Michaela #1...again???? Good results, loved by parents, can't have that!
Katherine Birbalsingh's Michaela Free School is yet again the top-performing secondary. Why this matters, and tells you what you need to know about Bridget Phillipson
I’ve written favourably before here about Birbalsingh, “Britain’s Strictest Headmistress” and her Michaela Free School. Today, Michaela has the best “Progress 8” scores in the country, for a third year in a row.
There are ~4,000 state secondary schools. If Progress 8 outcomes were random:
the probability of coming top twice would be 1 in 16 million.
the probability of coming top three times would be 1 in 64 billion.
Clearly, it’s not random, it’s sticky from year to year. The worst-performing school this year is not going to be the best next year. But even assuming it was only possible for last year’s top 10 to be this year’s winner…the odds of Michaela’s hat-trick would still be 1 in a thousand.
There’s something going on here…the others aren’t even close. The extent of the “something” also comes out of this chart:
As Nick Timothy writes here it would be nice if the Education Secretary could find a few words of praise for Miss Snuffy:
It would be fantastic to hear Bridget Phillipson MP congratulate Michaela for its status as the best school in the country - and endorse its approach to curriculum, discipline and pedagogy, and the free school model that made it all possible.
And here’s what Tom Bennett wrote:
Before Michaela opened: IT WILL NEVER OPEN ; Once Michaela opened: IT WILL NEVER WORK ; Once Michaela posts incredible results: IT WILL NEVER LAST ; Once Michaela smashes the barrier of what is humanly possible for several years in a row:
THE WAY WE ASSESS SCHOOLS IS INVALID, IT SHOULD BE BASED ON HUGS & VIBES
Quite
Why won’t Phillipson visit, acknowledge or learn from Michaela?
Many progressives give Miss Snuffy a hard time for her emphasis on discipline, because discipline is fascism y’see. On that basis, every high-performing military outfit, sports team, orchestra or start-up in history was basically colonial-fascist-transphobe-racist-checkyourprivilege…..word salad. The rest of us, quite glad to win the war / the world championship / enjoy sublime Mahler / own shares in a unicorn…?completely beside the point.
Show them excellence and they see only inequality. Off with the heads of the tall poppies.
Likewise, the fact parents really, really like Michaela. So much so that she’s seen a stream of independent school families paying her a visit, and it’s not just out of curiosity. Besides the point.
It’s impossible for progressive educationists to imagine a road starting with discipline, through self-discipline, to community, engagement, self-worth and self-awareness, and finally excellence. It’s impossible to consider that the road to excellence is paved with manners, consistency, high standards, and ambition. Must stick to the other famous road, the one paved with good intentions. It’s irrelevant that Birbalsingh’s self-described small-c conservative approach delivers results, and is exactly what parents want. Besides the point.
Isn’t it better (they think) to allow children to express themselves? If they kick off in the corridor, to trust them to learn for themselves with just a mild reprimand…no need for any of that punishment stuff. If that means heaps of disruption for teachers and other kids….that’s quite beside the point also.
Why does it matter so much?
Mostly, I write about independent schools, but what Education Not Taxation (in which I’m involved) really cares about is simply…good schools, where what is “good” can and does vary according to different families’ and kids’ needs.
If you cared about education and actually making state schools work better, you’d make 10,000 Birbalsingh clones. Or rather, you’d make it easier for Michaela to multiply if that’s what parents choose.
Instead, Labour’s determination to clamp down on free schools and force more schools into centralised control, is as much a feature of their education philosophy as the Education Tax. Anyone thinking Bridget Phillipson will improve state schools, in ways parents care about, isn’t paying attention.