It's been one of those weeks when young people have largely stolen the show although I have been surrounded by brilliant colleagues doing great things...

I started the week at another INVEST celebration with Jane Haswell and an amazing group of mums she has trained up as volunteers. I also attended the parent partnership service's celebration of their Chartermark re-accreditation at the Blenheim Centre. I visited Middleton St Mary's Church of England Primary School to attend the official opening of their wonderful Woodlands Community Garden by the Lord Mayor. I visited Tranmere Park Primary School and was treated to a little bit of Kirsten Finley's magic. I had a great lunch with the early years support team who provide outstanding support to the families of some of our most precious children. I visited Blackgates Primary School to attend their summer concert and be entertained by some of Elaine Kay-Devanney's really talented young people. I attended the third Willow's Young Carers Event at the Leeds City Museum as part of the National Carers Week to see Sheila Davenport and her wonderful young carers. I visited Benton Park School to attend their World Religion Day to see a little bit of the special day David Foley's colleagues had arranged for Year 7 students. And finally, I visited the East SILC for a meeting with the specialist inclusive provision group who are re-engineering all our specialist provision for a 21st century world.

It was great to spend time with Sarah Graham, Elaine Kay-Devanney, Kirsten Finley and David Foley at some great schools, and with Shelley Allinson, Sarah Tarrant, Bridget Mork, Jane Haswell, Sheila Davenport, Lorayne Farrington and Graham Newell who are doing brilliant things. However, my week was enriched and brought to life by young people; by Abbey, Stan, Eshe, Daniel, Tom, Isabella, Katharine and Isobel at Tranmere Park, by Alex and Hannah at Benton Park, by the children at Middleton St Mary's and by the musicians at Blackgates. They were brilliant and talented young people and wonderful ambassadors for their schools and for learning in Leeds.
Chris