"If I were absolutely certain about all things,
I would spend my life in anxious misery, fearful of losing my way.
But since everything and anything are aways possible,
the miraculous is always nearby and wonders shall never, ever cease."
Robert Fulghum

It has been another interesting week full of the miraculous...

On Monday, I was invited by the Race Equality Partnership to talk about what Education Leeds has achieved and how we are building the future to ensure that equality, diversity and community cohesion are at the heart of the new children's services arrangements. I then attended the official opening of the third Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month by the new Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress who opened the brilliant Roma Embroidery Exhibition at the West Park Centre.

On Thursday, I had breakfast with headteacher colleagues from the West Family of Schools at the Leeds West Academy before I moved on to the Children's Services Scrutiny Board with Eleanor Brazil and Mariana Pexton to talk about the challenges we face and how the Scrutiny Board can help us with their work over the coming year. I also met with a small group of primary headteachers to talk about the future and how they can help us restructure and focus our work as we move into the new children's services arrangements. And finally, I met with the assessor for our 'Customer Service Excellence' assessment who was incredibly positive about what he had seen and the progress we are making as an organisation.

On Friday, I attended and spoke at the 'Building our Brilliant Best' conference which aimed to celebrate the work we are doing and continue to promote and develop equality, diversity and community cohesion. And finally, I attended the Northern Finals of 'The Teaching Awards 2010' at The Carriageworks where two of our talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful colleagues were recognised. Our colleague Carey Norton from Farnley Park Maths and Computing College was the runner-up and received a distinction in the category of Specialist Schools and Academies Trust's 'Outstanding New Teacher of the Year' and our colleague Debra Kelleher from St Theresa's Catholic Primary School was the runner-up and received a distinction in the category of TDA's 'Teaching Assistant of the Year'. Carey also recieved the GTC 'Carol Adams Memorial Award for Excellence in Professional Development, Equalities and Diversity'.

We all know that this is going to be an interesting year… a year full of changes, challenges, surprises and disappointments but also a year of opportunities for those who believe they can make a difference. It is important that we all understand that organisational leadership begins with personal leadership and that we can’t be great at what we do unless we feel great about ourselves. You can’t be positive and supportive of others unless you feel positive and optimistic about yourself and the future. We must work harder to make our colleagues think, understand and believe that they are great; that they have enormous potential, that they can do anything and that the miracles and wonders are common place. I remember Lou Tice telling me that people act as they imagine themselves to be and that changing people's attitude was more important than anything else we could do. I also read a study by Cambridge University which looked at the concept of genius and came to a really interesting set of conclusions... success is about 1% inspiration; about 30 % coaching, teaching and support and about 70% sheer hard work. So it's true, you sceptics, you can be great at almost anything if you are prepared to put in the work! The only thing that is holding you back is your own perceptions of what you are capable of. I have believed for a long time that those who believe they can, can and those who believe they can't, can't... simple and working with my colleague Dirk Gilleard has reinforced and strengthened these beliefs. Isn't it sad however that many of us have convinced ourselves that we are not clever, not intelligent or not talented... which is, of course, the excuse not to work hard at being the talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful human being each and everyone of us could be! So we have to help our colleagues alter their attitudes and to alter the way they see themselves. Indeed, our primary function should be to help everyone we work with to change their self-image and to think better of themselves. We must constantly celebrate every achievement however small and work hard to inspire colleagues in Education Leeds, colleagues in schools, young people and parents and carers. We must all work to release the enormous potential that currently lies dormant in our offices, our schools and our homes and we must create an environment where these things can flourish, grow and develop. We must look after each other and ourselves… we must read great books, visit great places and immerse ourselves in great music, art and culture, and be inspired by the extraordinary world in which we live. We must continue to learn and continue to improve and develop our talents, our abilities and our skills.

We must all remember the key messages so that we nurture the magic, develop the creative edge, foster imagination and keep all our colleagues happy, healthy, safe and successful… whatever it takes. And again, in case you’ve forgotten the key messages:

• focus and work hard;
• remember to regularly take a break;
• read lots and learn from everything you do;
• celebrate other people’s achievements;
• always say thank you;
• share your experiences, your learning and your successes;
• reduce the paper;
• clean up the clutter;
• be positive;
• don’t dwell on the negatives; and
• never lie about anything important.

And when the going gets tough:

• smile and laugh at life;
• search for ways to have fun;
• breathe deeply, stretch and exercise regularly;
• get enough sleep; and
• always count your blessings.

