I was delighted to receive this bit of praise and support from Alison Ings, Chair of Governors at the NW SILC...

"Patience and perseverance have a magical affect

before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."

"Dear Chris, I feel compelled to write to inform you of the amazing progress, outside of school, of the students from Temple Moor High School. I live on Pinfold Lane, opposite Temple Moor High School. Eighteen months ago it was, as a resident, almost unbearable at the start and end of the school day. Students swearing, fighting in the road, smoking and making rude comments of my children going on the school bus to Penny Field School. What a turn around! Students dressed to attend school, instead of St Trinians! Much less, if no, smoking due to staff presence outside school. No comments made at special school buses and no abuse to me as a resident when trying to exit my driveway! On the contrary, students actually give me right of way!! Certainly no fighting in the road, or indeed my driveway! I was recently made aware, by a student from Temple Moor, that there is a 'new Headteacher'. Well Done to him and the staff! I am proud to live next door to Temple Moor High School! Praise where praise is due ........ a marvellous job done by Head, Staff and Pupils of Temple Moor. Regards, Alison."

It is great to receive feedback like this, especially when so often we are only told when things go wrong. Martin Fleetwood and his team deserve a special thank you especially as they are also managing a hugely complex building project and securing improving outcomes for the young people at Temple Moor High School.
Chris

I finished the day at the Rambert Dance Company's spectacular performance at the Leeds Grand Theatre...

"People with goals succeed because they know where they're going."

The evening was part of the Eternal Light Tour 2009 and involved three short works; Eternal Light, Hush and Infinity and it was a brilliant evening of outstanding modern ballet. Eternal Light was danced to Howard Goodall's 'Eternal Light: A Requiem' which was sung by the Leeds University Liturgical Choir accompanied by the London Musici Orchestra and the whole thing was simply fantastic! Hush was a quirky fun ballet danced to some wonderful music by Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma. Infinity was accompanied by a more modern score but showed the real strength and precision needed to dance modern ballet.

It was an evening to remember demonstrating the very best of modern ballet with a superb cast supported by a brilliant young choir and orchestra. If you get a chance go and see it!
Chris

I finished a crazy day at the Royal Armouries at the One Children's Workforce Conference...

" We do not quit playing because we grow old...

we grow old because we quit playing."

Ken Morton had asked me to talk to delegates about 21st Century Schools and how they fit into the new Children's Services world. It was great to be there with around 200 colleagues who share my passion and commitment to the children and young people of Leeds.
Chris

My colleague Carol Jordan received this wonderful piece of feedback from Adam Cayley at the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit after their visit to Leeds recently which Carol organised...

"Carol, Ahead of the more formal letters and on behalf of the team I would like to say a huge thank you for organising our visit to Leeds yesterday. Your hospitality and openess made the day effortless for us and we came away a lot of interesting examples of both the work that has been done and the work for the future. Please pass on our thanks to the staff and schools. I think my 45 minutes with the students at Cockburn will probably live with me forever.
Regards, Adam."

It is great to be able to share our practice with colleagues and that bit about young people at Cockburn makes you realise why we are all here! Thanks to Carol and everyone involved in organising, supporting and managing the visit by PMDU to Leeds at very short notice.

Chris

I moved on again to the new Swallow Hill Community College for one of our Green Day events...

The Swallow Hill Community College encouragingly includes a number of sustainable features:

• timber from sustainable sources;
• recycled stone;
• reactive lighting that dims as natural light increases;
• water saving devices;
• outdoor habitat areas with wild and natural plants.

It was great to walk around the new building with John Battle MP, a passionate advocate for this wonderful project, and to see the progress we are making with the brilliant building. We were accompanied by young people from West Leeds and Wortley High Schools who were very obviously impressed with their new school and looking forward to starting there in September.

Chris

I moved on to the NW SILC to the official opening of the new sensory suite at the Penny Field site...

"We may run, walk, stumble, drive or fly,

but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey,

or miss the chance to see a rainbow on the way."

Alison Ings, Chair of Governors, had invited me to the opening of the new facilities made possible because of the SILC's success in the National Lottery 'People's Millions' competition organised by Calendar News. The SILC secured £50000 to fund the project which provides state of the art multi-sensory equipment in the sensory room, the library and the hydrotherapy pool. This project has been led by Alison, Sue Knights and other governors supported by Michael Purches and his team and will make an enormous difference to the very special group of children at the NW SILC.
Chris

I started the day early at Iveson Primary School...

