Katharine Birbalsingh

A few weeks ago, we all watched the same footage. A young man called Henry Nowak, barely out of childhood, handcuffed on the ground, begging the police for help. What followed was the confusion of our commentators as they struggled to explain how young police officers, sworn to protect the public, could behave in such a way. No one seemed to have a convincing answer. But when you spend a lifetime in schools, it’s pretty clear what’s going on. Those young police officers are not a special case – they’re collateral damage. And the pattern runs further afield than policing. Last September, Charlie Kirk was shot, and within hours young people were celebrating all over the internet, despite the fact that two little children would have to grow up without their father.

We stand at a critical juncture. Over the past decade, England has ascended the global education rankings with remarkable momentum. In mathematics, we have surged from 21st to 7th in the Pisa rankings. Our performance in reading on the Pirls scale now positions us as a leader in the Western world. Just last week, a delegation of 24 Flemish ministers and journalists visited Michaela Community School, where I am headteacher, and other high-performing schools, eager to glean insights from England’s educational success. Yet, paradoxically, our own Education Secretary remains indifferent to these achievements. Bridget Phillipson did not set foot last year in any of the country’s top 87 Progress 8 schools that have demonstrated an exceptional +1 improvement.

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which threatens the huge gains made in education over the last 15 years, is moving swiftly through Parliament. If it passes, the impact on our children, especially our most vulnerable, will be seismic. Yet this Bill is slipping by largely unnoticed. Labour's huge majority gives it untrammelled power. But it is using this authority to push through, without proper scrutiny, a piece of legislation that will do untold damage.

Dear Education Secretary, I am worried your time in office will destroy the huge gains made over the last decade and a half in helping disadvantaged children across England. I don’t know if you are being ideologically blind and therefore ignoring the obvious negative impact of your decisions – or perhaps you just don’t understand the harm your changes will cause. I am hoping it is the latter and I am writing to offer my advice and help so that you might see that the road you are taking will have catastrophic consequences for the poor in this country. Cutting funding to schools just before the GCSE exams I say this as a headteacher who has chosen not to offer Latin to our pupils at Michaela Community School in Wembley, North London.