Interesting Times!

Sunday, 28 January 2007

OK so how do we build brilliant learning places?

It shouldn't be so difficult since we have outstanding practice wherever you look... I know I'll miss something but the learning landscape here in Leeds is full of brilliant stuff...

some outstanding headteachers;
some outstanding learning teams;
some outstanding primary schools;
some outstanding secondary schools;
some outstanding specialist provision for children with special educational needs;
a powerful and developing leadership development programme
an outstanding mentoring programme;
a powerful and developing framework for coaching learners;
an outstanding traveller education service;
an outstanding parenting programme delivering family support and STEPS;
an outstanding attendance programme;
an outstanding new ICT learning platform;
outstanding financial support services;
some outstanding personnel services;
an outstanding study support programme;
a powerful and developing framework for extended services;
outstanding school improvement services linking National Strategies, advisers and SIPs to drive change.

I think the trick is to think and act locally and to create places where health, equality and inclusion are at the heart of our practice in our drive for improved outcomes and world class standards. We also need to see ourselves as partners in this process... partners with parents and carers, partners with communities and faith groups,partners with businesses and further and higher education and partners with young people themselves.

I have been doing this for over thitry three years so surely by now I know the keys to achieving the sort of step change we need. I would start with the following...

engaged and involved learners;
engaged and involved parents and carers;
dynamic community governance;
passionate distributed leadership;
brilliant teaching by brilliant colleagues;
focused assessment for learning;
relevant and rewarding curriculum pathways;
powerful coaching and mentoring;
strongly targeted approaches around those underperforming;
joined-up multi-agency working to support families and children at risk; and
intelligent accountability.

Let me know what you think... what have I forgotten.. what did I get wrong... what are the answers?

Chris

1 comment:

Chris Edwards said...: Thanks
Chris; 29 January 2007 at 20:29

Brilliant Quotes!

“I must accept life unconditionally. Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.”
Margaret Lee Runbeck

“Happiness is not in our circumstances but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are.”
John B. Sheerin

“Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline.”
William L Shirer

“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase: If you pursue happiness you'll never find it.”
C.P. Snow

“Doubly rich is the man still boyish enough to play, laugh and sing as he carries and emanates sunshine along a friendly road.”
Charles R. Wiers

"Faith is not a shelter against difficulties, but belief in the face of all contradictions."
Paul Tournier

"Convictions are the mainsprings of action, the driving powers of life. What a man lives are his convictions."
Francis C. Kelley

"To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger; but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can."
Sydney Smith

"It is often just as sacred to laugh as it is to pray"
Charles R. Swindoll

"Things never go so well that one should have no fear; and never so ill that one should have no hope"
Turkish proverb

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself"
Chinese proverb

"Don't bother to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
William Faulkner

"In times of change, learners will inherit the earth,while the learned will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists"
Eric Hoffer

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
John Lennon

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."
Robert F. Kennedy

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."
Mahatma Gandhi

"Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way."
Abraham Lincoln

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King Jr.

"There is nothing in life so difficult that it cannot be overcome. This faith can move mountains. It can change people. It can change the world."
Norman Vincent Peale

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein

"Life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take but the moments that take our breath away."
Anonymous

"Patience and perseverence have a magical affect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
John Quincy Adams

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and woman to win them."
Ralph Waldo Emerson