Orthodox Jewish school in London appeals to Education Secretary over negative rating

Argument focuses on differences over 'approach to protected characteristics'. Loyalty to the Torah not allowed, apparently.  Such authoritarianism is not remotely on the same scale as Hitler's but it is of the same kind

A Chasidic girls’ primary school in Stamford Hill has appealed to Education Secretary Damian Hinds to intervene after inspectors said it was still falling short of independent school standards.

Although Ofsted has recognised Beis Ruchel d’Satmar has improved since being rated inadequate, the inspection service has withheld full approval.

The school is due to go to a tribunal next month to contest a Department for Education order restricting the intake of pupils.

A recent follow-up inspection confirmed that leaders of the school have “worked effectively to enhance pupils’  spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, especially in relation to the fundamental British values of democracy and the rule of law”.

They promoted greater understanding and respect for people with some of the “protected characteristics” under equality law, such as disability, age and race.

But Ofsted reported that leaders maintained that any reference to the protected characteristics relating to religions and beliefs, sexual orientation and gender reassignment was a red line “that will never be crossed”.

Inspectors added there was “no evidence” to suggest the school was undermining fundamental British values or discriminating against pupils.

A school spokesman said: “We are proud of the changes our school has made in a very short space of time. We have addressed many of the points raised in last year’s report and the new report recognises our improvements.

“Despite the progress we have made, we are prevented from meeting all the Independent School Standards due to our values and approach to protected characteristics. We would urge the Secretary of State to remove us from the tribunal process

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'Lockdown, lock the door. Shut the lights off, say no more': Disturbing nursery rhyme teaches kindergartners how to survive a school shooting

A mother has been left horrified after she saw a nursery rhyme teaching kindergartners how to survive a school shooting.

Georgy Cohen posted a picture of the rhyme which was hanging up in the kindergarten class in Somerville, Massachusetts, that her five-year-old daughter will attend in the fall.

In a disturbing sign of the times, the poem - sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, teaches young children what to do in case of an active shooter.

It reads: 'Lockdown, lockdown, lock the door. 'Shut the lights off, say no more. 'Go behind the desk and hide. Wait until it's safe inside. 'Lockdown, lockdown it's all done. Now it's time to have some fun!'

The post has already been liked and shared more than 60,000 times with many other parents sharing their outrage that the spate of school shootings had inevitably led to this.

Many contrasted it with their own childhoods when the worst they had to worry about at school was a fire drill. 

'This should not be hanging in my soon-to-be-kindergartener's [sic] classroom,' Cohen wrote, adding that she didn't blame the school, but the current climate which has already seen 23 school shootings where someone was hurt or killed this year. 'The school is doing exactly what they need to be doing, and I am glad for it,' she said.

'My issue is with the political & cultural factors that brought us to this sad state. Please talk to your legislators about the need for gun reform.'

She and Somerville Public Schools declined to identify the school, but district officials confirmed it was the work of one teacher and is not used across all of the city's schools.

The Somerville district enrolls about 5,000 students in a suburb north of Boston.

In a statement, Superintendent Mary Skipper and city Mayor Joseph Curtatone applauded the teacher's creativity, but they lamented that lockdown drills have become as common as fire drills.

'As much as we would prefer that school lockdowns not be a part of the educational experience, unfortunately this is the world we live in,' they wrote. 'It is jarring - it's jarring for students, for educators and for families.'

There has been almost one school shooting a week, on average, since January. Just last month, in Santa Fe, Texas, shooter Dimitrios Pagourtzis opened fire in an art room, leaving ten dead and another ten injured.

But the worst shooting this year took place in Parkland, Florida when a 19-year-old former student began shooting students and staff members with a semi-automatic AR-15 type rifle. 17 people were killed, and 17 others were injured.

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Political correctness gone mad: Outrage as students are marked down for using 'mankind' and 'workmanship' in essays – and some universities have even banned the word 'she'

After being put under the spotlight, some university representatives are denying that this is their official policy. That may well be so but it is clearly an unofficial polcy and is no less authoritarian for that

Top universities across Australia have taken to slashing students grades for using banned 'gendered language'.

Terms such as 'man', 'she', 'wife', 'mother' and any other terminology that angers the PC brigade have been blacklisted.

Students claimed they have lost marks for referring to 'mankind' or 'workmanship' in assignments, as they are not deemed 'inclusive language.'

'People are losing marks for using everyday speech because it's not gender-neutral,' a politics student told The Courier Mail.

The student said the university can't just ban every word with 'man' in it, as more blacklisted words are uncovered, including 'sportsmanship' and man-made.'

The acting executive dean of The University of Queensland's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Julie Duck, thinks the penalties are justified. 'Students are advised to avoid gender-biased language in the same way they are advised to avoid racist language, cliches, contractions, colloquialisms, and slang in their essays.'

She said these issues should only marginally impact marks, depending on the severity of the infringement.

Queensland University of Technology students are also being impacted by the university's political correct crusade. Students are being penalised for failing to use 'inclusive language', and warned against describing women in a secondary position to something or somebody else. This includes, but is not limited to 'wife of', 'mother of' or 'daughter of'.

The suffix 'man' is deemed sexist, due to the implication that the comment is referential of a male.

Griffith University tells staff and students to 'look for non-binary pronouns so that misgendering doesn't occur'.

Universities are going so far as to reject notions of correct grammar in favour of excluding gendered language.

The University of Sydney prefers students to create sentences that are grammatically incorrect but politically correct, rather than use the words 'he' or 'she'. The example their style guide provides to exemplify this is: 'If a student wants their results early, they should go to the student centre.'

The University of Newcastle is yet another institution joining the fold, with an inclusive language guide that bans gendered language, telling students to use words such as humanity, human race or humankind instead.  

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham openly disagrees with the policies, claiming that they were enforcing 'nanny state stuff' on students. 'Our universities should be better than this rubbish,' he said.

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