I have just got back from a break in Rome...

It was great simply to get away from it all and enjoy being in one of the most wonderful cities in the world; it's history, it's monuments and churches, its food and wine, it's drivers, it's approach to health and safety and it's people. I had time to think as well and to consider the agenda for the next seven weeks. We all need to keep it simple, be totally honest whatever the cost, think carefully about the best solutions to the many challenges we face and most importantly remember that actions speak louder than words.

I have just switched on my computer and my mobile phone and I discover that I am catapulted straight back into a crazy world of e-mails, letters, complaints, politics, news stories, admissions, pregnancies and births, school places and provision, exclusions, problems and mistakes, young deaths, OFSTED, Academies, governance and accountability, special needs and behavioural concerns. However, here too I believe that the answers are the same; we need to keep it simple, be totally honest, think carefully about the best solutions and remember that actions speak louder than words.

Our challenge over the next seven weeks is to keep the faith, preserve our culture and our values and continue to do what we believe is right to build brilliant learning in brilliant learning places for all our children, our young people and their families here in Leeds... whatever it takes!

And always remember...

"It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

Believe in what you are doing and keep the faith!
Chris