Interesting Times!

Thursday, 13 March 2008

I went on to a great little primary school...

Bracken Edge Primary School has just been visited by our friends from OFSTED and given a clean bill of health after 15 months with a 'notice to improve'... it is a brilliant achievement by Julie Harkness, the headteacher, and her colleagues, who are also manging in a constrained site while their new extension is being built. Julie told me that it will be open in five weeks.

It's funny I remember visiting the school when I started here in Leeds and being shocked by the dreadful condition of their village of temporary classrooms. The school has developed and grown with its Space@ facilities and now the wonderful new extension.

Julie and Alan Moore, her chair, showed me around the school and we all talked about the challenges and opportunities facing the school. It was great to see what Julie and the team have achieved, the real enthusiasm amongst Julie's colleagues and to meet some of her fantastic children... one of whom gave me my first Easter card this year. Julie is planning for the next OFSTED to be good and then outstanding!
Chris

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi Chris,
The quote you left on your blog is brilliant - 'So love the people who treat you right'.
Unfortunately as Inclusion Support Workers for The Early Years SEN services (based at Blenheim)we don't feel as if we have been 'Treated right'.
As dedicated, committed, experienced, qualified professionals we now feel totally demorilised, under valued and worthless.
As through job evaluation we have been equated to a Nursery Nurse who works in a school(who incidentally do a fantastic job).
We can't really comprehend this as our roles are totally different:

We work on our own, advising and supporting early years staff and children with SEN across the city.
We develop and deliver training which promotes inclusion to whole staff teams.
We support parents and carers in the home offering ideas and strategies.
We are valued and respected by our colleagues, other professionals and our client group.

Then if we go pro rata our wages will be below the national poverty line so we don't feel as if we are being 'treated rignt'.
So to get back to your quote. It's very hard to feel this way when you feel'Beaten!'

We would really like to meet with you, as you have always said that you are approachable.

Caroline Walsh, Jayne Watson, Angela Harrison, Alice Franklin, Angie Frost, Erma Norford.; 14 March 2008 at 10:21
Chris Edwards said...: Hi Caroline, Jayne, Angela, Alice, Angie and Erma,
I would be happy to meet with you all whenever we can arrange something. It would also give me an opportunity to get to Blenheim.
Hope to see you all soon.
Chris; 14 March 2008 at 13:21

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