This afternoon I met with Steve Williamson from Renew...

It was great to meet Steve and talk about the opportunities and challenges we face as we move into this new world. It was a great session which really helped me think about the areas we need to explore and manage as we build the team around the child, the team around the family and most importantly the team around the school as we reinvent, re-imagine and renew what a local authority does here in Leeds. We all know that nothing we do exists in isolation, and to release the magic during our 15% of a child's time, we must powerfully connect with the child's family and the community where the child lives. We need to trust, train, develop and empower communities to take responsibility and work with those communities who we all serve to create a new set of arrangements where real power lies where it belongs. We all know that in localities, where it really matters, our primary schools are at the front line of what we are doing. They reach out into every community across the city, touching and shaping young lives and are already making a real difference. We agreed that we must work together to build a powerful and compelling picture of the future we want where working with the third sector, social enterprise, public companies and voluntering fill the gaps left by local authorities. We agreed that we must continue to focus on developing our primary schools at the heart of these localities where multi-agency teams work and connect with families, the elderly and those who need us most and building on the workforce in our schools to connect with partner agencies to build self-esteem and efficacy, to narrow the gap and to really make a difference where it matters.
Chris