YouSaid · the spoken record

Rachel de Souza

lines on the record: 47
first: 2021-05-14
most recent: 2021-05-14
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Oh, golly. I think it's more his definitions man as a featherless biped. I always think that was wonderfully grounding, isn't it?”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To make this the greatest generation ever, who, when their turn comes, are able to be the adults who support the students, support the young people through whatever they're going through.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know what it is? So lockdown is one of those key generational moments, isn't it? The COVID pandemic, we couldn't have seen it coming, but it's had the most unbelievable effect and a huge effect on children. Why I look back to that beverage spirit was that Second World War, instead of sort of the policy makers, the politicians, the adults, instead of saying we're flawed, We did some of our most inspirational policy making, education to 14, the beverage report, the foundations of the health service, really inspirational and aspirational. I think the moment for that is now. And that's why I hark back to Beverage. We could say it's all awful, the economy's awful, our children have got mental health problems. We could say that. I say, just like turning around a failing school, let's be honest about where we are, but then let's get the plans in and the ambition.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think, yeah, I think up to Well, we could talk about children and young people, but I think even more now, the way we bring our children up as well, their sort of independence tends to come after 18 and come more slowly. But I think that there's legal protection. And I would see up to 18 as absolutely the age group I'm interested in.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So for me, the big ask is out there to get every child up to the age of 18. And I comfortably use the word child up to the age of 18.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, and supported them when often those young girls are looking, seek help, and you have to understand the signs. I mean, as Children's Commissioner, I think I can be helpful and my office can be helpful in helping see the signs and understand when a young girl, a child, is in having that experience and know how to act on it. Remember, we don't stand alone. There's a way we work in schools, in social care, with safeguarding support. But yeah, I'm unequivocal. No one should be forced into marriage.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's so interesting because I work for many years in Luton, in Luton Sixth Form College, and taught and loved and learned so much from working with some of the communities there where this was an issue and it was an issue for many young women I worked with. What I would say is first those communities taught me more about family and support and caring for children than I'd ever seen. But I think it's absolutely right to take a stand against and support any girl who is in a situation where she's put at risk of forced marriage. I've done it myself. I've supported girls myself. I've done that as part of an institution.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think anything that affects a child's life as a head teacher I've experienced this in the past 10 years far more than ever before and I think my take there was always to make sure that the child was well supported by the school and we got them the professional support they needed and I think that would be my answer on the on the larger level”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I don't think we should normalise that. I think we need to support them. This was not part of our childhood. And on the point of sort of adults telling you, that's why I think that 18 to 21 year old generation is so important because they can actually give the parents and their younger siblings the advice. So I want to use their voices. We mustn't give up on this point. We have to recognize that this is really bad for children and we've got to protect them. But if the adults have any answers or anything to do, it's got to be to protect the children, hasn't it?”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've got loads of data in my office from so many conversations about children because these are girls of 12, 13. feeling unsafe on the streets because men are cat calling them and whistling at them and making comments to them. And I think there's a whole issue about what are young girls and boys we're exposed to and I want the adults to step up and be adults and part of that is us dealing with the online harms bill and making sure it's strong enough.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is one of the things that I definitely feel really strongly about and would speak out about. I think with the online harms bill coming back, I think we have to go back to asking, demanding that the tech companies take more responsibility. And I'm unequivocal about it. And I think on this one, I think there's a will in government as well from the conversations I'm having. So isn't this the time?”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. So I'm making one of the missions of my office to challenge the tech companies to do better. One of the things I really want to focus on is age verification. And there are a range of other things that can actually stop young people under 18s having access to this material. I think it's a really serious problem. But I think that we also need to be working with parents to make sure they're aware of what young people can access and children can access because I think it's quite shocking. So this is going to be one of the key things that we look at this year. One thing I'm really interested in doing is getting 18 to 21 year olds to actually help us write the advice for parents and children. What do I wish my parents had known? What should my younger siblings know? And I think sometimes that's as powerful as any formal lesson or advice”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think you can look at the everyone's invited website and not feel shock and upset and feel that we need to support our girls and actually support our boys as well. The adults need to get on this and take a stand. And although I have seen lots of examples of these things throughout my own career, I do feel shocked”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know what I did? I read all the manifestos because I wanted to understand what the position was on this before I spoke, before I took the role. And in all the manifestos, there is a commitment to being against child poverty. And that's the grounds on which I say that.