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Strictest head has lesson for schools

ALAN STACKMAN, Calne, Wilts.

HEADMISTRESS Katharine Birbalsingh and her admirable staff at london’s Michaela Community School have shown how inculcating discipline, ambition and moral values can give a great future to children from a disadvantaged background. her commandments are that adults must have authority, gratitude needs to be taught, and don’t indulge in victim mentality. The well-behaved pupils at her school benefit from disciplined learning. Those growing up surrounded by drugs, stabbings and bullying need a teacher such as Mrs Birbalsingh. As well as encouragement, she is prepared to use punishment when necessary to push her pupils to achieve their full potential. Some people have condemned her as a deluded pedagogue, but the proof of her methods can be seen in exam results and the life achievements of her pupils. The fact that the children hand over their smartphones to their teachers to be locked away at exam time should be counted as a minor miracle.

ANAND DESHPANDE,

Westhoughton, Lancs.

THE snowflakes and lefties must be melting with rage after watching

Katharine Birbalsingh in the TV documentary Britain’s Strictest headmistress. She has come under fire for running a ‘prison’, not a school, and using outdated methods, such as receiving a detention for forgetting a rubber or second pencil and a no-talking rule in the school corridors. I can only praise her for subscribing to teaching practices that stop bullying and ensure her pupils grow up to become better people. Why can’t all schools copy her model where manners, respect and gratitude are equally as important as education?

ASHLEY SMITH, March, Cambs. BRITAIN’S Strictest headmistress reminded me of my schooldays, 1943 to 1955. Discipline was achieved without the threat of corporal punishment or a blackboard rubber hurled across the classroom. Katharine Birbalsingh cleverly uses a mixture of old-fashioned teaching and national service regimentation. Amazingly, pupils and parents have bought into her approach. The results speak for themselves: fantastic academic achievements, well-rounded and happy children and grateful parents. Surely this is a salutary lesson for progressive educationalists.

PETERBOROUGH/LETTERS

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2022-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

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