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Sifting this summer through family archives, my mother gave me this typed letter, written by the City of Bath Director of Education on 31st May 1963:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Allocation of pupils to secondary schools in September 1963

Exam No. 707   Name Blatchford Roy

The Schools Selection Board have considered the results of the Schools Selection Test, the recommendation of Head Teachers and, in certain cases, reports from the Interviewing Panels, as well as the expression of parents’ wishes, and it is now possible to state that your son will be offered a place at the City of Bath Boys’ School. The headmaster will wish to see him before he enters the school and will be getting in touch with you in due course.

Will you please let me know by Thursday, 6th June at the latest whether or not you wish your son to take up this place.

I want to make it clear that when a boy is offered a place in a secondary grammar school, his parents are expected to leave him at school at least until the end of the school year in which he reaches his 16th birthday. Parents should also be prepared to consider allowing their son to continue his education at secondary grammar school up to the age of 18, if, in the opinion of the Head and Governors of the school, that is in his best interests.

Parents who are not prepared to give their son every encouragement to complete the grammar school course should not allow him to take up a place in a grammar school.

Yours faithfully

Director of Education

A style from another age. Interviewing former Secretary of State Shirley Williams a few years ago, she reminded me that many children did not take up grammar school places in that era because parents - on financial grounds - could not make the guarantee outlined in the final paragraph.

As this term begins, 600,000+ children enter their new secondary schools. Building on their many achievements in primary, they begin an education and training journey which will take them to at least age 18.

All children and their parents can expect that journey to be an enjoyable and positive experience, led by teachers who this academic year as never before are determined to provide renewal, ambition and equality.

The 2021-22 academic year promises to be a special one for all learners.

Start of September term 1963 (September 2021)


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Finishers, Abandoners and Dippers (August 2021)
When 'Room at the Top' was published in 2011, its sub-title 'inclusive education for high performance' ran counter to many prevailing orthodoxies. And this was a few years before British Ministers set off for the Far East to return with tales of mastery.
High Performance Learning (July 2021)

One of the paradoxes at the heart of many international schools is that they are simultaneously inward and outward facing. A typical international school - say in Switzerland, Qatar or Bangkok - has students from all parts of the globe who (in normal times) commute in and out of the schools every term.
The globally confident school (June 2021)

'A guide to eliminating failure and ensuring the safe delivery of all learners' runs the beguiling sub-title of this compelling book. Let's set this proper ambition for all learners first, in an international context, and second, within a UK perspective.
Obstetrics for Schools (May 2021)

Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England, was at the epicentre of the 2008 financial crash. He reflected recently on the global banking system's response, concluding that all the lessons of crisis management were applied. Humility. Responsibility. Resilience. Solidarity.
Inner and outer tears (April 2021)

The ancient Greeks had two understandings of time, chronos and kairos. Both are important, but the latter rarely gets the attention it warrants. It deserves to now.
Chronos and kairos (March 2021)

In 1960, in a divided system, 20% of young people went to grammar school. The rest were more or less written off in terms of examination success. In fact only 16% of sixteen year-olds achieved five O-level passes.
Examinations at 16+ require incremental and radical change (February 2021)

Yet in our wealthy nation, with its long history of free education, we still have one in four of our 11 year-olds not meeting expected national standards in reading - and a similar percentage not achieving a grade 4 in English GCSE.
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I opened my January 2020 monthly column with these words:
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As an impecunious supply teacher in a 1970s London comprehensive I learned from my first Head of English that if I accompanied him on lunch duty, I could get a free meal. Previously in publishing, I had been told that there was no such thing as a free lunch.
I never looked back.
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Philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) (19 April 2020)

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Before Coronavirus (BC).... After Coronavirus (AC) (April 2020)

The Three Minute Leader: ROOM 101
I taught in a central London comprehensive in the 1980s at the height of the IRA's bombing campaigns. The distinguished headteacher told me years later after she had retired that during those years she received by phone daily bomb threats.
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PISA in purdah (December 2019)

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It's not what you say, it's the way that you say it (November 2019)

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The 'Forgotten Third' deserve the dignity of a new type of qualification (September 2019)
The Forgotten Third: Final report of the Commission of Inquiry

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Radical Candour Kim Scott, Machines Like Me Ian McEwan, Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic Simon Armitage, Average Is Over Tyler Cowen, India Connected Ravi Agrawal and Why We Dream Alice Robb.
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End of academic year reflection (July 2019)
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Postcard from Shanghai (April 2019)

The Forgotten Third
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A Happy New Year from Ofsted
Roy Blatchford drafts HMCI's New Year Message
An important tipping point in this country has now been reached. In 2018, approaching 90% of state-funded schools were judged good or better at their most recent inspection. That should be recognised as a fair achievement for the nation.
A Happy New Year from Ofsted (January 2019)


Roy Blatchford CBE

Roy Blatchford is founder of www.blinks.education - working with schools, local authorities, academy trusts, colleges and universities in the UK and internationally. He currently chairs the East Sussex Secondary Board, the Essex Education Task Force and the children's communication charity I CAN.

Roy was Founding CEO (2006 - 2016) of the National Education Trust and of www.netacademies.net. Previously he served as one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools (HMI) in England, with national responsibilities for school improvement and for the inspection of outstanding schools. He has extensive experience of writing inspection frameworks, nationally and internationally, and has reviewed over 1000 schools and colleges in Europe, USA, Middle East and India. He spent three years implementing education system reform in the Middle East.

Roy is an international trainer and conference speaker on language, school improvement, curriculum development, leadership and governance. He has been an adviser to various UK governments, including Deputy Chair of the DfE Teachers Standards Review (2011) and of the Headteachers Standards Review (2014). He recently chaired ASCL's Commission 'The Forgotten Third'.

Roy began his teaching career in London, moving to be Principal of schools in Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes. He is Visiting Fellow at Reading University, was a visiting university professor in the USA, and is co-founder of the Mumbai-based education foundation Adhyayan. He sits on the advisory boards of the Education Policy Institute and the Centre for UK Prosperity, and is a founding trustee of www.qlearningnepal.com

Chat with Ms. Lesley Warburton, Mr. Roy Blatchford CBE and Mr. Mike Cheeseman from Q-Learning Nepal.

Roy is the author/editor of over 150 books. He was appointed CBE for services to education in the 2016 New Year Honours.