Chris

2010 Bike to Work Scheme

The Bike to Work Scheme is now open and it’s a great chance to reduce your carbon footprint and get fit and healthy at the same time..

This year, the scheme is operating under the existing contract with Edinburgh Bicycles Co-operative until 30 June 2010. With the scheme you can hire a new bike and safety equipment over a 12-month period. You could save around a third on the normal price of a bike - If half of the journeys you make on the bike are to and from work, or between places for work, then you don’t have to pay tax or national insurance on the payments. There are some changes to the scheme this year, so if you are interested in joining, find out more on Infobase.
Chris

I moved on to the Northern finals of 'The Teaching Awards 2010' at The Carriageworks here in Leeds...

The Teaching Awards is an annual celebration of teaching and learning and provides a unique opportunity for everyone to say a special ‘Thank You’ to the inspirational and dedicated people working in our schools. Since 1998 The Teaching Awards have been celebrating outstanding teachers, teaching assistants, head teachers, governors, schools teams and sustainable schools.

The award categories and winners at the Northern finals this year were as follows:

• The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Award for Outstanding New Teacher of the Year was won by Kelly Steeples from Southdale CE Junior School. Our colleague Carey Norton from Farnley Park Maths and Computing College received a distinction in this category.
• The National College Award for Headteacher of the Year in a Primary School was won byDora Plant from Ashbrow Infant and Nursery School.
• The National College Award for Headteacher of the Year in a Secondary School was won by Royston Halford from Hawkley Hall High School.
• The DfE Award for Enterprise was won by Joanne Martin from Highfurlong School.
• The Becta Award for Next Generation Learning was won by Matthew Boot from Grappenhall Heys Primary School.
• The TDA Award for Teaching Assistant of the Year was won by Tania Jones from The Heath Specialist Technology College and Leadership Partnership School. Our colleague Debra Kelleher from St Theresa's Catholic Primary School received a distinction in this category.
• The Royal Air Force Award for Teacher of the Year in a Primary School was won by Elizabeth Taylor from St Joseph's Catholic Primary School.
• The Royal Air Force Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School was won by Mary Firth from Balby Carr Community Sports and Science College.
• The DCSF Award for Sustainable Schools was won by the Macmillan Academy.
• The Award for Outstanding School Team of the Year was won by the Performing Arts Faculty at Maghull High School.

There was also a special award at the finals. The GTC Carol Adams Memorial Award for Excellence in Professional Development, Equalities and Diversity was presented to Carey Norton from Farnley Park Maths and Computing College. This is a fantastic achievement and brilliant news for Carey, her school and for Leeds!

The national awards ceremony is on 31 October and will be hosted by BBC presenters and will be shown on BBC2.

Chris

I started the day at the 'Building our Brilliant Best' Conference at the Civic Hall...

The conference was aimed at further promoting and developing equality, diversity and community cohesion to improve outcomes for our children and young people. We wanted to focus on the journey schools and Education Leeds have been on over the last nine great years and showcase and celebrate the best practice we have developed together with the communities we serve. We also wanted to see how we can build on these strengths while we work to develop a greater understanding of the challenges we still face around poverty, deprivation and underachievement. This will help us focus our enegry and efforts to improve outcomes and create even more impact in the new children's services arrangements that will be established from April 2011.
Chris

A brilliant new facility to offer tailored support to children and young people in East Leeds was opened by my colleague Dirk Gilleard yesterday...

Vulnerable children and young people in East Leeds will benefit from a range of new services at this fantastic new facility, called ‘The Retreat’ which is part of the Oakwood Pupil Support Centre on Oakwood Lane. The Retreat will provide a number of additional education and health services to help meet the emotional and behavioural needs of local children and their families. It will provide families with a range of support services including child and adolescent mental health, a play therapist, an art therapist and a ‘Watch it’ team from the NHS which will work to tackle childhood obesity.

The Retreat adds another important element of our provision to support children, young people and their families in East Leeds.
Chris

This afternoon I met with a small group of primary headteachers to talk about the opportunities and challenges we face as we build a new Children's Services world here in Leeds against a backdrop of 'savage' budget cuts and political change and professional change...

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 children's services 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 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 to create for our children and their families and help colleagues see where they fit within this new world. We must revisit and renew the culture of children's services, refocus on leadership development, and we must all think team.

