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Anna Fazackerley

@annafazack.bsky.social
2.1K followers 380 following 76 posts

Education journalist, write for The Observer & The Guardian, keen on walking, wine, kindness, the aptly used expletive. Totally over misogyny and hoping this place is better.

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Reposted by Anna Fazackerley
Gavin Knight @gavinknight1.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Cornish hero with his maxed out credit card cleaning up Cornwall’s beautiful creeks. #Cornwall #sea #boats #Kernow www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Stern warning: one man’s mission to clear the rotting boats poisoning Cornwall’s creeks
Unwanted vessels left to decay release fibreglass shards into the water, harming marine life. Steve Green – with his trusty van Cecil – is determined to clean things up
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
When the world can seem full of selfish men, it was a joy to interview Steve Green for The Guardian. He and his dilapidated camper van Cecil are hauling abandoned yachts out of beautiful Cornish creeks often at his own expense. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Stern warning: one man’s mission to clear the rotting boats poisoning Cornwall’s creeks
Unwanted vessels left to decay release fibreglass shards into the water, harming marine life. Steve Green – with his trusty van Cecil – is determined to clean things up
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Warwick Mansell @warwickmansell.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
"If the safeguarding principles of professional curiosity and challenge are lost to the white noise of such a zealot-like approach, we have truly lost our way." Hackney safeguarding chair Jim Gamble lambasts DfE's school behaviour ambassador Tom Bennett. chscp.org.uk/wp-content/u...
chscp.org.uk
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martinbarrow.bsky.social @martinbarrow.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Property porn with a difference: two children’s homes for sale, boasting an underlying profit margin of 48% (!!) despite being judged to require improvement to be good’
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
This story from yesterday didn't perhaps get the attention it should have. It's utterly shocking. It follows dogged reporting by the Observer (in its pre-sale era), which was repeatedly rejected by the academy federation concerned. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
London academy staff instilled ‘climate of fear’ among pupils
Report finds children at Mossbourne Victoria Park traumatised by disciplinary measures ‘designed to humiliate’
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.
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Laura McInerney @missmc.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
The privilege of being straight is that you never have to look for these symbols. You don’t have to wait for someone to clock you or your partner, and wait to see how they’ll react. It is easy when you’ve had that privilege to eye-roll about symbolism and how unnecessary it feels…
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Fierce letter from Headrest & Headteachers Roundtable to the committee who will vet Spielman’s nomination for a peerage. Stark reminder that they had already warned the pressure would cause a death before the tragedy of Ruth Perry’s inspection and suicide. You can download and sign.
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Headrest @headrestuk.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
We have written to the appointments commission jointly with @headsroundtable.bsky.social opposing the peerage nomination of Amanda Spielman. We’ve also sent a copy to No 10. You can download our letter and send it to your MP and the commission as well.
headrestuk.co.uk
Statement opposing Amanda Spielman's peerage
Headrest and the Headteachers' Roundtable have written jointly to the Appointments Commission opposing the Conservative Party recommendation that former HMCI Amanda Spielman be awarded a peerage. We o...
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Andrew Morrish @andrewdmorrish.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Look out for the @headrestuk.bsky.social petition to put a stop to this.
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
“Obscene”. “A deliberate insult to every teacher in the country.” Fury as we reveal Tories have nominated Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief when Ruth Perry killed herself after a bruising inspection, for a peerage. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
‘An insult’: Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief at time of Ruth Perry’s suicide, to be given a peerage
The nomination by Conservatives of the former chief inspector of schools has been met with outrage by the headteacher’s family, and called ‘obscene’ by school leaders
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Big new research shows stark link between exclusion & violence. Traced 20,000 excluded kids & matched them with 20k kids of same background, same suspensions - but never kicked out. Excluded ones twice as likely to commit serious violence within a year. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Teenagers excluded from school ‘twice as likely’ to commit serious violence
Large-scale analysis of UK police and education records reveals link between expulsion and violence within year
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
I’m still hearing awful reports of brutal inspections, broken heads, after which Ofsted dismisses complaints. Don’t let them mark their own homework again. Will the new inspection proposals sort the big problems? Respond to the alternative consultation here now - www.surveymonkey.com/r/LQ7KG25
surveymonkey.com
The Alternative Big Consultation (ABC)
Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Brave @alicejolly.bsky.social speaks out on Oxford Uni brushing her court win on “sham” contracts under carpet. “They compared our work to security guards & cleaners, I kept thinking: ‘Yes, those people have no chance of fighting the gig economy, but we do.’” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
‘I’ve lost my work and been ostracised’: Oxford University accused of failing to act after ruling on ‘sham’ contracts
Despite winning a landmark legal battle, academic Alice Jolly believes it won’t benefit others
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QM_UCU @qmucu.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
The tyrannical practices continue to be horrifying. @annafazack.bsky.social’s reporting continues to be unflinching and vital — what those pupils & parents mustn’t go through thinking they wouldn’t be heard and then have a journalist actually listen & show it is atrocious
theguardian.com
‘Pupils are in fear every day’: parents raise concerns about new schools run by top UK academy
Emergency meeting called over strictness of discipline at Essex schools run by Mossbourne Federation
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Two thirds of kids at risk of exclusion have issues communicating. As do 60 per cent of young offenders. I loved visiting Rushey Green primary in Lewisham which is rewriting the story for half of their reception children who couldn’t talk when they got to school. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Inside the London reception class where kids are taught to talk to help them stay out of gangs
A new initiative aims to improve communication, as as pupils lacking speech and language skills more likely to be excluded and caught up in violence
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
‘Pupils are in fear every day’. Parents raise alarm at Essex schools taken over by Mossbourne before inquiry into allegations of emotional abuse launched. One secondary boy wet himself in front of class after toilet refused. Left in wet clothes all day. Disturbingly familiar allegations.
