I ended the day at Brigshaw High School where Paul Brough-Jones and Liz Jones had organised a Conference for governors and staff from the nine schools in the Brigshaw Cluster of Schools to look at the opportunities that exist to take their brilliant partnership working forward...

This cluster is at the leading edge of work in Leeds and the region developing Extended Services and partnership and multi-agency working in this new Children's Services world. The schools were all keen to start to explore how they might further develop their practice and their working together to provide even better support to children, young people, their families and their communities.

Mary Neate from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust provided her insights into the new and developing Trust Model while Councillor James Lewis and I provided a Leeds City Council and Education Leeds perspective. My view is that clusters should start local, determine what they want to achieve and then see if the Trust model would help them deliver it.

If any other schools are interested in looking at these issues we would be happy to help and Paul and Liz from the Brigshaw Cluster and Paul Edwards and Hazel Willis from the Garforth Cluster would be good people to talk to and possibly to invite to a meeting in your piece of Leeds.

It's good to talk and even better to listen.
Chris