I started the day early at Kippax Ash Tree Primary School...

The school was part of the ten primary school PfI project we completed a couple of years ago and it looks great although there are clearly problems with space and subsidence. Victoria Ford, the new headteacher, showed me round and talked to me about some of the challenges she and her colleagues are facing particularly in raising standards in maths. The SILC partnership with the East SILC means that the school is home to a group of children with complex needs and it seems to be going really well apart from the problems with space.

Victoria is very obviously a talented and experienced headteacher who has brought a real focus on standards, tracking, monitoring and intervention and the school is moving forward well under her very committed and passionate leadership supported by her strong and developing leadership team.
Chris

I wemnt to the South Leeds CLC the other day and it is brilliant. The Centre has been transformed and the team are great.... at least that is what Sally said I should say! It certainly was buzzing when I visited!
Chris

I went on to Executive Board...

“Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman,

before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.”
John Quincy Adams

The Board endorsed our approach to the 14 - 19 Review and so begins a huge programme of consultation and option appraisals to develop a coherent and well thought out set of proposals that we can take back to Executive Board in the Spring. This represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform 14 - 19 provision and achieve the sort of outcomes that we need to underpin the ongoing success of the city.
Chris

I went on to a hugely impressive event organised and managed by Sue Knights, Sue Williamson and Ian Falkingham on behalf of the NW SILC Parents Forum...

The City wide Market Place Event at the Civic hall brought together colleagues from agencies and the voluntary and community sector who work with children with special and additional needs. It was officailly opened by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Brain Cleasby and it enabled parents and carers to see the range of support available to them:

• Aiming High for Diabled Children
• Choice Advice Service;
• Early Years SILC;
• Parent Partnership Service;
• Early Years Service;
• Inclusion Support Team;
• Leeds Play Network;
• Deaf and Hearing Impaired Team;
• Visually Impaired Team;
• Community Paediatric Audiology Service;
• Leeds PCT Learning Disabilities Service;
• martin House;
• Leeds University Student Action Group;
• Wilf Ward;
• Children's Social Care Services;
• Herd Farm;
• Youth Services;
• ComnneXions;
• Donkey Sanctuary;
• Pyramid of Arts;
• Snaps;
• The Hub;
• Disability Benefits Team;
• Job Centre Plus;
• association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus;
• Hawthorn Family support Centre;
• Cerebral Palsy Sport;
• Disabled Sports;
• Willows young Carers;
• Library Service;
• Carers Leeds.

I know that I will have missed some of those who were there and if you missed it you missed something really special. I hope that we can make it an annual event!

Chris

I started the day early with a headteachers breakfast at the Manor Golf Club in Drighlington...

The meeting was with the Rothwell and Morley families of Schools and although breakfast was delayed because the chef was stuck on the motorway it was a great opportunity to share and talk about the challenges we face in Leeds and in these Families.

We talked about the wicked issues which challenge us all everyday:

• developing leadership and governance;
• building brilliant learning;
• tackling underachieving groups;
• supporting underachieving schools;
• developing inclusive learning;
• building better schools.

We alos briefly looked at succession planning, Trusts, federations and new models of governance. These are great headteachers doing a brilliant job driving up standards, developing extended services and working together to share their practice.

Chris

I ended the day yesterday at Governor Forum...

Stephen Rennie chairs the Forum and it was another great meeting covering some really critical issues:

• Education under Gordon Brown;
• Governance of extended services;
• our new Inclusive Learning Strategy;
• Locality working in a Children's Services world;
• the 14 - 19 review.

The Governor Forum is a vital mechanism for sharing and learning with a representative group of our key strategic leaders who help us shape our services, continue to hold us to account and challenge us to do better.

Chris

I went on to the South Leeds CLC to meet with the secondary headteachers and the college principals to talk about the 14 - 19 review...

We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform the outcomes our young people achieve at 16 and 19 and to use the funding from Building Schools for the Future and the Learning and Skills Council to transform the learning landscape. It is great to see that their is a real commitment to work together to do this and tackle some of the endemic issues facing us here in Leeds. Our challenge now is to turn the rhetoric into action anfd outcomes!
Chris

I started the day early at Christ Church Upper Armley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School with Pat Richards and her team...

I chatted to Pat over a cup of coffee before we did 'Wake Up and Shake Up' at 8.50 to 'When the Going Gets Tough!' with the whole school in the playground led by the young PE coordinator and Pat... and it was wonderful to see the way the children responded and the real buzz it gave everyone including me! I then moved on with Pat and her Assistant Headteacher to Year 6 who were having a French breakfast with coffee and croissants for the big people... c'est magnifique! After a brief tour of the school, which was playing host to the West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Blah Blah Theatre Company, finished my visit with Pat and Doreen Armitage, her Chair of Governors.

The school has made real progress under Pat's leadership over the last few years and as I walked around the school with Pat I could see that these are very special children and the culture and ethos Pat has worked so hard to create was there in the Wake Up and Shake Up session and in the French breakfast.

What makes Christ Church Upper Armley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School such a great place? The answers...

• Pat's strong and passionate leadership;
• a talented, energetic Assistant Headteacher and some enthusiastic colleagues;
• clear values and beliefs driving the work of the school;
• a focus on purposeful teaching within a positive learning environment; and
• some fantastic young people!

Pat and her team are working hard to create something really special at Christ Church Upper Armley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School .

Chris

I spent the evening with Shirley Parks and other colleagues from the Leadership Team...

Shirley is leaving us this week to join Partnership for Schools and we will all miss her energy and enthusiasm; her passion and commitment and just miss her for what she has brought to Education Leeds. Still PfS will gain an extraordinary colleague who knows how to release the magic!
Chris

Yesterday was one of those days when I am unsure who I am...

I attended Leadership Team as Chief Executive of Education Leeds, Children's Services Leadership Development Session as a member of Rosemary Archer's leadership team and the Inner North East Area Committee as a member of Paul Rogerson's Corporate Leadership Team.
Interestingly in all three what came through powerfully was a sense of real pride to work here in Leeds and to serve the people of this great city.
Chris