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Excellent piece. @jonnyuttley.bsky.social telling it how it is on the big questions being drowned out by all the ranting on the schools bill. (spoiler: the big stuff isn’t about why cheap trousers may end the world.) schoolsweek.co.uk/political-po...
schoolsweek.co.uk
Let's get a sense of proportion about the schools bill
Its provisions are as mild as they are necessary, and they don't even begin to challenge our underlying problem
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Last week I watched as a mum who’d just given birth appeared in court, in hospital,via a laptop, fighting to stop her baby being taken into care. 3,000 newborns were in similar care proceedings in 22-3. Mums go home alone with no support. A brutal system. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
‘I can’t sleep, I’m terrified’: the rise in mothers having their babies taken away within days of giving birth in England
Charity finds ‘inhumane’ system is forcing women to defend themselves in court, sometimes from their hospital beds, while in fear of having their newborn child taken from them
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Rape Crisis says schools need better advice on how to handle sexual abuse between pupils - incl at primary school. A mum whose scared 8 yr old disclosed rape told by head it was “relationship difficulties”. “I said ‘That isn’t what this is. It’s sexual assault.’” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
theguardian.com
Schools ‘need more help’ to tackle rising number of sexual assaults by pupils
Charities say better guidance is needed over increasing number of sexual assaults in UK primary schools
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Lots of lovely tributes to the brilliant Tony Slattery. But I’d recommend revisiting this heartbreakingly human interview from 2019. Though I warn you it will make you cry messily. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
Tony Slattery: ‘I had a very happy time until I went slightly barmy’
His appearances on Whose Line Is It Anyway? made him a major comedy and improv star in the 90s, but then his life fell apart. He talks about love, addiction, bipolar disorder and a long-buried secret
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
This made me laugh for a long time. Sound on. Just lovely.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
This would amount to a massive tax cut for the highest paid people in Britain, paid for by higher taxes for low earners and big cuts to public services
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Mary Wombat @littlemavis.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
So take this specific incident. Do those defending the school think this is acceptable? That it didn't happen? That the person reporting it is misremembering? Lying? Just too sensitive? I'd like to know. Not just bland "This school cares for its students & wants the best for them" (not direct quote)
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
never thought I’d see the day when unreason would eclipse such obvious scientific self-truths
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
An MVPA student told me she hopes in future “children won’t be frightened as I was”. She recalled teacher screaming in line up in her 1st week: “The boy behind me passed out. I was concerned & turned round but was shouted at to turn back. It felt so awful.” www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Top English academy trust faces safeguarding review over ‘emotional abuse’ of pupils
Observer investigation into London school has sparked an inquiry into allegations that teachers harmed mental wellbeing of children
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Acclaimed Mossbourne academy will face extraordinary safeguarding inquiry after The Observer exposed allegations of emotional harm over two decades. Over 200 parents, students, teachers, local GPs & child psychiatrists have now given testimonials about the trust. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Top English academy trust faces safeguarding review over ‘emotional abuse’ of pupils
Observer investigation into London school has sparked an inquiry into allegations that teachers harmed mental wellbeing of children
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
I’ve reported on homelessness for years and met many, many people who have found themselves in awful situations Every single one of them had more decency and integrity than this privileged plutocrat
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Dave McPartlin @davemcpartlin.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Most heartbreaking of all, it’s the children being let down by a system that’s supposed to support them. This isn’t just unfair on them, it’s unfair on their families, their classmates and their schools. It’s totally unacceptable. We need a different plan, we need investment and we need it now.
