The BETT Show

I am in London writing this from the RM Innovation Centre using this wonderful EeePC...

I was invited to the RM lunch at this year's BETT show and not having been to the show before it's a staggering exhibition of the best of ICT. Everywhere you look there are brilliant ideas to transform learning in and out of the classroom. I am also here to attend the BETT Awards Dinner where we are shortlisted for one of the wards for the Bluewave Swift materials. Watch this space!
Chris

This new Eee PC is such a great addition to the toolkit and is helping me to get my crazy, chaotic life in order...

Like everyone else, I am trying to understand the potential the ICT revolution has for changing how I work and how we all work and where we all work and to put it bluntly what we all do! I was reading in The Times today that the number of people working in some internet industries is so small that the whole concept of meaningful work is needing to be re-defined and re-thought. What do you do that is meaningful and makes a difference and can't be automated and done by machine?

Whatever it is, focus on it and do it brilliantly!
Chris

At the end of term I wanted to thank everyone for everything they had done over a great year and, as you know, I announced my own awards for those colleagues and teams who have gone the extra mile and released that special Education Leeds magic...

Some of you have been brave enough to tell me that you fundamentally disagree with that approach and consider that you are part of a team where everyone contributes to the overall achievements, everyone is potentially a winner, a star, and a talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful colleague… some of you felt that the list was devisive and unhelpful because it recognised colleagues close to me and left out others who have made really important and significant contributions behind the scenes.

I knew it was a dangerous strategy but thanks for the feedback and I am sorry if you felt left out. You are part of a great and uniquely special team which constantly and consistently releases the magic across Leeds.
Chris

I was reading in The Guardian an article by Oliver James about Selfish Capitalism...

"The scary thing is that since 1982 the top 1% of British earners have doubled their share of the national income from 6.5% to 13%. In 1980 the FTSE 100 Chief Executives earned 20 times the national wage and now it is an obscene 133 times. Over the years of the Labour Government the richest 0.3% grabbed over half of everything increasing their share of the wealth by 79% over the last five years.

Add to this that 23% of Americans, British, Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians sufferred mental illness during the last twelve months compared to only 11.5% of Germans, Italians, French, Belgians, Spanish and Dutch,

In our 'Big Brother/It Could Be You' society the combination of inequality and materialism creates unrealistic aspirations, stimulates consumerism and creates needy, miserable people who are somehow suckered into perfectionistic, competitive workaholism.

Before long Oliver James predicts we will get a passionate, charismatic leader, probably a woman, who advocates the unselfish capitalism of our neighbours or even the Scandinavian countries... giving us all reduced consumerism and greater equality, more ecological sustainability and halving the incidence of mental illness within a generation."

I can't wait!
Chris

My colleague Danielle Brearley let me know about the progress we are making with raising money for Martin House...

"Hi Chris, I thought you might like to know we've had the figure through from Martin House this morning, and we've raised a total of £20,600.29 so far.

We haven't paid in any of the money from the Christmas Auction yet either, so we'll probably be at £21,000 when we do! Danni"

It's great that we have managed to rasie this amount of money and I hope that we will all continue to work to reach the target of £50,000!

Chris

My colleague Jenny Marshall sent me this e-mail about the work that is happening around achieving Chartermark...

"Dear Chris, As you know we are building on the success of all the 9 teams who have been awarded Charter Mark standard by applying for it corporately. We are applying under the new criteria and hopefully will be one of the first organisations to be awarded this standard which is so new it still hasn't been given a name.

There are 5 criteria - customer Insight, the culture of the organisation , information and access, delivery and timeliness and quality of service. We need to ensure that all Education Leeds employees buy into providing excellent customer led service which all our customers, schools, pupils, families, and the community, deserve. It will be fantastic if we can gain this prestigious award but even better will be the ethos and improvements that come with its implementation.

We have our preassessment in late February and we are working hard to prove to the assessor that we are provide a proactive and excellent service using many examples of good practice throughout the company so that we can progress to full assessment around Easter time.

I know that you have always championed our Charter Mark submissions and hope that you will once more champion and lead us to continually improving our services for our customers. Jenny"

I hope that everyone will support Jenny and her colleagues as we work on this important recognition and celebration of our work here in Leeds.
Chris

Launch of the FUNKY FEET Programme

I attended the launch of the 'Funky Feet' physical activity programme this morning ...

