NEWLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS!

I started the day at the Newly Qualified Primary Teachers Induction  & Welcome Event at The Village Hotel in Headingley...


My colleagues from our Primary Advisory Team, and from our Hunman Resources Team, had worked really hard to set up this day for the 150 talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful teachers who have joined our primary schools and SILCs this year. It was inspiring to be able to talk to so many young colleagues starting their learning journey here in Leeds as members of a simply wonderful primary and special school workforce. I talked about the critical importance of the work we do in the early years where we build the foundations for learning and the importance of programmes like Every Child a Reader and Every Child Counts to ensure that every child is becomes a brilliant little learner by the time they leave their primary school. I talked about the work we are doing with healthy schools, healthy playtimes, PE and school sport, school food, sustainable schools, inclusion and the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard. I talked about the WOW factor and how every school had to continue to strive to be outstanding. The difference between being in a classroom with a great teacher and a classroom with an OK teacher is enormous in terms of achievment and attainment. So eevryone has to be a learner and develop their craft and their practice so that we are constantly learning from each other and learning from the best.

Standing talking to these wonderful colleagues reminds me of being in a school assembly and looking at the talent, the potential and the magic and again you wonder what we can't achieve together here in Leeds. The future is certainly bright for primaary education in Leeds if these colleagues are anything to go by!
Chris