I went to Woodlands Primary School first thing this morning...

Woodlands Primary School was inspected by OfSTED recently and I read the report last night and wanted to go and thank the learning team. The report is really positive and shows the incredible progress that colleagues have made. What is really encouraging is the comments about the quality of pastoral care and support for the children which as we all know underpins their personal development and well-being. The report also highlights the fact that "the children learn in a calm, supportive and encouraging environment centred on positive, yet purposeful relationships."

What makes Woodands Primary School such a brilliant success story?

• strong and passionate distributed leadership;
• a wonderfully committed learning team who passionately believe in what they are doing;
• clear, shared vision, values and beliefs driving the work of the school;
• confident, creative and passionate use of appropriate strategies and approaches to raise standards;
• high shared expectations of children and the whole learning team;
• strong, dynamic and wonderful relationships;
• inspiring teaching within a nurturing culture;
• individual tracking and focused interventions;
• high parental support, engagement and involvement.

It's wonderful to see and I am deeply grateful to everyone who has been part of the Woodlands story over the last two years.

Chris

It's funny but I received a comment from Mary who had just come across the blog. "u've got a nice job. visiting Tony Blair and a few schools, interesting. But what exactly do you do?" I sometimes ask myself that question... what does the Chief Executive of Education Leeds actually do?

I suppose the answer is I lead a brilliant organisation which has made an incredible difference over the last six years; a team of about 1200 brilliant, talented, gorgeous and wonderful people working with 270 schools, 16000 colleagues and around 4000 governors transforming outcomes for 113000 children and young people. Our success measured by a 25% increase in good grade GCSE results, an extra two days attendance for every child in Leeds and a 50% reduction in permanent exclusions. Our schools are fantastic... 25% of our primary schools are outstanding and our SILCs (special schools) are good with outstanding features according to OfSTED, and our secondary schools are improving year on year.

We have over this time developed a range of truly exceptional toolkits and programmes which are building brilliant learning places consistently across Leeds... from Healthy Schools, Inclusion programmes, Stephen Lawrence Education Standard, Study Support programmes, Breakfast Clubs, Wake and Shake, Investors in Pupils, Playing for Success, STEPS, Travellers support, PE and School Sport programmes, Assylum Seekers support, Talented and Gifted programmes, Mentoring programmes, Parent Support programmes... you name it we do it!

OK there is still a lot to do but we are getting there!
Chris

"Every moment is a golden one for anyone who has the vision to recognise it as such."
Henry Miller

I visited a wonderful school this morning...
I went to Seven Hills Primary School in Morley where Pauline Potter and her team are clearly doing a great job. I was shown around the school by two members of the School Council... Liam and Olivia... who were brilliant adverts for the school; articulate, confident, passionate, bright and clearly very talented learners. Liam and Olivia said that the best thing about Seven Hills Primary School was the learning team and the fact that everyone was really friendly.

I really enjoyed looking around the school with Liam, Olivia and Pauline. The children were brilliont, the atmosphere was great and the learning environment wonderful... shame about the fact that the roof leaks when it rains! However, I have to say that the best bit about my visit was going into the school hall and finding all of Key Stage 2 children doing 'Wake and Shake'... I simply had to join in and it was fantastic. It's funny how a small burst of exercise can not only make you feel good and get the heart racing but also releases a WOW factor that really brightens the day... a bit like chocolate and red wine!

Pauline and the team at Seven Hills Primary School are certainly releasing a very special kind of magic.
Chris

"The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind... computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathisers, pattern recognisers and meaning makers. These people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society's richest rewards and share it's greatest joys."

From 'A Whole New Mind' by Dan Pink

Dan Pink's brilliant book offers a fresh look at what it takes to excel in this new conceptual age. 'A Whole New Mind' identifies the six skills on which, Dan argues, our professional success and our personal fulfillment now critically depend, and includes a series of hands-on exercises to help us develop the necessary abilities.

This book not only changes how we see the world but how we experience it as well. Visit Dan's website at http://www.danpink.com
Chris

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst…a spark that creates extraordinary results."
Antoni Hadi

I don't know if you saw Estelle Morris' 'Opinion' piece in the Guardian today but it is worth reading...

"When we talk about chaotic families or the breakdown of some communities, we rightly look to schools to solve them. Whether we are worrying about drug use, underage sex, obesity, alcohol or poor parenting someone will always ask what schools are doing about it. Esssentially we are asking schools to do the job of families and communities as well as their own.

There is no holy grail, no magic solution yet to be found to all this. The answers are there, in the system. There are already successful initiatives in our schools and in voluntary organisations. We must find them and invest heavily in them. If mentors have worked, employ more; if small classes help, do that; if it's an alternative curriculum that's proved to be successful, go for it.

Schools are the solution, they are not the problem, but we will need to be much more determined to find their successes and back them up."

I am sure we all agree.
Chris

P.S. You can read the whole article at the Guardian's website http://www.guardian.co.uk

"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination." John Schaar

We had another meeting this morning with colleagues from the DfES and Partnerships for Schools (PfS). This followed up the initial discussions with Lord Adonis, the DfES and the meeting yesterday with the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State and Lord Adonis. Things are moving rapidly and we need to engage with our partners and our schools as we rethink and reshape the strategic vision for secondary and post-16 learning here in Leeds. We need to think how trusts and academies can help us to drive the standards agenda and achieve the sort of outcomes we all want to see for our young people... and we need to do it quickly to meet the timetable we have set with the Council, with the LSC and with PfS.
Chris

"The ideas that have lighted my way have been kindness, beauty and truth."
Albert Einstein

It has been a very strange day...