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I don't think it's about not taking a view because actually I think we could target, I mean, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but I've been talking to various people in government about how can we do more for children than universal credit uplift is doing, how can we focus more on children. So I will challenge policy. Absolutely will. But there's a level at which I'm not the elected. What I have to do is how are children been affected and how can we get people to do more and better for children? And that's where I see it sitting.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, what I have to try to do is look and say, is every child getting a hot meal and getting what they need? And under the current arrangements until the end of 2021, they absolutely are. Now, one political party might want it done one way, one political party might want it done another way. I have to be the eyes and ears of children and check that Can every child who needs one get a proper meal, get fed properly. And I do believe under the current arrangements they can.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I haven't talked to anybody who isn't committed. I'm going to broaden this, who isn't committed to getting rid of childhood poverty. And I've talked to opposition front bench. I've talked to the current government's ministers. I've talked to a range of people. I think the answer is how. Now, I am satisfied that until the end of 2021, there are school meals available for every child and any child who needs them. And I'm satisfied on that, although I am keeping my eye on it. I think there's a bigger question.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And they're exactly who we need to hear. So I can tell you that I've already got a quarter of a million just a couple of weeks in. We've got a quarter of a million responses from every part of the nation, from every county. We've gone to every single YOI. So where children are actually in prison and every one of those children, youth vending institutes, every one of those children have completed who want to. We did that on paper because they can't have it on digital. We're in secure children's homes. We're making sure the vulnerable are prioritized in terms of filling these in. And I have to say, I mean, whole schools are doing this, pretty much all of Bolton schools did it. And that's the whole cross-section, special schools. I was in a special school supporting those children to do it. So yeah, we want to hear from everybody.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think there are two things there. One is if I had tried everything and tried to convince all parties and done all the work that I should do to get things listened to and things changed, then of course, if necessary, I would speak out. But I think having influence and persuading people and getting people to places is hard work and a lot of it is behind the scenes. I want to be a children's commissioner who actually delivers change. I really don't care whether my name's on it in public.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So Nick, I think, I mean, having been a teacher, a head teacher, and a chief executive before I took this role, what you learn as you progress through those things is actually its influence and people listening to you that matter. It's not about some sort of formal control. Yes, I do have some levers, but what I've found is that doors are open, people are listening, and it's my job to make a compelling case for children. then the more difficult thing which is join everyone up and bring take them forward together. Now, it's not about me having some sort of control. It's about me making the case well and about talking to people and convincing them.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To roll out the new mental health teams. I talked to Matt Hancock just last week and said, you know, come on, we need to speed these up. And he agreed. You know, we need to make sure that schools are supported there to do that. Children need someone to talk to. They need a good, strong evidence-based support.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Let me just make that real. I mean, I had an experience when I was visiting schools in Balton last week where I was talking to a group of young people in front of their head teacher, in front of each other, year 11 footballer in the Student Council, sort of opened up and said, I was absolutely bewildered during COVID. My mental health suffered. I felt terrible. I didn't know what was going on. And we talked about what did help and what could help. And he very eloquently talked about getting back to his normal sport. He talked about the support the school had given him and he talked about having someone to talk to who knew what was happening. And I think in there there's a huge bit of the answer for low level issues. Many schools are really, really good at having their own counsellors and having their own support. I just think the size of the problem is huge. We know that government and NHS England, so government's funded NHS England.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The radar of definitions children in need, who could be falling between the cracks are absolutely at the centre of my thinking. And yes, all children.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Job has its statutory remit enshrined in law to support the most vulnerable, and I will always do that. But ask me where the solutions lie and they're going to be quite broad ones. I mean, I was sitting with talking to a young lady who is just putting her Oxford application in who had been brought up by her grandmother and was put in unregulated care when her grandmother died at the age of 16 thanks to a great school. She managed her way through that, put herself into care. And it's fine. Those children must always be at the centre of what we do, whether that's refugee children, asylum seeker children, whether that's children in care. They're absolutely central. But what I would say is COVID and the lockdown experience has actually created a vulnerability that is the vulnerable have become even more vulnerable. And it's an even wider issue. And young people who probably wouldn't have even come under.