Many of Katharine Birbalsingh’s rules seem petty beyond belief – but she gets results. What does her approach tell us about our education culture war?
Katharine Birbalsingh, according to a new ITV documentary, is Britain’s Strictest Headmistress. We are told, as the opening credits unroll over sternly swelling string instruments, that the founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley and chair of the Social Mobility Commission is “controversial”; she is “uncompromising”; she is “taking on her peers” in advocating a return to tradition and good old-fashioned discipline.