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Dave McPartlin @davemcpartlin.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
As a headteacher, I cannot express the frustration & anger I feel witnessing the daily toll of austerity & poverty. It’s not just the child living in squalor or the parents struggling to keep the lights on- it’s also the dedicated professionals stretched to their limits, trying to do more with less.
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Ruth Swailes @ruthswailes.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Very much looking forward to this progressing and those who labelled us “year 5 girls” for making a fuss about it, or called @annafazack.bsky.social a liar when she shared our stories having to eat their words.
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
I have just spent an hour trying very hard not to get spitty & ranty back at the small man people getting spitty & ranty at me on a bad place elsewhere and turns out all I really needed was to read this guy. Who is very funny indeed. Thank you Jonathan. Ahhhh. I can now step away from the phone.
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Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Don't hand me a basket of bread and then immediately be like "don't fill up on bread," that's super confusing and I don't need that stress in my life
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Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Paperback books are like velveteen rabbits — there to be loved and squeezed and read and stuffed into shoulder bags and left in the sun and read again until there's nothing left but the best kind of memories
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Steve Vainker @stephenvainker.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
The edu system, not @annafazack.bsky.social,lacks 'balance'. It's not balanced to instil 'healthy fear' in kids to score well on government-set metrics. Messianic notions of achievement as the be all and end all are not balanced. An edu elite that enacts and promotes this is not balanced.
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
A teacher briefing on Y6 transition day: “We were told, if there was ever an opportunity, could we shout at the children and make them cry, so they felt frightened and intimidated ahead of starting in Sept.” These kids were 10. In a strange school. “Healthy” fear? www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Top London academies face mass claims of emotional harm as Whitehall acts on crisis
Government says allegations ‘deeply distressing’ as dossier of allegations grows in wake of Observer investigation into Mossbourne schools
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Denise Prosser @deepeetee.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
🤬. A. Where was the safeguarding? B. I hope the Observer is able to continue important journalism
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Love this post, thank you. The Observer is a brilliant & important paper shining a light where some don’t want one.
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Excl: Govt expresses alarm as 140 parents, teachers & students speak out about “systemic” & “lasting” emotional harm at two top London academies over 2 decades. Distressing stories of “terrified” children & former students “haunted” by experience years later. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Top London academies face mass claims of emotional harm as Whitehall acts on crisis
Government says allegations ‘deeply distressing’ as dossier of allegations grows in wake of Observer investigation into Mossbourne schools
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
I will be showing solidarity with my colleagues at the Guardian and Observer who are on strike for 48 hours over the sale of the Observer on Wednesday and Thursday. For more information please follow bsky.app/profile/gonu... and @NUJofficial, or visit nuj.org.uk/savetheobserver
bsky.app
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
My 9 yr old son tried on the new Christmas Dad slippers. Are they warm enough? He considers. “Not really, but women have had so many long years of sexism the least men can do is have slightly less cosy slippers Mum.” My work is done here.
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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
As Janey Godley has her funeral, here is her roasting Michelle Mone. 😂
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Alice Woolley @alicewoolley.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
This former Guardian section editor is also concerned about the ‘sale’ of the Observer because of the many unanswered questions
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Dave McPartlin @davemcpartlin.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
If the usual suspects claim they’re not bait-tweeting for likes and engagement on the other platform, why has their behaviour suddenly changed here? Curious, isn’t it?
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John Dexter FRSC @mrjdexter.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
This sort of behaviour needs calling out and it’s maybe time to discuss the merits of MATs and disadvantages. Many I’ve worked with locally are transformative and v well run and lean £ vfm BUT others …… For me governance, local accountability would be a good place to start
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
I spoke to so many parents for this story about what many termed “psychological abuse” at this acclaimed London academy. Almost every one cried. This is trauma not belonging. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Teachers at top academy in Hackney ‘screamed at’ and humiliated pupils, say angry parents
Mossbourne academy accused of bullying and damaging children’s mental health as local authority asked to step in
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Exclusive: 30 parents speak out about teachers “screaming” at & humiliating “terrified” children, many with SEN, at top Hackney academy. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Teachers at top academy in Hackney ‘screamed at’ and humiliated pupils, say angry parents
Mossbourne academy accused of bullying and damaging children’s mental health as local authority asked to step in
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Jeremy Clarkson, who owes his fame & fortune in large part to the BBC, sneers at the brilliant @vicderbyshire.bsky.social for being ‘classic BBC’ when she uses *his own words* to describe his position.
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Anna Fazackerley @annafazack.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Love Michael Sheen. Such a good human. Enough said.
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