Teacher's punk band writes anti-academies protest song about Nicky Morgan

'You can protest with a frown on your face or you can protest with a smile on your face'

Jess Staufenberg
Wednesday 23 March 2016 17:19 GMT
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Teacher's band releases anti-academies punk single 'Nicky Morgan's eyes'

A teacher's punk group has written a song about Nicky Morgan in protest at her policies.

Gary Kaye, an English and media studies teacher, has posted "Nicky Morgan's Eyes" on YouTube in a humorous attack on the academisation of schools and "pressures on teachers".

Lines in the song appear to echo teachers and unions in saying the profession's workload is unmanageable and academies are data-driven.

"I'm standing in the playground with a massive bunch of keys, I'm giving them to businessmen who run academies," says the second verse.

Gary Kaye, an English and media studies teacher from north Yorkshire, has written a song about seeing schools "through Nicky Morgan's eyes"

"I'm looking at my colleagues and much to my surprise, They all require improvement and then I realise,

"I'm looking through Nicky Morgan's eyes."

Mr Kaye, who teaches in north Yorkshire, formed the band one weekend with the express purpose of recording a song about the Education Secretary.

He told The Independent that the recent Budget announcement to turn all schools into academies brought it "all to a head."

"You can protest with a frown on your face or you can protest with a smile on your face, and I'd rather do it with a smile," said Mr Kaye.

"But being a teacher is a lot harder now in terms of workload. It's the government's current obsession with data, gathering data.

"The song is about solidarity with teachers."

Mr Kaye gathered some friends to form the band and write the song following the Budget's announcement on the academisation of all schools

Members of the public have been in touch in support of the video, which has been viewed more than 1,000 times on YouTube, said Mr Kaye.

The song is based on "Gary Gilmore’s Eyes" by The Adverts and released with permission of songwriter TV Smith, according to Schools Week.

The final line of the song is: "Nicky don't need her eyes to see.

"Nicky has parted from reality."

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