comparison , doing so poorly in comparison, that that brings up a whole load more questions that i don't really understand. i think you already alluded to it. you know, i can only explain it by higher academic expectations in the home. and i think we need to deal with it and people need to accept it . and because we've accept it. and because we've been talking about the white working class children doing well, i suppose i'll have to say badly in comparison to other pupils for about ten, 12 years now, i don't know . now, i don't know. >> serge, do you think it might have something to do with i mean, apart from how people are brought up in their own home? and if you have parents who aren't talking about education, who don't care about your reading ability, who don't care about how well you do in your exams, then obviously it's going to be harder to, you know, get that impetus to do well from from yourself alone. but could it also have to do with the fact that schools do promote diversity? there may be special schemes for ethnic minority children. there are in terms of

sometimes at university as well, and programs to help kids from different backgrounds do better. there's nothing just for white pupils. now, i'm not saying there should be, but could it have something to do with that? >> i'm not sure it has. i mean a good school with a good headteacher, as long as they're wearing your uniform, once they've got that badge on you do they've got that badge on you do the best you can for every single one of them. but the home. you can't underestimate how important engagement is from the home and expectation levels are from the home. and when you've got the home working together with the school, you know you build up that trust. and once you've got the trust between home and school, you can really do well. in my schools, i've always taught in so—called disadvantaged areas. both of my schools now in the top 15 for progress. eight tom, i know you won't know what that means, but you should talk about progress. eight you know more in terms of judging how schools move children on. but there is a problem with our white working class, and it needs to be

solved. and the sooner the better. we have some truth trust put back into our schools. let's start telling the children and the parents the truth about where their kids are earlier on so that intervention can take place earlier on. i've never subscribed to an excuse culture even subscribed to an excuse culture ever. good good teachers won't know. patronising. let's tell it how it is and let's stop this erosion of expectation and aspirations that we do seem to have in certain aspects, in certain areas of our our kids. >> it is fascinating to see children of asian backgrounds actually , wherever you look in actually, wherever you look in the world, doing very well. i mean , in the united states of mean, in the united states of america, japanese americans were put in internment camps in the 19405 put in internment camps in the 1940s and are now the highest earning sort of ethnic breakdown of all the groups. i mean, is there just something deeper going on here? it turns out to be that people from these backgrounds , wherever they're

backgrounds, wherever they're plonked in the world, just do very well. >> well, i'm back to where i was, you know, academic expectations in the home. that's what they've all got in common. no excuses. you know, proper parenting, if i can use that term without you getting lots and lots of text, you know, no excuses. get off those tablets, start working. because eventually we want you to have a good job and earn as much money as you can. so that you can contribute positively to the society that you live in. there's too many excuses. things are too easy for our kids at times, and we've always got someone else to blame. these labels, for instance , i can't labels, for instance, i can't tell you, you know, i'd like to bnngin tell you, you know, i'd like to bring in new labels there. old ones, really. you know what we do have naughty children. we do have lazy children , believe it have lazy children, believe it or not. of course you can't use those terms. you have to have an adhd, dyslexia, dyspraxia. you name it. well, luckily i can say what i want now i've been teaching for 45 years. not in my schools, not in my schools. they come in, they get told if they're rubbish at maths and we

tell the parents they're rubbish at maths, but we don't just leave it there. well now we know they're rubbish at maths. we're going to do something about it and if they work hard and cooperate with the home, guess what? you get great results . and what? you get great results. and i think that engagement from the home is important. and maybe that's what's been lost by some of these lower a bit of tough love, ethnic groups. >> a bit of tough love is needed. serge. sophie, thank you very much. sorry. we'll have to end it there. executive head of saint thomas the apostle. thank you very much indeed. i think it does need to be a bit tough love. i remember when i was told, oh, you'll never make it told, oh, you'll never make it to secondary school, emily, you're far too lazy. not working hard enough. all you're going to get a d in your chemistry didn't a—star anyway . very, very good. a—star anyway. very, very good. i wanted to get that out there. >> no, absolutely. very important. this is good afternoon, britain on gb news. plenty more on today's programme. we're going to hear from our national reporter, charlie peters on the public inquiry into the death of a woman in the salisbury poisonings. it's all opened this morning and some interesting revelations have been revealed .

revelations have been revealed. >> tom, thank you very much. the top stories this hour, the prime minister says he'll do everything in his power to galvanise economic growth. speaking at the international investment summit today, sir keir starmer said the government will make sure every regulator in the country takes growth as seriously as businesses. the government's unveiled investment deals worth billions of pounds in al, life sciences and infrastructure. it comes following a row over criticism of p&o ferries that reportedly jeopardised a £1 billion investment by its owner, dp world. now that has four us tech firms have announced plans to invest £63 billion in data centre infrastructure in the uk, a move the technology secretary calls a vote of confidence in the country. that announcement, coming during today's summit. four teenage idf soldiers have been killed and more than 60 wounded in a drone strike on an army base in northern israel. it's the deadliest attack on an israeli base since israel stepped up attacks on hezbollah

in lebanon last month. lebanese terror group hezbollah have claimed responsibility for the attack. this comes as the un peacekeeping mission says israeli tanks have forcibly entered its base in southern lebanon. the health ministry there says 51 people were killed by israeli strikes across the country yesterday . the perfume country yesterday. the perfume bottle carrying the russian nerve agent that fatally poisoned a british woman contained enough poison to kill thousands of people. the inquiry into her death has been told. 44 year old mother of three dawn sturgess was pronounced dead at salisbury district hospital in july 2018. the novichok poisonings inquiries to look at whether she died after she was caughtin whether she died after she was caught in the crossfire of an illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt. she collapsed at her partner's home on the 30th of junein partner's home on the 30th of june in 2018, after coming into contact with a perfume bottle containing the substance. it followed the attempted murder of former spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia and then police officer nick bailey, who

were poisoned in salisbury in march that year. were poisoned in salisbury in march that year . and those are march that year. and those are the latest gb news headlines for now. i'm tatiana sanchez. more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gb news .com forward alerts

>> conservative mps have finally chosen their top two for the leadership , and now it's over to leadership, and now it's over to the members . join me christopher the members. join me christopher hope on thursday as kevin, badenoch and robert jenrick are quizzed by conservative party members and myself at our gb news leadership event and afterwards join me patrick christys with a live studio audience and a star panel as we discuss what it means for the conservative party and what it means for you . means for you. >> decision time the race to lead from 7:00 pm this thursday.

only on gb news. people's channel, britain's news channel . channel, britain's news channel. >> okay. welcome back. it is now 140, and a public inquiry is examining the death of a woman poisoned by novichok in salisbury in 2018. has opened this morning. >> many people would ask, why has it taken?