The programme builds on the 'Wake Up and Shake Up' sessions and aims to further develop physical activity in primary schools in the St Mary's Menston School Sport Partnership. The programme is a partnership between St Mary's and Leeds Trinity and All Saints whose students are supporting the programme in schools.

Anything that ensures that our children get more physical activity must be a good thing and it was great to see the young people and colleagues working on their co-ordination and timing through a fun skill based activity programme to 'Funky' dance music. The energy, enthusiasm and enjoyment was really obvious and I hope that the programme goes from strength to strength.
Chris

If we could shrink the earth's population

I also found this which I hope will make you think and reflect on how lucky we all are...

"If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:

• 57 Asians
• 21 Europeans
• 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
• 8 would be Africans
• 52 would be female
• 48 would be male
• 70 would be non-white
• 30 would be white
• 70 would be non-Christian
• 30 would be Christian
• 89 would be heterosexual
• 11 would be homosexual
• 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
• 80 would live in substandard housing
• 70 would be unable to read
• 50 would suffer from malnutrition
• (ONE)1 would be near death;
• (ONE)1 would be near birth;
• (ONE)1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education;
• (ONE)1 (yes, only 1) would own a computer.

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent. And, therefore . . .

• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
• If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
• If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
• If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.
• If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.
• As you read this and are reminded how life is in the rest of the world, remember just how blessed you really are!"

I always try to count my blessings and understand how fortunate I am. This rather puts it all into perspective in 2008!
Chris

What I learned in life

I found this on the internet over Christmas...

"I've learned -that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
I've learned-that no matter how much I care, some people just don't care back.

I've learned-that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.

I've learned-that it's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.

I've learned-that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better know something.

I've learned-that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do.

I've learned-that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I've learned-that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I've learned-that you can keep going long after you can't.

I've learned-that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I've learned-that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I've learned-that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.

I've learned-that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I've learned-that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I've learned-that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I've learned-that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're downwill be the ones to help you get back up.

I've learned-that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I've learned-that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I've learned-that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

I've learned-that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I've learned-that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.

I've learned-that your family won't always be there for you. It may seem funny, how people you aren't related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren't always biological.

I've learned-that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I've learned-that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I've learned-that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I've learned-that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I've learned-that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

I've learned-that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I've learned-that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I've learned-that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I've learned-that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.

I've learned-that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I've learned-that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

I've learned-that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I've learned-that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

I've learned-that it's hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people's feelings and standing up for what you believe. "

Powerful stuff and worth remembering as we enter another crazy and challenging year where undoubtedly we will get things wrong and screw up but hopefully continue to make a real difference for children and young people across Leeds.
Chris

It is a difficult, yet exciting, time to be in education...

The challenges remain driving up secondary standards, improving the very low secondary contextual value added, addressing the needs of young people achieving very little after eleven years of statutory education and tackling those not in education, employment and training. The real challenge is how do we bring our collective energies and efforts to bear on the task of improving learning for all our students? And how do we create the conditions that prompt and enable our provision to deliver significantly better learning outcomes?

Everyone expects so much... of headteachers, of governors, of teachers and of colleagues who are assuming formal or informal leadership responsibilities; of Education Leeds colleagues who are operating at some distance from the classroom... but all of us facing the same relentless pressure, the same high expectations, along with the increased and increasing demands of driving and guiding the school system in Leeds towards improved performance and better outcomes for every child and very young person... whatever it takes!

This climate of higher and higher accountability increases the weight of the expectations facing all of us and as always the stakes are high. The biggest challenge lies in how we build learning leadership; connecting leadership practice with student learning, and then mobilizing the energy and commitment of all relevant partners and stakeholders. This challenge involves not only us as individual leaders, operating from our respective vantage points in a highly complex system, but all of us together... the power of TEAM!

We must re-imagine our systems, processes and provision and be brave enough to ask ourselves the difficult questions about why things are currently not working and what we can do to ensure that there is step change in outcomes for all young people here in Leeds.

As always, I'd welcome your views and comments.
Chris