I received this e-mail from my colleagues in our Pay and Grading Team ...

"Dear Chris, Just a quick note to let you know that we are pleased to confirm that in the end there have been no compulsory dismissals of school-based staff under the implementation of phase 1. What this means in practice is that all staff who were at risk of dismissal either signed their acceptance forms and have been re-engaged onto posts on the new pay and grading structure, or voluntarily resigned from their posts (with the affected schools completing SAP leaver forms). We would like to pass on our sincere thanks to all headteachers and other managers within our schools who have worked with us to achieve this - we know it's not been easy! Thanks again from all of us"

This is an incredible achievment by Joss Ivory and a tremendous team whose passion, hard work, persistence and commitment was commented on by Governors Forum last night. I am personally deeply proud of them all!

Chris

We hit the front page of the Yorkshire Evening Post again today...

The exclusive headline was '£4.2M SCHOOL RUN SHOCK' and the story highlighted that we are spending £21500 every day to ferry young people to schools in taxis quoting Susie Squire who argued that this shows our "total failure to plan properly for the needs of local people" and Cllr Keith Wakefield who said that "the money is currently being wasted".

Why does everyone firstly assume that this is wrong and not look at the facts to see if actually this is Leeds doing the very best for its most special children. People conveniently forget that we have a statutory duty to provide home to school transport for children in care and for children and young people with special educational needs up to the age of 25. This money actually provides for taxis and escorts for children with special educational needs and some of the most vulnerable children in our care.

Wherever possible we are developing independent travel training to reduce dependency on taxis and minibuses and we only use taxis when public transport is inappropriate or unsafe. However, if we didn't provide taxis and escorts for these very special young people to get to school, I wonder what the headlines would say?
Chris

This evening I attended the Leeds Governors' Forum at the Civic Hall...

We had some brilliant sessions. Jenny Cooper talked about the 'Time for Play' initiative, Mike Cooper talked about the Leeds Enterprise Challenge, Dorothy Smith talked about the National Challenge schools and developing a learning entitlement and Gary Milner talked about the 14 - 19 review.

Stephen Rennie, as always, chaired the Forum really well and encouraged everyone to think positively about the opportunities we face here in Leeds. He had recently attended an excellent session led by George Munson from Leeds City Council who talked about the available funding for schools to become carbon neutral and suggested that George should be invited to the next meeting to help all schools achieve this over the next few years.
Chris

I started the day at the Assessment and Development Centre for Aspiring Headteachers at Weetwood Hall...

The day was intended to identify strengths and reassure colleagues about our ongoing commitment to potential and future leaders here in Leeds. Leadership is very obviously one of the magic ingredients for building brilliant provision consistently across the city. We know that we need passionate, committed and determined leaders to drive provision and to help us continue to close the gap so that our children and young people achieve world class outcomes.

Peter Laurence and the army of colleagues he had assembled for the Assessment and Development Centre certainly reflects our commitment to this vital aspect of our work and to these talented colleagues.
Chris

Susan McDonagh sent me a copy of the latest ABC Newsletter today...

Leeds and District ABC Support Group is a regional resource for parents of children with an autistic spectrum condition. They aim to provide help, support and advice about services, facilities, education, care and welfare for parents and families of children displaying Autistic Spectrum Conditions including Asperger's Syndrome in Leeds and surrounding areas.

The latest newsletter is a really interesting read and full of great stuff including this wonderful quote.

"The place to be happy is here,

the time to be happy is now,

the way to be happy is to make others so."

You can read the latest ABC Newsletter by visiting their website at http://www.abcleeds.org.uk/ .
Chris

My colleague Geoff Roberts who is Vice-Chair of Governors at the NW SILC sent me this e-mail...

"Hi Chris, Your item on stress reminded me of the CIA acronym, which I have found very helpful:
C - can I Control the situation, in which case do so
I - do I choose to Influence the situation, in which case do so
A - failing the above, then just Accept it and get on with stuff that I can Control or Influence.

In particular, note the deliberate use of 'choose' to influence - we can all influence much more than we believe so make a positive decision about whether or not to actively influence or not. If you choose not to influence then stop fretting and get on with something else.
Best Wishes, Geoff"

Geoff always comes up with some really good advice. We all need to focus on the things we can influence and effect and forget the rest.
Chris

The RSA Academy in Tipton is pioneering a radical new approach to teaching...



The Academy operates with five terms, three hour lessons, and classes of 90 pupils. If this sounds interesting you can find out more by visiting
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7707662.stm.
Chris

My colleague Carol Jordan, Director of Integrated Children's Services, sent me some great news...

The Oakwood Primary PRU was inspected by our friends at OFSTED and was judged as outstanding, which is simply incredible. Barry Whitney and the team at Oakwood have done a fantastic job supported by great colleagues at Education Leeds. They are an exceptionally talented team with fantastic leadership and support and are leading some extraordinary work across the city and making a real difference to some of our most vulnerable young people. Carol tells me that the learning environment they have created at Oakwood is brilliant.

I want all our provision to be outstanding and it is great to see the Oakwood PRU showing us what is possible.
Chris

“There is a brilliant child locked inside every student”
Marva Collins

It is important to remember that while everything here is going well we still have more to do.
I know that I have a great job, but not everything is creative or fun, there are things that are fragile, places where progress is slow, and things that are not going the way we would hope, however hard we try. We have more young lives to touch, more schools to improve, more families to support. We need to work harder, smarter and better to ensure that every child and every young person is happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful.

I didn't want another half-term where I try and fail to wrench myself away from the office, the paper, the e-mails, and the meetings, visits, issues, priorities and new initiatives. This half-term, I remembered that I am a partner, a parent, a friend to some important people and recognised that the weekend was a time for them. Sometimes we need to take time for ourselves to be able to give something back when we return.

Don't forget to care about yourself and your colleagues and always remember that you are part of something special and magical and unique here at Education Leeds.
Keep the faith!
Chris

CHANGEit!

Do you know a young person who has taken action to make a difference in their community?

Does a young person you know have an idea to create change? If so, why not nominate them for a CHANGEit award! CHANGEit, run by Common Purpose and sponsored by Deutsche Bank, recognises, supports and rewards young campaigners aged 11-18 who want to create a positive change in their communities.

CHANGEit has nothing to do with academic achievement, and everything to do with good citizenship and positive action. Campaigns can be big or small and deal with any issue. Judges are looking for passion, innovation and the determination to create change.

Nominate today - the closing date is 12 January 2009! Every young person nominated will receive a certificate of recognition. Winners will be announced at an award ceremony in spring 2009. CHANGEit will award prizes of up to £750 in three categories:

• Innovation – for young people with ideas to improve their community, who need training or support to get their campaign off the ground
• Performance – to celebrate the achievements of young campaigners who have already taken positive action.
• Photo contest – young people’s photos that capture ‘campaigning in action’ that was started or helped by young people

To find out more or to submit nominations online, for individuals and groups, go to http://www.changeit.org.uk/.

Chris