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fascinating. So it was interesting because I was in Bolton last week visiting schools in Bolton, and it was great to be back with children and talking to children. I think one of the things, reasons I wanted to take this role was to bring children's voices and schools and children's worlds right to the centre of Westminster. So I kind of don't think I've given it up at all. And in fact, the first thing I did, and I'm sure it raised a few eyebrows at the Department for Education, was tell them we needed a room, a beautiful interroot view room that was suitable for and made children feel at ease because I want to be bringing children and other stakeholders as soon as lockdown is over from the normal world into the Department for Education, into the heart of Westminster.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think one of the things that that rigorous study at 16 of philosophy and thought gave me was a certain independence of mind and the ability to make my own decisions. Academy movement, I actually ended up as an academy principal because I was a deputy head in the school down the road which had failed forever was about to be turned into an academy and I went to visit it just quietly. A friend of mine was working there and it looked to me. I had that feeling of like we've got to do something about this. It was nothing to do with politics and my commitment to the things I've done in education have been it's part that childhood thing of education is the answer but it's a commitment and a belief that disadvantaged children deserve the best education and as good an education as anyone. That's the reform movement and the threat.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I think politics is important, and I think it's a really important form of service. And I think we have to, certainly as an educator, I've engaged with politicians of all hues to get my point across. So I think the pause was about not dismissing the importance of politics and influencing politicians, but at the same time as a kid, I think what I was saying is I didn't necessarily see politics as holding the answers. So there wasn't a blind passion for one route of politics, for example.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But interestingly, my East European family were far more worried. Know, I remember turning up in a CND badge and he hit the roof because for him the Soviet Union was the problem. And, you know, so I always had a sense that this was complex and perhaps politics wasn't going to solve the day.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No detail I was taking sides. It was, you know, we were right in the middle of it. I only mentioned that because they brought all the police in from different places.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As it were, your family are on that side. No, no, the police had all been drafted in. I was a sixth form student, so we'd be discussing the politics and then having to serve the poor police and tell them exactly what we thought at that point. So, yeah, it was quite a, I would say it was quite from my dad's side and in the community I was in, there was quite a lot of upset it was quite a labor focused.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think the context we were in, it was very interesting. So, the context I was in, so my dad was shop steward, was a steelworker. I did experience both the steelworker strikes, watching what happened to the steelworks. And indeed, I used to serve, I worked at the Baths Hall and served breakfast to the police when the minor strike was on and was right in the middle watching. We were watching all of that.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I got a bit of help. So I think for me, I'd never been serious about my studies at school until I went to Sixth Form College and I had a fantastic teacher there who really, and this is why you might call me a traditionalist in some sense about subjects who really showed me their rigour and discipline of studying a subject well. So he was my religious studies and philosophy teacher. And that was eye-opening, actually, and life-changing. And yeah, so I taught myself Greek so I could read the New Testament in Greek.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, my East European family had that real belief in education and in fact had a history of education despite that trauma, that post-war trauma of the first years of life. And, you know, I think that was very, so I grew up speaking a couple of languages, being able to do everything that an Austro-Hungarian daughter normally would be able to do, whether that's cooking, embroidery, reading. And I was fascinated with, I used to read Vaslav Havel. I used to read Milan Kundera. I'd read, try and read East European things. But dad's side were Irish Catholic family and there wasn't really a culture of going to university or study. So there were two bits to my”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, my mum's family's a refugee. She was born in 1945. She's Austrian, Hungarian, background. She was actually in an orphanage in Bavaria for the first seven years of her life and had TB and had hepatitis when she arrived here. Her mother got passage here, found her again reconnected with her and brought her here when she remarried.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, for me personally, I think, coming from quite a working class community with very little money, you know, I'd only have one set of best clothes. There were times when I was on free school meals when particularly during steelworkers' strike, when my dad wasn't, there was no money coming in. I always knew that education was my ticket, my ticket to a life that I could create myself. And although it's true that there were occasions with individual teachers where, you know, perhaps they did writers off a bit, there were also passionate teachers who supported us and supported the goal.