"The main source of good discipline is growing up in a loving family,

being loved and learning to love in return."

It was wonderful to visit the school again and start the day with breakfast with the children. And what a breakfast... muesli, fresh fruit, yoghurt, salmon and cream cheese bagels, bread, croissants, 'dark chocolate' pain au chocolat, fruit juice... it was simply amazing!

I was there to meet and talk to some visitors from Germany and Spain who were involved with Liz Benfield and her colleagues at Iveson Primary School as part of a Comenius European Project. It is great to see colleagues opening windows into other countries, other cultures, other languages and building relationships. It was fantastic to see everyone 'Wake Up and Shake Up' and to see the relationships the vistors had established with the children. Liz and her team are doing a brilliant job and this project brings the international dimension alive for the children at Iveson Primary School.
Chris

Later I met Angela Ronicle who will take up the headteacher post at Kerr Mackie Primary School in September...

It was really encouraging to talk to Angela about the opportunities to build something really outstanding at Kerr Mackie. A school with great potential, wonderful children, supportive families and serving as it does such a rich and diverse community.
Chris

My colleague Christine Marsden, Curriculum Development Manager at the Education Business Partnership sent me this e-mail about the work Linda Livesey is doing at John Smeaton Community College...

"Chris, The CLD Unit at John Smeaton Community College is something very special. The unit is run by Linda Livesey and 3 support staff. The Education Business Partnership has been working with Linda Livesey, who runs the unit, for the past 2 years. She has developed a programme of activity which embraces enterprise and uses it as a vehicle to develop literacy and numeracy skills as well as self confidence and communication. The students have set up a business called ‘Bee Crafty’ which makes and sells seasonal goods and cards. The resource which Linda has developed is available to all SEN departments and SILCs. Last year Linda ran a teacher INSET session with the EBP looking at the Bee Crafty resource but also the approach to learning and teaching which she feels gives students with specific learning difficulties the best chance of success. Linda is very conscious of the need to give the students real life experiences and uses every opportunity to do so. She is currently working on number and money recognition. I was part of a 3 hour session yesterday which involved students having to ‘buy’ the item they had been presented with, in this case fruit, using money from the ‘bank’. They had to come to the bank and select the smallest number of coins to be able to ‘purchase’ their fruit item in preparation for a shopping trip so they could buy the fruit to make the fruit salad. Linda’s energy and passion and her approach to learning and teaching provides the highest quality learning experience and one which I believe provides these young people with an excellent start in life. It was a privilege to be part of her lesson and to work with the same students who had started the Bee Crafty Company and see the progress they had made not only in literacy and numeracy but in their self confidence. Best wishes, Christine."

We are lucky here in Leeds not only to have Christine and Mike Cooper and their colleagues developing a fantastic range of brilliant Enterprise activities but to have colleagues like Linda Livesey releasing the magic with some of our most special young people at John Smeaton Community College.
Chris

Another day, another breakfast meeting. I started the day early at with the Aireborough and a couple of the Otley Family of Schools headteachers...

This was a great group of colleagues and it would be very interesting to add up the years of experience in the room and to build on their understanding of, and insights into, the real issues we are facing. We considered increasing numbers, the School Report Card, special needs and behaviour provision, early years, extended services, 'Every Child a Reader' and talked about the characteristics of brilliant provision and how schools could maintain their focus on standards with so many intiatives, so many pots of money to chase, so many consultants and experts and so much constant change. We agreed that the key is to maintain a focus on quality and to nurture passion, enthusiasm, determination, persistence and patience.

We talked about the importance of confident, self-critical and reflective practitioners who understood the learning process and were working positively with colleagues from Social Care, Health and the voluntary sector to build healthier and more sustainable communities. We talked about confident, passionate and dynamic leaders who had a clear view of what was needed to drive change and achieve that step change in outcomes we all want to see. outcomes not simply measured in terms of Level 4 at Key Stage 2 or 5 A*-C Grades at GCSE . We talked about aspiration and attainment and how we rebuild hope in communities and work more closely with mums and families.

It was a brilliant start to the day with some great colleagues amd we need to do more of this; to talk more, to share more, to network more and to celebrate more. We talked about the challenges that lie ahead with public sector budget cuts and the need to work more creatively and more collaboratively and to stop the merry go round of meetings, bureaucracy and things that made no difference to children and families and focus on those we know do.

It's great to talk.
Chris