Headteacher's Blog #22

The last two weeks have shown clearly the potential of LSA. Last week kicked off the school's annual Lit Festival, our young people heard from visiting authors, two of whom were ex-students of the school. LSA continues to produce alumni who go on to make an indelibly positive impact on the world. We have two students, Oscar and Emilia campaigning for a place in the Lancashire Youth Parliament this week. We are the only school in Lancashire with two candidates, and I am inspired by their desire to be politically involved in the future of their community and country. Their futures will be bright, and we need young people involved in democracy, it is more important now than ever before. Next year we will be doing more work on developing representative democracy within the school, unlocking student voice and developing community cohesion. We all have a part to play in teaching our young people respect for democracy and tolerance.

Leaders and teachers across the country are reporting increasing intolerance amongst young people. Where the family, the community, the school and the church once defined the moral framework for young people they are now being increasingly shaped by algorithms and echo chambers. This is dangerous and has seen an increase in misogyny, unhealthy depictions of relationships and increasingly a 'pornification' of childhood. A relatively new technology, the internet is perverting the traditional moral frameworks that young people have grown up in. We should be very afraid because in an attention economy it is often those who depict the most morally repugnant vision of humanity, who get the most hits and who are most 'monetised'. Schools are at the front line of this and the decisions we are making at LSA to challenge this trend are clear. Of all the threats that I have seen in my 30 years as an educator the threat to tolerance and democracy is the most terrifying. I take my hats off to Emilia and Oscar, setting foot into a profession where they will be ultimately abused online, threatened and lambasted. Their commitment to public service is inspirational and I have nothing but admiration and empathy for them. As a community we need to teach our young people to support those who want to serve, it is through service that improvement is built. Thank you all for your continued support and well done to all those young people who make us proud to be LSA.