We agreed that we must refocus our locality work starting with our primary schools to create a single set of coherent and agreed localities that are consistent across all partners and the Council and we need to maintain our relentless focus on developing intelligent, focused and passionate leadership and governance within these localities.

We agreed that we must continue to focus on developing our primary schools as outstanding learning places at the heart of these localities where multi-agency teams work and connect building on the workforce in our schools to connect with partner agencies like the police, health and social care.

We agreed that we must continue to focus on improving teaching and learning, creating the WOW factor, securing quality provision and nurturing passion, enthusiasm, creativity and imagination in every classroom and every school. We must continue to improve the quality of what happens in these classrooms.

We agreed that we must nurture and develop brilliant early years practice and 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.

We agreed that we must continue to work with colleagues from Social Care, Health, the Police and the voluntary sector to support families through 'Think Family' approaches and build healthier and more sustainable communities and we must invest in workforce development to continue to develop a self-critical and reflective children's services workforce who understand how we keep our children and young people happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful.

We agreed that above all at times like this we need to talk more, to share more, to network more, to celebrate more and to continue to build on the brilliant work we have been doing together to ensure that every child and young person is happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful... whatever it takes.
Chris

I moved on to the Children's Services Scrutiny Board meting with Eleanor Brazil and Mariana Pexton...

We were with the Board to look ahead and see how they could help us on the journey we face as we build a new Children's Services world here in Leeds against a backdrop of 'savage' budget cuts and political change and professional change. The session was really helpful because it is easy to forget about the things that are really important as we wrestle with the bureaucracy, the meetings, the papers, the plans, the policies, the frameworks, the dashboards, the progress checks, the reviews and how we structure the future. However, nothing we do exists in isolation, and to release the magic during our 15% of a child's time, we must also powerfully connect with the child's family and the community where the child lives. We all know that in localities, where it really matters, our 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 making a real difference. We must continue to think about how we build the team around the school and connect that to the team around the child and the team around the family as we reinvent, re-imagine and renew children's services here in Leeds.

We must revisit the culture of children's services, refocus on leadership development, and we must all think team. I recognise of course that some colleagues feel that they are on the barricades; feeling beleaguered, disillusioned and worn down by the relentless and uncompromising pressure that never goes away. I also know some colleagues are sick of, and turned off by, our optimism, positivity and constant search for the outstanding, the exceptional and the brilliant. But, so much of what we do here in Leeds is world class: so what can't we achieve together if we aspire to excellence in everything we do; and build on, and learn from, what is working really well.

This meeting with Children's Services Scrutiny Board reminded me that we must continue to be flexible, creative and action focused, and we must cut through the bureaucracy to keep things as simple as possible while making the best possible use of increasingly limited resources. And when the going gets really tough we must simply remember why we are here...
Chris

Only seven weeks before the Summer holidays start, and then only another fourteen working weeks before Christmas with a final twelve school weeks before the contract comes to an end and Education Leeds is consigned to the history books...

So we only have thirty three working school weeks to go before a new dawn where a new children's services arrangement slides seamlessly into place and carries on the work we have been doing for the last ten years. Over the next thirty three weeks we must continue to work to make a real difference and to ensure that our legacy is much more than brilliant buildings, improved results and better outcomes. Our real legacy must be a cultural one; where our values and beliefs continue to shape provision and change lives; where our leadership continues to empower, engage and encourage colleagues to give their best; and where our systems and processes connect powerfully with best practice to release the magic.

Keep the faith!
Chris

I am aware that many colleagues feel out of the loop and disengaged from what is happening locally and nationally at the moment...

We are working with headteacher colleagues and governors to ensure that you all receive regular updates and come together to discuss the opportunities and challenges we face. It's important that colleagues regularly visit the new DfE website which has the latest picture of the rapidly changing landscape of children's services.

You can visit the website at http://www.education.gov.uk/where you can watch the video about the new Academy programme and read Michael Gove the Secretary of State for Education's letter to Ed Balls MP about the contribution the Department of Education is making to the £6.2 billion programme of efficiencies this year. Importantly, amongst the impact on Becta, QCDA, TDA, NCSL, Diplomas and 14 - 19, the new primary curriculum, one-to-one tuition and any unallocated resources, this involves a 24% cut to the Area Based Grant this year. This grant funds many of our central and school based programmes here in Leeds including ConneXions, School Development, National Strategies, City Learning Centres, Children's Fund, Positive Activities for Young People, Care Matters, Extended Schools, Healthy Schools, School Travel Advisers and Teenage Pregnancy. We'll let you know more detail as soon as we are more fully informed about the size of the savings required.