I got up at 3.30 to catch the 5.05 train to London from Leeds. Cllr Richard Harker and I arrived in London at 7.30, made our way across London to Westminster and had coffee and bacon sandwiches near Whitehall while we waited for our allocated time.

We arrived at 10 Downing Street at 8.45, went through the security systems and the door of Number 10 opened. We were ushered in to a Boardroom with a large table with name labels and a large flat screen TV. Three groups were there... one from Birmingham, one from Sheffield and us. Each group had a lead member, the lead for school improvement and senior colleagues from local universities. We were accompanied by Michael Arthur, Vice Chancellor of the University of Leeds and Anne Gregory, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University.

The meeting was chaired by Tony Blair, with Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, and Lord Andrew Adonis. Schools Minister in the House of Lords with responsibility for the Academies Programme. We all watched a DVD about a school in Nottingham which had awful buildings and poor outcomes. Nottingham University was sponsoring an Academy, with a health specialism, to replace the school. Tony Blair then asked each authority to talk about their strategy and vision for Academies...

This is what I said...
"With the Government’s help over the last six years we have transformed the learning landscape in Leeds. We have reviewed and restructured the whole of the central area of the city… closing schools, introducing new leadership and governance and opening new and inspiring facilities. We opened three new PFI secondary schools and an Academy in September 2006 with two more PFI secondary schools opening this September. We are also in Wave One of Building Schools for the Future and a further fourteen secondary schools around this central core will be remodelled and rebuilt with the first phase due to open in September 2008.

We have transformed standards and outcomes and moved from a situation where, in 2001, only 38% of our young people achieved 5 good GCSE’s to a situation where, last year, 52% of our young people achieved this important benchmark. We have also increased annual attendance by on average two additional days for every young person in Leeds and reduced permanent exclusions by around 50%.

We are working hard to address some of the continuing concerns around standards. We are working with the Learning and Skills Council to renew the 14 – 19 provision in Leeds… replacing worn-out colleges and inefficient and ineffective school sixth forms with inspiring highly effective provision. We have established links with Stockholm and Brno and are planning links with Helsinki to develop our leadership practice, explore personalisation and to learn from the best educational practice in Europe. We welcome the latest opportunities in ‘The Education and Inspections Act’ and we are planning to creatively use Trusts and Academies to ensure that we continue to drive up standards and achieve truly world class outcomes for our young people. We aim to set ourselves the most ambitious targets of any authority in the country, where we aim to get 80% of our young people to Level 2 qualifications by 2015 with 95% progressing to further and higher education.

Drawing, on the Manchester model, we are working with our partners in Leeds, including the University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University, to build learning and progression pathways with centres of real excellence that link to the economic, business and regeneration agendas for the City. A central learning trust with a central network of specialist Academies could help us deliver the outcomes we all want to see in Leeds."

Tony, Alan and Andrew all said that they were genuinely impressed at the vision for learning provision in the three cities and would do all they could to help us achieve our ambitious agendas for change. Colleagues from the DfES are coming to Leeds tomorrow to continue the discussions.

I'll keep you posted!
Chris

"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted."
Aesop

When Tim Pearson from RM came to see me last week he promised to send me something. Each year, TED Conferences involve some 'trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses'. The talks they deliver have had such an impact on their audiences, they are now offering them to a wider audience. Each week, they release a new talk, in audio and video, to download or watch online. They say that for best effect, plan to listen to at least three, start to finish. It is a brilliant website and the talks are supposed to have a cumulative effect... Their website is at http://www.ted.com/tedtalks

Tim sent me a promotional video cast produced by TEDtalks featuring Richard St John. The theme was 'what leads to success?' and Richard had identified eight factors...

• passion;
• hard work;
• being good at what you do;
• focusing on what you do;
• pushing yourself;
• giving great service;
• having brilliant ideas; and
• persistence.

Richard goes on to argue that persistence is the number one reason for anyone's success.

Chris

"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into a flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light."
Albert Schweitzer

It is strange how colleagues in Leeds have time and again helped me through the dark days and the troubled times and inspired me with their outstanding practice. Together, we have achieved so much over the last six years but we are all constantly being called to account and asked to do more... get all our schools above the floor targets, remove all our schools from Special Measures and Notices to Improve, radically improve standards and outcomes for target groups of young people, tackle ineffective and inefficient sixth forms, improve NEET outcomes, achieve better and better outcomes for everyone... the list goes on and on and every time you achieve something and feel great , someone raises the bar, changes the rules of the game and off we go again!

Tomorrow, Cllr Richard Harker and I are off to London at the crack of dawn to see Tony Blair and Alan Johnson. We were invited at the last moment by Lord Adonis to outline our approach to driving up secondary standards and how we see Academies contributing to the developing strategy. The other authorities at the meeting are Birmingham and Sheffield so it will be interesting to see their approach.

Wish me luck.
Chris

I saw this great little publication called 'Love Life, Live Lent' which the Church of England has produced for lent and to encourage people to carry out random acts of kindness! It's based on ideas from the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation whose website contains some brilliant free stuff. Anything that will make the world a happier place is OK by me. You can find out more at http://www.livelent.net and http://www.actsofkindness.org/
Chris