Dirk and I had a really good meeting with David Jackson and Jan McKenley-Simpson from the NCSL looking at the 'Next Practice' Project at the Central Leeds Learning Federation...

We ranged across an enormous area and agreed that what was emerging from the projects across the country was that the way forward was to start local and to develop authority structures and services accordingly. My learning from a fantastic meeting was about focus and discipline and a recognition that while we undoubtedly are one of the most creative organisations I have ever worked in, that brings with it a real need to get better at a more disciplined and focused approach to evaluating, learning and cascading the outcomes.
Chris

I was invited to yet another retirement do today...

I went to Middleton Primary School to recognise the enormous contribution Stewart Forster has made over 37 years of teaching and 17 years of headship at the school. During my six years here in Leeds I have always thought that the real challenge and the real opportunity lies in schools like Middleton Primary School and what an amazing job it does... reaching out with an 'every child matters' philosophy to reach its families and its community long before the DfES decided that Every Child Matters. A lot of people will miss Stewart and I am one of them.
Chris

What a start to the week. The Evening Post ran this bumbling, confused and distorted piece 'Academy Plan for 12 Leeds Schools'...

It makes me wonder why we ever talk to journalists and whether they ever listen or even try to understand what they are being told. Most of the clumsy and badly constructed 'exclusive' was a patching together of stories from all over the place. I thought journalism was about the truth , trying to inform and educate but more and more it's simply a joke.
Chris

Lynda Gration, Assistant Headteacher and Inclusion Manager at New Bewerley Community School has written about taking STEPS to bring the community to school...

"It has long since been acknowledged that one of the ways to raise children’s levels of academic achievement is by involving the primary carer, the children’s parents themselves in the education process. Over the years schools have endeavoured, indeed worked relentlessly to achieve this aim, but in inner city areas like Beeston, South Leeds, an area of significant socio-economic decline and depression, there has been limited success.

Many parents here have their children at a very young age, they themselves have had limited education and have become trapped in their lives with few skills to enable them to change their lot. Many had become disaffected by the whole idea of training and education. Furthermore, as a result of this disaffection, many had become completely disengaged and almost ‘disabled’. Then came ‘Investment in Excellence’, a self- assertiveness, self-awareness, self-improvement and self-esteem building programme from the Pacific Institute in America.

Initially school staff were themselves trained using this programme and many found it extremely useful in their own careers. Following this first round of training, school staff were trained to facilitate the course so that it could be taken to the wider community and so STEPS was born. In a community school such as ours this once again gave us a light at the end of the arduous tunnel that was parental involvement.

School staff became committed to the programme. Our Behaviour Support Worker, our Learning Mentor and much more recently our Parental Support Worker with support from Extended Services – Family and Schools Together Team have already completed three extremely successful courses in school with parents of our children.

All schools, I am sure, have some very difficult parents to deal with every day - parents who will not engage with education, who are critical of the school system and everyone who works in it, who come into school incessantly with complaints of one sort or another, who in some instances are extremely aggressive towards staff and other parents and children. We too have had our share, but the STEPS programme has helped us enormously with some of our most difficult clients. Indeed, one of our biggest successes in involving parents in the education of their child, in giving that parent the self-esteem and courage to improve their life has been achieved through STEPS. From being probably the school’s biggest critic that parent is now employed by the school, extremely successful in her role in supporting the behaviour policy which she once despised and misunderstood and has become one of our biggest advocates.

STEPS enabled her to take a different look at her life, gave her a different perspective from which to view her difficulties and gave her the courage not only to apologise for her past attitudes and behaviour towards school, but to actively seek to change her life and to make a difference.

Over the past two years we have had a constant stream of parents, many of whom have also undertaken the STEPS course, coming into school as Parent Volunteers. This has given our school a real opportunity to reach the community and begin to change attitudes. Many of these parents have now the courage to take up college courses, achieve qualifications, go out there and look for rewarding work to make a difference to their lives and the way they feel about themselves and the wider community.

Our STEPS parents now show a commitment to the school that was never there before. Some have formed a parents group which helps to raise funds, many work voluntarily in classes helping to support children experiencing difficulties and many are now undertaking Cache courses in the hope that they can become employed in the system that once they could not access at all.

The training and understanding that our parents have developed since STEPS has also had a profound effect on their own skills as parents. Many will admit that they had significant difficulties in the past, but that they now feel much more able to manage their feelings and handle problems in a much more positive way.

Perhaps STEPS has really begun to give some meaning to the idea of ‘Lifelong Learning’ for the members of our community. We intend to continue our commitment to the STEPS course and hope in the future to reach many more of our parents and community members, so that, little by little, the message spreads and many other people whom society has disengaged and ‘disabled’ become ‘enabled’ once again."

It is wonderful to hear about the impact the STEPS programme is having on the front line.
Chris

You may have missed it but Evening Post reporter Ian Rosser visited the Oakwood Pupil Support Centre...

"TAKE Leeds's most disruptive youngsters and put them in classrooms together. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn't it? In fact, these unlikely ingredients have produced a remarkable success story in which children with a history of volatile behaviour have turned their lives around.The youngsters, aged seven to 11, are all pupils at the Oakwood Pupil Support Centre in east Leeds. From the outside, the one-story building is a bit grim – hidden away behind 6ft-high grey railings and a car park but inside some of the country's most innovative work is being done helping children re-tune to learning."

The Oakwood Pupil Support Centre is a hugely impressive place doing some great work and if you want to read more of Ian Rosser's article you can visit www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk.
Chris

I went to London Zoo yesterday in the pouring rain...

Actually, I'm not that keen on zoos but the conservation exhibition in the new 'Bugs' section was great as was the new penguin house. The new Gorilla house is fantastic , shame for the visitors that there aren't many gorillas! The whole thing is now designed to get you close to the wildlife but the way people behave I am never really convinced whether the animals are on show or whether we are the real animals!
Chris

If you get the chance over the Summer it's worth seeing the 'Impressionists by the Sea' exhibition at the Royal Academy...

I went to see the exhibition yesterday... some great Monet's Manet's, Renoir's and Courbet's...
and although it's small, the paintings are great!

Chris

I went to see Matthew Bourne's 'The Car Man' at Sadler's Wells last night...

It was a brilliant evening with the usual Matthew Bourne twist... the music was wonderful and really well performed, the set was great, the story line interesting, set in a garage and a diner, and the dancers were fantastic, particularly the men. It's on for another three weeks... if you like ballet, in fact even if you don't like ballet and you get the chance go to see it!
Chris

I see I am not alone in wondering if OfSTED is fit for purpose...

The House of Commons Select Committee on Education reported recently that "We cannot disguise our concern as to the fitness for purpose of the organisation at the present moment" and that the organisation had turned into an unwieldy bureaucracy that is in danger of becoming overstretched. The Committee took issue with light touch inspections and asked for them to properly evaluated after two years as they were not convinced as to their effectiveness. Christine Gilbert HMCI was also challenged over her statement that satisfactory was not good enough for schools. "OfSTED should take care that the discussion on the quality of provision is constructive rather than accusatory."

I am looking forward to a more positive and productive year with OfSTED!
Chris

We need all our schools to become centres of excellence for sustainablility and green issues...

We need a real push next year to ensure that we all look at:

• locally sourced healthy and sustainable food and drink;
• the efficient use of energy and water;
• the development of renewable forms of energy;
• sustainable travel, walking buses and travel plans;
• sustainable procurement and waste reduction;
• sustainable school buildings and school grounds.

This is agenda for us, our children and their families and every community we serve.

Chris