Anna Fazackerley
@annafazack.bsky.social
Education journalist, write for The Observer & The Guardian, keen on walking, wine, kindness, the aptly used expletive. Totally over misogyny and hoping this place is better.
Cornish hero with his maxed out credit card cleaning up Cornwall’s beautiful creeks. #Cornwall #sea #boats #Kernow www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Stern warning: one man’s mission to clear the rotting boats poisoning Cornwall’s creeks
Unwanted vessels left to decay release fibreglass shards into the water, harming marine life. Steve Green – with his trusty van Cecil – is determined to clean things up
theguardian.com
When the world can seem full of selfish men, it was a joy to interview Steve Green for The Guardian. He and his dilapidated camper van Cecil are hauling abandoned yachts out of beautiful Cornish creeks often at his own expense. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Stern warning: one man’s mission to clear the rotting boats poisoning Cornwall’s creeks
Unwanted vessels left to decay release fibreglass shards into the water, harming marine life. Steve Green – with his trusty van Cecil – is determined to clean things up
theguardian.com
"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...
chscp.org.uk
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’
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...
London academy staff instilled ‘climate of fear’ among pupils
Report finds children at Mossbourne Victoria Park traumatised by disciplinary measures ‘designed to humiliate’
theguardian.com
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…
Gjert Moldestad@gjertm.bsky.social · last yr.For noen kan et lite regnbueflagg bety at vi føler oss tryggere. Man ser flagget og tenker; « her kan jeg passe inn» En enkel måte å vite at jeg også blir satt pris på. Veldig fin video Oslo Pride🌈
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.
Ros McMullen@rosmcm.bsky.social · last yr.The HeadteachersRoundtable and Headrest are organisations who understand. Read their joint statement @headsroudtable.bsky.social @headrestuk.bsky.social headteachersroundtable.wordpress.com/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.
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...
headrestuk.co.uk
“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...
‘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
theguardian.com
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...
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
theguardian.com
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
The Alternative Big Consultation (ABC)
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surveymonkey.com
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...
‘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
theguardian.com
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
‘Pupils are in fear every day’: parents raise concerns about new schools run by top UK academy
Emergency meeting called over strictness of discipline at Essex schools run by Mossbourne Federation
theguardian.com
Anna Fazackerley@annafazack.bsky.social · last yr.‘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.
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...
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
theguardian.com
‘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.
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...
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
schoolsweek.co.uk
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...
‘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
theguardian.com
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...
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
theguardian.com
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...
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
theguardian.com
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
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)
Anna Fazackerley@annafazack.bsky.social · 2y agoAn MVPA student told me she hopes in future “children won’t be frightened as I was”. She recalled teacher screaming in line up in her 1st week: “The boy behind me passed out. I was concerned & turned round but was shouted at to turn back. It felt so awful.” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
never thought I’d see the day when unreason would eclipse such obvious scientific self-truths
Philip Bump@pbump.com · 2y agoSometimes you don’t need to do your own research. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
An MVPA student told me she hopes in future “children won’t be frightened as I was”. She recalled teacher screaming in line up in her 1st week: “The boy behind me passed out. I was concerned & turned round but was shouted at to turn back. It felt so awful.” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Top English academy trust faces safeguarding review over ‘emotional abuse’ of pupils
Observer investigation into London school has sparked an inquiry into allegations that teachers harmed mental wellbeing of children
theguardian.com
Acclaimed Mossbourne academy will face extraordinary safeguarding inquiry after The Observer exposed allegations of emotional harm over two decades. Over 200 parents, students, teachers, local GPs & child psychiatrists have now given testimonials about the trust. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Top English academy trust faces safeguarding review over ‘emotional abuse’ of pupils
Observer investigation into London school has sparked an inquiry into allegations that teachers harmed mental wellbeing of children
theguardian.com
I’ve reported on homelessness for years and met many, many people who have found themselves in awful situations Every single one of them had more decency and integrity than this privileged plutocrat
Most heartbreaking of all, it’s the children being let down by a system that’s supposed to support them. This isn’t just unfair on them, it’s unfair on their families, their classmates and their schools. It’s totally unacceptable. We need a different plan, we need investment and we need it now.
As a headteacher, I cannot express the frustration & anger I feel witnessing the daily toll of austerity & poverty. It’s not just the child living in squalor or the parents struggling to keep the lights on- it’s also the dedicated professionals stretched to their limits, trying to do more with less.
