Headteacher of Britain’s ‘strictest’ school made social mobility commissioner

The headteacher of Britain’s “strictest” school has been appointed the government’s Social Mobility Commissioner.

Birbalsingh said “improving social mobility is more vital than ever”, adding: “On the one hand, I want to inspire real action that will encourage people to seize the opportunities available to them and, on the other, I want to ensure that the government and other public bodies are delivering on their commitments to providing such opportunities, so that we really can ‘level up’ every region of the UK.”

Since July 2020 the Social Mobility Commission has been led by interim co-chairs Sandra Wallace and Steven Cooper, after the the previous chair Dame Martina Milburn resigned.

Headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh rose to public attention at the 2010 Conservative party conference, where she spoke on Britain’s “broken” education system, and was applauded for arguing that underachievement by black pupils was a consequence of “the chaos of our classrooms, and, in part, to the accusation of racism [against teachers]”. The speech prompted controversy and she subsequently lost her job.

However in 2014, she founded the Michaela free school in north-west London.

The school, which has been graded “outstanding” in all areas by Ofsted inspectors, has a “no excuses” behavioural policy.

The school’s policies have prompted backlash from some progressive activists, with protests being staged outside of parents’ information evenings.