Katharine Birbalsingh: podcast appearances and interviews

Katharine Moana Birbalsingh is an education reform advocate and the founder and head teacher of Michaela Community School, a free school established in 2014 in Wembley Park, London. She is known for her strict approach to education and has been referred to as Britain's strictest headmistress. Birbalsingh was born on September 16, 1973, to an Indo-Guyanese academic and a Jamaican nurse. She was born in New Zealand and grew up in Canada until the age of 15, when she moved to England. Her interest in education developed during her studies of French and philosophy at New College, Oxford. After graduating, she began teaching at state schools in south London. She gained public attention through her blog, To Miss with Love, which she started in 2007 under the pseudonym Miss Snuffy. Birbalsingh has expressed support for Conservative education policies and reforms implemented by Michael Gove. She has authored two books, Singleholic and To Miss with Love, and has edited Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers: The Michaela Way and Michaela: The Power of Culture. In 2020, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Birbalsingh also serves as chair of the Social Mobility Commission, a role she assumed in October 2021.