Last week was a brilliant one. Half-term has arrived and with it darker evenings, colder winds and the shops full of Christmas stuff...

We launched the new Packed Lunch Policy Guidance at South Leeds Stadium and held the fifth Stephen Lawrence Education Standard awards at Space@Hillcrest. Two brilliant events focused on issues that really matter in our quest to ensure that all our children an young people are happy, healthy, safe and successful .

I visited two of our primary schools: Kippax North Junior and Infant School and Otley Ashfield Primary School where colleagues are creating brilliant learning environments and achieving great things. I also visited two fantastic secondary schools: Pudsey Grangefield School and Carr Manor High School where colleagues are inventing the future.

We are nurturing, coaching and training the next generation of entrepreneurs, innovators, scientists, artists, designers, architects, you name it whoever is going to save the world. It is easy to forget in the midst of the credit crunch,the meltdown of the banking system, the developing recession and the Government's bailout of the city that the future all depends on places like Kippax North Junior and Infant School, Otley Ashfield Primary School, Pudsey Grangefield School and Carr Manor High School continuing to release the magic.
Chris