WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR OF BET

Welcome to the third term of this academic year. I write this over the weekend when King Charles III has been crowned. The overall ceremonial was more restrained than that for his mother Queen Elizabeth II (which I can just remember!), but nevertheless still impressive. Here in the UK we do pomp and ceremony extremely well, hence the huge numbers of foreign tourists! I am somewhat ambivalent about royalty (and republicanism), yet I can enjoy the pageantry of thousands of personnel marching with precision in perfect time with their bands. Adding in the age-old ceremony of the Coronation itself in the thousand-year-old setting of Westminster Cathedral mad for a memorable event. No doubt many of you will have had the opportunity to participate in local street parties, hopefully in reasonable weather! We all need a bit of cheer to counteract the gloom of last winter and the current wave of industrial disputes.

Many of you may be aware of the distressing consequences of the one-word Inadequate for a headteacher in Reading, following a recent Ofsted inspection. The new HMCI, once recruited, will wish to review the absolutism of single word descriptors which can’t ever accurately encapsulate the complexities of schools. Whilst I accept that independent quality assurance is important in education as in many other areas of activity, I would welcome consideration of reform.

I know I speak to the converted when I say that these days the teaching profession is under-appreciated. When I was growing up, teachers were highly respected and regarded in the same category as solicitors and doctors. Society has deteriorated to the point that parents are quite prepared to abuse, and occasionally to assault physically, their child’s teacher for some perceived-excessive disciplinary issue, yet are not prepared to discipline their child themselves. Teachers have become under-valued, as demonstrated by the national pay-scales. I worry about the long-term national impact on the current Year 11, who have missed so much teaching over the last 3 years, due to Covid and then the strikes. Whilst I do not condone the current strikes, I do understand the reasons why they are taking place. Hopefully, the Government and the Unions will reach a sensible agreement in the very near future.

Nevertheless, we in BET do work hard to recognise and, as far as possible, to reward our staff for their dedication and to recognise individual colleagues, teams and schools who have demonstrated excellence in their work. The BET Awards this year was held at Old Thorns in April, and was attended by more staff than ever before. Due to a long-standing prior engagement, I was unable to attend the event this year. My fellow-Trustee Professor Steve Wood was an excellent substitute at what was a very enjoyable evening. The selection panel had the difficult job of selecting the winners from over 300 nominations by colleagues.

In the middle of March, I had the privilege of attending a performance of High School Musical at the Theatre Royal in Portsmouth. This was a TPS production, involving over 100 students from Years 7 to 11, and was highly professional and very enjoyable. I was blown away by the high standard of the many individual performances, singing, dancing and acting. Well done to all involved.

The following week, Mark Marande, Principal of TPS, was called to give evidence to the House of Lords Education Committee, which is enquiring into the skills our young people will need for the digital and green economy. The Committee was interested to learn about BET’s innovative outdoor education curriculum, our focus on interdisciplinary learning and the future of GCSE assessments.