Grading a school is unessecary, parents of the children will know if they are engaged or not – and for the majority who are unaware of this, the children themselves will reveal the quality of the establishment themselves. Inspections are fine if done from a supportive stance – if there is an apparent problem then OFSTED should have powers and resources to help remedy the problem, not just give it a black mark and be self-satisfied. My last head, Dr.Horrible, applied to be an Ofsted Inspector more than once and was rejected as he was basically a bully who wanted to criticise others. Teachers in difficult situations need support, not some jumped up control freak, criticising them, but only offering their own version of how teaching should be done. We all learn in different ways, often by our mistakes – if we are not crushed because of them. Teaching changed during my career, from being an absolute delight, to being dominated by meaningless tables and targets. Where was the target of children enjoying school? Why do teachers want to become administrators? Do they hate children and teachers? Unjust criticism is easy, the support less easy.
Military matters – or does it? There seems to be a ramping up of the supposed threats from Russia. For fucks sake, Russia cannot even defend itself from Ukraine – as yesterdays attack on Moscow showed. Putin might try an incursion against Europe and NATO in an attempt to divert weapons away from Kiev. But a real threat seems very unlikely – so the papers and news channels ar just talking bollocks before a budget. The press are using words like threatens and could to describe possible budget tax increases – basically they have not got a clue.
Apples – my tree has only produced 20/30 apples this year! Maybe next year, or maybe my replacement apricot (the last one died)will do better.