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because I think there's a real, or maybe a perceived dichotomy between those on the traditionalist side that stand for rigor, stand for subject specificity, stand for exams, stand for high standards of behavior and traditional behavior methods and a progressive model that you would think, and again, it's perceived, but is about the use of IT that's about really working with the child as an individual, all of those things. And I actually think it's a false dichotomy.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would always describe myself as progressive. And I think in many ways, and I think we need to reclaim that word, you know.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Someone's excellent from PlayStation. Never did it. Look, joking aside, parents needed us as allies to help get those young people the education they needed. And honestly, in those summer schools, we'd have, you know, we'd do the maths, we'd do the English, but we'd also do the bowling and the fun and the meals and everything as well. But yeah, the school minibus used to do the rounds.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Was used quite a few times. Mainly, parents really embraced us and welcomed us and actually were glad of the help because they didn't know what to do. I would say, if necessary, if they won't stop playing, take those scissors and cut that wire. There were instances where the deputy had a great woman actually got young people out of their rooms and got them home. Just checking.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I've always had this issue about mums were telling me you're putting on summer schools or you've got these things on and the kids are on the Xbox and we don't want them to be on the Xbox and we don't know how to get them off. So I thought hard of it and I thought, well, actually, we need to support mums and the children, the teenagers. trusty deputy head, trusty senior team, trusty year heads out in the minibus. Let's go collect them.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Thobbs in the UK, and I was part of and watched that school transform. Such a great question. So I'm going to say number one is genuinely accept where the school is. There are so many theorists that tell you, here is the school improvement model or this is what you must do. I would say genuinely accept what your issues are. Then I think there's a little bit of the normal education rulebook has to go out the window and I think it's what do we really need to do now to get this school on its way? And that changes over year one year.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think I had a career defining moment when I moved from Oxford to Tower Hamlets and saw a situation and a context I'd never seen before, even though I'd been a student in London and come from quite a challenging working class background myself. I mean, in Tower Hamlets, we had the Bangladeshi community was, many of them just arriving. There were levels of poverty, language issues, things that are unimaginable, actually, safeguarding issues that are unimaginable. And there were certainly in those first few weeks, there were times my husband would pick me up and I'd say to him, you know, I don't know if I can do it. And basically through the sort of months ahead, I gained confidence. And that school, I was part of a team in that school. At that point, that school was the bottom of the league tables in the UK, the Tower Hamlet school, the bottom of the...”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's supported on every level. I was talking to a neuroscientist this morning who was saying, brains, we can get those teenage brains back to where they should be.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A great question. I would sort of hark back to my roles in turning around failing schools. So I'm always very proud of the fact that I was one of Tony Blair's first sponsored academy principals. I think I was number 57 and took over a school there that had been failing forever. Now, the trick to turning that school round was truly recognizing how dire the situation the school was in, you know, really recognizing it, but then having the belief to be able to do something about it. And that's exactly what we should be doing now, not sweep under the carpet, the suffering and the problems and the issues that young people have faced. And they are real. And I'm very happy to talk to you. I want to talk to you about them. You know, we've got burgeoning issues with mental health, anxiety, a range of issues. But, you know, I also know, particularly with young people, if we have that belief and we get behind them, we can make a real difference.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely not. And in fact, the first thing I've done is Children's Commissioner is launch the big ask, which is seeking children's views. But the reason I've done that is because I want to really bring home the idea that this is not and does not have to be a lost generation. And in fact, we can do things and we must garner all our strength and bring everyone with us to make sure that this generation that's done so much for us is put first now and can have successful and flourishing futures.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Indeed, Sister Anna, she was wonderful. She was a legend, but she certainly didn't appreciate my cookery skills. I have to say, some of the other teachers and some of the other nuns were incredibly supportive and actually an inspiration for my own education.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is one of the things that I definitely feel really strongly about and would speak out about. With the online harms bill coming back, I think we have to go back to asking, demanding that the tech companies take more responsibility. And I'm unequivocal about it. And I think on this one, I think there's a will in government as well from the conversations I'm having.”
2021-05-14 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Rachel de Souza One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source