We need to maintain our relentless focus on developing intelligent, focused and passionate leadership, building the team around the child and the family, the team around the school and locality. We must continue to focus on teaching and learning, creating the WOW factor, securing quality provision and nurturing passion, enthusiasm, creativity and imagination. We must continue to improve the quality of what happens in classrooms and invest in workforce development to continue to develop self-critical and reflective children's services workforce who understand how we keep our children and young people happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful. We need to work with colleagues from Social Care, Health, the Police and the voluntary sector to support families and build healthier and more sustainable communities. We must nurture and develop brilliant early years practice and 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.

Above all at times like this we need to talk more, to share more, to network more and to celebrate more. and continue to build on the brilliant work we have been doing together to ensure that every child and young person is happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful... whatever it takes.
Chris

I had breakfast early this morning with headteacher colleagues from the West Family of Schools at the Leeds West Academy...

These sessions are wonderful opportunities to share, network and learn with colleagues who are at the front line of children's services; at the front line of keeping children and young people happy, healthy and safe and ensuring that they are all increasingly successful. We talked about the 'perfect storm' we are facing with organisational change, political change, policy refocusing and change accompanied by 'savage' budget cuts. It was deeply reassuring that every headteacher reaffirmed their commitment to improving outcomes for children, to 'think family' and to supporting and developing their local community. There was also a strong feeling that together we are stronger and together we can be more effective whatever the storm brings and whatever the weather we have to face.
Chris

There are some very hard decisions ahead for all of us with a very significant budget challenge on top of the situation we are currently facing....

Senior Government officials are talking about ‘savage and horrendous cuts’ to all our budgets to balance the budget deficit we currently face. We clearly need to work smarter, better, more closely and be more efficient and effective in everything we do. We all know that public services can and must deliver excellent, outstanding and brilliant services to the children, young people, families, citizens and communities we all serve. We need to think differently, think creatively and imaginatively and connect and use all our resources better. We need to look at how we can develop trust and empower communities and think family. We need to encourage and support more social enterprise, more use of the third sector, more use of public companies and more focus on shared responsibilities and community engagement and volunteering.

We must all ask ourselves what a modern highly effective and highly efficient local authority looks like… what it must do?... what it should do?... and what it can do?
Chris

My colleague Debbie Hawkins from Cookridge Primary School sent me this e-mail and these great photographs from their Green Generations event...

"Dear Chris, Thank you for coming to our Green Generations Afternoon on Thursday 27th May. It was lovely to see you. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and it was a great way of introducing our new garden. Hopefully by September, we will be in full production mode! As promised, here are some photos from the afternoon. Kind regards, Debbie."

As you can see it was a wonderful event bringing together the young and the old to dig and grow and plant and eat. Debbie and her colleagues should be delighted with the success of the afternoon which shows us all what you can achieve with passion, commitment and a bit of hard work.

Chris

I moved on to the official launch of our third annual Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month celebrations...

Jake Bowers editor of the June issue of the Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month Magazine writes about the need to shift a mountain of misunderstanding surrounding Britain's 300,000 Gypsy, Roma and Travellers whose educational outcomes, health and well-being, accommodation and reputation is the worst of any minority group in the country. GRT History Month gives us a chance to challenge the stereotypes, address the racism and confront prejudice as we celebrate the culture, heritage, history and creativity of these proud and private communities.
The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress joined us at the West Park Centre to officially open GRT History Month in Leeds with a wonderful exhibition of the works of Roma embroidery artist Marketa Sestakova. These beautiful embroidered pictures depict Romani life as a humane and pastoral idyll. You can find out more about what is happening during GRT History Month here in Leeds by visiting the Gypsy Roma Traveller Achievement Service website at www.grtleeds.co.uk.


The exhibition is at the West Park Centre until 25 June and then moves to the Thackray Medical Museum from 1 July until 9 August. Catch it if you can.
Chris

This afternoon, I met with the Leeds Race Equality Partnership to talk to them about the future as we move into the new children's services world...

