My colleague Zoë Stead who is the Extended Schools Development Officer for the Inner Armley Cluster and based at St Bartholomew's C of E Primary School sent me this...

"An Armley school with a sense of community has reached the final of the People's Millions Big Lottery competition and is looking for your vote! St Bartholomew's C of E Primary school wants to transform a field behind the school into a real community space. At the moment the field is a blank canvas, unused by anybody. The school wants to find out what people would like to see on the field, whether it's a sensory garden, a play area, a sports area or seating. They will take those ideas and transform the field into a real community resource. But this can only happen if St Bart's wins an 'X Factor'-style public vote to get the money!

The project will feature on Calendar news on ITV1 starting at 6pm on Monday 26 th November. There will be a short film of the project and a short film about Henshaw's College, which is also bidding for the money. After the film, people will be asked to vote for their favourite. If you already know you want to vote for the Armley project, the number is available on www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/peoplesmillions from 9am on the 26th November and votes will be accepted up until midnight".

WE all need to help Pauline and colleagues to secure the resources to do this.
THINK TEAM AND VOTE ON MONDAY
Chris

Tim told us a poem about the curse of being described as normal.
Does anyone know where it comes from?
Chris

I finished the day at the Annual Education Leeds Lecture at the Hilton Hotel...

The evening started with a presentation by the fabulous children from Hugh Gaitskell Primary School. Then Professor Tim Brighouse talked to an audience of 250 of our most committed, passionate and creative colleagues about 'Creating a Positive Learning Climate - What Works?'. It was a stimulating and thought provoking evening and Tim's presentation will be available shortly on InfoBase Schools. The evening which was sponsored by RM, our strategic ICT partners, finished with a brief contribution by Cllr Richard Harker who thanked Tim for his contribution to a really enjoyable evening. The colleagues who organised and managed the evening did a brilliant job and a good time was had by all.

Tim suggested that we look to share more of our brilliant learning. Don't forget to tell me what is really great about what you are doing in your school or your service.
Chris

Later in the day I visited the new Leeds Museum in Millenium Square...

The Museum is fantastic and will really add to what is on offer from the museums here in Leeds. It has a 'learning centre' as well as a childrens lunch room and spaces which can be hired out. The Museum will open next Summer.
Chris

I started the day early at Templenewsam Halton Primary School...

I talked toKay and her wonderful deputy about the challenges they face around the building, support for children with special educational needs and standards. The school has seen a large turnover of teaching staff over the last two years and the team clearly work hard to create an attractive and stimulating learning environments for the children. The children are wonderful and 'Big Writing' is alive and well at TNHPS.

Kay Crellin and her team are doing a great job and releasing a special kind of magic.

Chris

Dirk Gilleard and I had lunch with Paul Kaiserman and the leadership team from Artforms at the West Park Centre...

Paul, Fiona, Ray and Clare wanted to talk through the contribution Artforms will be making over the next few years, the challenges and opportunities the team faces and how an Arts Centre can be used and developed.

It was a stimulating and interesting hour and a half with a brilliant group of colleagues.
Chris

I moved on to St Anthony's Catholic Primary School in Beeston...

St Anthony's is a good school well led by Maura Laverty, the headteacher. Maura and her team have created a wonderful learning environment. The children had very positive attitudes to learning, were well motivated and relationships were very good.
Chris

I started the day early with Chief Superintendent Mark Milsom at Holbeck Police Station...

West Yorkshire Police have been supporting South Leeds High School and we were meeting to catch up on the progress the school is making.
Chris

Tomorrow sees the start of Anti-bullying Week and we are launching another brilliant campaign which is called 'The Power of Me'...

The campaign has been developed with young people from 22 schools across the city and is a whole city approach to help us build resilience in our young people, to tackle cyber-bullying and to stamp out bullying wherever it happens. The pilot scheme at Ralph Thoresby High School has:

• a peer support team trained by Childline as first point of contact for anyone who has been bullied or feels unsafe;
• Leeds Rugby Foundation providing positive breaktime activities;
• The Anti-bullying Alliance has trained the staff;
• Restorative Justice training involving the West Yorkshire Police and Leeds City Council's Youth Offending Team;
• 'Mission Transition' a musical productio to support transition to seciondary school.

'The Power of Me' is sponsored by First Direct Bank and provides help and advice to anyone who is experiencing bullying or dealing with it in schools. Bus adverts are helping to raise the profile of the scheme which is supported by posters, postcards and stickers. If you want to find out more about the scheme contact my colleague Hilary Farmery on hilary.farmery@educationleeds.co.uk.

Chris

I don't know if you saw it, but I read in the Times Educational Supplement that The Ashden Trust, one of the Sainsbury trusts, makes awards to schools for their energy policies...

The awards are for £15000 and £5000 but entries close on 4 December so you need to be quick! The website is at http://www.ashdenawards.org/.
Chris