to the Bournemouth Echo struck me as curious.
Why would the writer be clamouring for the Conservatives & Poole Engage to be involved in the new coalition, when they're the ones that left BCP in so much trouble?
Then I did a little research....
1/ It turns out that the writer is a regular in the Echo letters pages.
Only last year she was complaining about the prospect of BCP supporting renewable energy projects...
2/
 bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20742889.…
May 18, 2023 • 20 tweets • 8 min read
So, the #NationalConservative conference is over.
Is #NatC the far-right future? Or the death rattle of a party at war with itself?
Let's take a closer look at what the National Conservative movement says about itself.

WARNING: this thread could make you combust...
1/ Image First, whatever's gone wrong with the UK, it's not the Conservatives' fault.
No, it's Liberals.
The last 13 years of Conservatism? You imagined that.
18 years of Thatcherism? You imagined that too.
UK media dominated by Conservatives? Meh.
Everything is the fault of LIBERALS.
2/ Image
May 16, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
There's been huge criticism of the BBC's ADHD programme, with complaints that it undermines neurodiverse people & their attempts to raise awareness of needs.
But this also comes at a time when Govt is actively *reducing* the number of kids able to access a ND diagnosis...
1/ The Govt has two programmes with local authorities, one voluntary & one compulsory, to reduce their spend on SEND services.
This targets the number of education plans (EHCPs) being approved.
The EHCP sets out the support structure needed by the child.
2/