Dirk and I started the day early having breakfast with headteachers from the Pudsey Family of Schools...

These headteachers are a great group of colleagues doing some amazing work with children and families. We considered increasing numbers, 21st Century Schools, special needs and behaviour provision, early years, extended services and talked about the characteristics of brilliant provision. We agreed that we need to maintain a focus on teaching and learning, on the WOW factor, on quality provision and how we nurture passion, enthusiasm, creativity and imagination. We talked about the importance of improving the quality of what happens in classrooms and developing self-critical and reflective classroom practitioners who understand the learning and teaching process. We also need to work positively with colleagues from Social Care, Health and the voluntary sector to support families and build healthier and more sustainable communities.

We need to develop brilliant early years practice and to ensure that Every Child is a Reader and Every Child Counts by the time they are seven or eight. And we need to ensure that as far as possible all our children became brilliant little learners by the time they leave primary school and are on a pathway to success by the time they are sixteen. It was a brilliant start to the day with some great colleagues and we need to do more of this; to talk more, to share more, to network more and to celebrate more. We talked about the challenges that lie ahead and the need to be more creative and more collaborative and to stop the merry go round of meetings, bureaucracy and things that made no difference to children and families and focus on those we know do.
Chris