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The Education Secretary got schooled for saying pupils shouldn’t criticise Boris Johnson – 12 favourites

Oonagh Keating. Updated February 10th, 2022

The new Commons Leader may be trying to convince people/himself that the public isn’t interested in Partygate, but when it’s even become a topic for a primary school writing exercise, he must surely acknowledge that there is some cut-through.

Year Six pupils in Welbeck Primary School in Nottingham wrote letters to MP Lillian Greenwood, concerning the rule-breaking and alleged rule-breaking in Downing Street, before photos of the children with their letters were posted to a now-deleted Twitter account.

One was shown in close-up.


Via

It isn’t easy to read, but this is a significant part of the text.

This week in Year Six we have been looking at our aspirations and role models for the future.

We looked at famous leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama, and we have also looked at teachers and headteachers who are doing their part in keeping us happy, healthy and safe.

We also looked at people who we respect and disappointingly, our own Prime Minister has not made it onto this list.

During this past week I watched a story on BBC Newsround that stated our PM is under investigation for 12 parties that have apparently occurred – a few of which had over 100 people at them when we weren’t even allowed to meet more than two people.

What makes this matter worse is that when he was questioned about it in Parliament he said the following, “I have been reassured there was no party.” This is a lie.

According to the Daily Mail, the headteacher, Rebecca Gittins made this statement –

Year Six pupils watched recent coverage on Newsround about Downing Street and some of them asked to write to their local MP to share their views.

This lesson was linked to the English curriculum where children constructed letters using their skills to form arguments, assess evidence and develop their critical thinking.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi had objections.

He said –

“While there is a clear need for schools to address political issues in the classroom from time to time, this must not be done in a partisan way.”

“No school should be encouraging young people to pin their colours to a political mast.”

He wasn’t the only person feeling uncomfortable about developments – but his own stance was the cause of many people’s concern.

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To sum up –

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Source Independent Image nci on Unsplash