Over the last nine wonderful years I have learned so much and we have achieved such a lot together; beginning to remodel the workforce, significantly reducing exclusions and driving up outcomes, standards and the performance of our poorest performing schools. Through our Stephen Lawrence Educational Standard work we have changed the culture, the language and the atmosphere in a significant majority of our schools building aspiration and expectations and narrowing the achievement gap. However, the understandable frustration within the group focuses on the fact that we have been working on this agenda for a long time... too long for all of us and over fifty years for others and despite our best efforts we have struggled to address the issues around poverty, deprivation and disengagement from learning which affect too many of our communities. We all need to redouble our efforts and ensure that this agenda remains a high priority within the new children's services arrangements so that we can target and focus our energies and efforts where they are needed most.
Chris

SAD NEWS!

My colleague Mark Hopkins who leads our work on Extended Services sent me this piece of sad news today...

"Chris - It is with regret that I have to bring you the sad news of Rex Hall's death on Monday 31st May 2010. Rex died suddenly of a heart attack after suffering a long illness. Rex was a tremendous advocate and supporter of our initial study support provision here in Leeds 10 years ago helping us establish 'Playing for Success' centre's at Leeds United and Rhino's and Yorkshire Cricket. Rex will be greatly missed but should always be remembered for his pioneering work in developing learning outside of the classroom - a passion and commitment that has always been supported here in Leeds. There will be a celebration event of Rex's life later in the Summer and I will ensure Leeds will be well represented to recognise, acknowledge and pay thanks for all that he has done to for the children,young people and their families and communities in Leeds. Mark."

The history of education in Leeds is full of talented, committed and influential colleagues whose passion, energy and initiative has shaped provision for the young people of Leeds and has made a real difference. Rex was one of those wonderful human beings who has shaped our history and he will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers at this sad time are with his family and friends.
Chris

Whilst it's good to really get away from it all, when you come back the enormity of what we are managing here in Leeds, with the second largest metropolitan authority in the country and the sheer scale of the challenges we face, it can seem simply overwhelming...

I had a great week away enjoying Liverpool and Oxford at their brilliant best... the Picasso exhibition at Tate Liverpool, the International Slavery Museum, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the colleges of Oxford in the summer sunshine and the Race for Life.

Since Tate Liverpool opened in 1988, the gallery has presented over 150 different exhibitions and collections displaying work by hundreds of different artists, some seen for the first time in the UK. The Picasso: Peace and Freedom exhibition brings together over 150 works by Picasso from across the world and, as well as revealing a new insight into the artist's life as a tireless political activist and campaigner for peace, provides a timely look at Picasso's work in the Cold War era.

The International Slavery Museum is based in the Merseyside Maritime Museum and opened on 23 August 2007, the date of the annual Slavery Remembrance Day, but the year was also particularly significant as it was the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade. This dynamic and thought-provoking museum aims to increase our understanding of the world around us by promoting the understanding of transatlantic slavery and its enduring impact, and addressing ignorance and misunderstanding by looking at the deep and permanent impact of slavery and the slave trade on Africa, South America, the USA, the Caribbean and Western Europe.

The Merseyside Maritime Museum tells the history of one of the world's greatest ports and the people who used it. For many, it was a gateway to a new life in other countries, but for others its importance to the slave trade had less happy consequences. This wonderful museum's collections reflect the international importance of Liverpool: from slavers to luxury liners; submarine hunters to passenger ferries; Liverpool has had a central role for centuries at sea.

Oxford is the City of Dreaming Spires, and is famous the world over for its university and its place in history. For over 800 years it has been a home to royalty and scholars, although people are known to have lived in the area for thousands of years. Oxford University has 38 colleges and six permanent private halls, all with their own character and history and all worth a visit.

The Race for Life I attended was a 5k event where women can walk, jog or run to raise money for Cancer Research UK. The Oxford event took place in the University Parks and was sponsored by Heart Radio, Headington Road Runners, the Oxford Mail and the University of Oxford. The events are organised by Cancer Research UK: the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research. Their groundbreaking work has saved millions of lives and we were told that the Race for Life events have already raised over £300 million for this wonderful cause.

And then of course you come back to earth and hit the ground hard as you realise and recognise where we are in Leeds: with the national spotlight on education and children's services; the local spotlight on political, organisational and personnel changes; and the reality of underachievement, underperformance and organisational inertia slowing the pace of change. But as always, the great thing about Leeds is that you quickly remember that, despite its size, complexity, difficulties, worries and risks, together we have achieved so much over the last nine years because our schools are generally such outstanding places; full of talented, committed and passionate colleagues supported by extraordinary teams of colleagues who share a faith and a belief that all things are possible… and they are!
Keep the faith.
Chris