It's easy to fall in to. I dare say I've done it myself in the past. But trying to emphasise the scale of the challenge can make us careless in our language, forgetting the real people in the challenges we describe, whose lives we share. Worth asking if it needs reined in a bit.

@michael_merrick This is so true. Prob why I tweet less.

@michael_merrick @bennewmark Completely agree, everyone deserves dignity and respect. People are not lesser or inferior because their circumstances mean they struggle.

@michael_merrick I loved working in those schools, the kids were superb, fun, lively, yes they were tough but if you treated them like human beings and actually talked to them, they used to teach me things too.

@michael_merrick Also worth reminding people that the vast majority of folk in deprived areas are very decent people. It's a small minority who ruin things for everyone else.

@michael_merrick Totally agree. Many staff live in houses in these communities - sensitivity is vital to not upset them too. Our schools have so much to balance. Ofsted frameworks will never capture this - they would never stick their necks out for us like we do for the communities we serve.

@michael_merrick So important.

@michael_merrick I hate the term deprived. It suggests the shortfall lies within somehow. Some postcodes have been woefully under-served by those who should know and do much better.

@michael_merrick Agree with all of this.