Looking back over the last year, our seventh year here in Leeds, we have had another great year with some extraordinary successes...

Remember, the CPA and JAR reported that children's services in Leeds was good, we were one of the first teams in the country to achieve the new Customer Service Excellence standard, our intergenerational work on 'Building Bridges' with Social Care won an international award, our innovative Artforms 'Find Your Talent' project was one of ten selected nationally to be developed, colleagues developed and delivered the first national Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month and Poster Competition, colleagues in Study Support developed the 'Backstage Past' initiative which won a regional 'Making a Difference' award, the VI Team were the first team in the country to receive the new VI Quality Mark, we were nominated for the international Carl Bertlesmann Prize for our work supporting assylum seekers, refugees, travellers and minority groups, we won the BETT Award for Leadership and Management Solutions for 'Bluewave Swift', we have also seen brilliant intitiatives and projects like 'Be Healthy, Stay Safe', Attendance Champions, 'The Power of Me' and STEPS going from strength to strength. OFSTED inspection results generally have been good, particularly around our behavioural provision, and the GCSE results have improved significantly...what more can you want?

At it's brilliant best provision and services here in Leeds are outstanding; are simply world class. However, when it comes to some of the most important things we need to constantly ask ourselves whether we have really changed the deeply embedded culture and attitudes which seem to simply accept things as they are, and why we still suffer from pockets of poor attendance, poor behaviour and poor standards. Just imagine what we could achieve together if everyone believed in our young people and everyone was as passionate, as committed and determined, as prepared to go the extra mile and as focused and as excellent as the most inspiring and exceptional colleagues in Education Leeds and in our schools.

I know that I say this every year but these next few months are critical for Education Leeds and Children Services as we approach the a new set of opportunities and challenges with more DCSF initiatives, even more focus on standards from the National Strategies, the Post 14 Review, the National Challenge and more Academies rolling across the learning landscape. We need to use this opportunity to refresh and rethink, to renew the vision, to recharge the batteries and to boldly go into 2009 to change the world and release the enormous potential in our teams, our schools, our colleagues and our children and young people.

As another academic year begins, we need extraordinary colleagues to bravely and boldly go where we’ve never been and we need an extraordinary back up team to provide support as and when they need it. Whenever someone does something extraordinary, it shows us all what is possible… you just have to look at what we have achieved as a team over the last year! We must continue to challenge each other; to clearly articulate our goals and our roles and make belonging to Children's Services, Education Leeds and the learning team here in Leeds a vibrant, exciting and dynamic part of our lives. I’ll try to get to as many team meetings and talk to as many of you as I can to listen to your views and to get your advice, help and support for the next stage in our journey to excellence, our journey to world class.

Just don’t let anyone tell you that it can’t be done!
Chris

We have had another great year and whatever happens this year, it will be another interesting one...

We will face new challenges, new opportunities and new demands in a year where we need to continue to be unique, special and different, to be creative and imaginative, to try new things, to learn new tricks and to continue to make a real difference… whatever it takes!

We must continue to develop respect and trust with our colleagues, with our schools and with the communities we serve. We must expect great things of each other; to embrace change and to celebrate the opportunities it brings. We all know that change is hard but it allows us all the chance to reflect, to review and to focus. It allows us the opportunity to spring clean and to ensure that we continue to do the right things.

Finally, it is also really important that we continue to be passionate and enthusiastic and to have fun and enjoy ourselves. And remember to never take yourself or anyone else too seriously and never forget that you choose everyday to be part of this team because you share its values, its beliefs and its mission here in Leeds... to make every school a good, improving and inclusive school where very child and every young person is happy, healthy, safe and successful... whatever it takes!

All I ask is that you come to work nd simply be your brilliant best!
Chris

Dave Page, Deputy Chief Executive of Leeds City Council and a Director of Education Leeds from the beginning sent me this e-mail after he heard about the latest GCSE results...

"Chris, I did a bit of an analysis on the results myself yesterday and they are really impressive. When you recall that the pre EL 5A to C figure was 39% these figures are an improvement of 61% which is really remarkable . Am I right in thinking that these are the results of children who were 9 years old when EL started-it will be interesting in 2012 to see what the cohort who started school at the same time as EL achieve in that year. I think you've used most of the superlatives up but sincere thanks for all your efforts and those of the team for such a great achievement. Well done again. Dave"

Dave is right; 2012 is going to be a big year in so many ways.

Chris

My colleague Simon Flowers, headteacher at Carr Manor High School sent me a gentle reminder...

"Dear Chris, I trust you are well and have managed a decent break over the summer period.
The GCSE results across Leeds look to have moved significantly in the right direction – hopefully this will help all of us in our promotion of the city and encourage the DCSF to believe in us a little more. I am somewhat disappointed that we have been named in your blog as one of the schools below 30% - in statistical terms 29.7 rounds up to 30%. We are very pleased with the pupils’ performance – ahead of target and another step in the right direction. Credit is due to the pupils and staff for their outstanding work again this year. Hope to catch up soon. Best wishes Simon"

Simon is right, of course, Carr Manor High School is another one of our success stories and has made real progress under his inspired leadership; with a great team, in a brilliant building. I also agree that 29.7% rounds up to 30%. We also know that West Leeds and Wortley High Schools are merging and the composite score for the two schools already exceeds the target.

This means that we only have five secondary schools below the Government's new 2011 target of 30% achieving 5A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Mathematics.

• Intake (19.9)
• Parklands (19.0)
• Primrose (18.7)
• South Leeds (10.4)
• City of Leeds, although we do not have the figure, their 5+A*-C is 29.7, so they cannot get above 30%.

Chris

Our Key Stage 4 performance has increased yet again, particularly the percentage of young people achieving 5 A* - C grades which increased by nearly 6% and those achieving 1A*-G grade which increased by over 1%...

There were some brilliant results at Garforth, St Mary's, Horsforth and Morley High with extraordinary improvements at Lawnswood, John Smeaton, Morley High, West Leeds, Brigshaw, Bruntcliffe and Rodillian and real improvements across most of our secondary provision. This year was a real team effort!

Of the 14 schools below Government's new 2011 floor target of 30% achieving 5A*-C including English & mathematics, only 7 schools remain.

• Carr Manor (29.7)
• Intake (19.9)
• Parklands (19.0)
• Primrose (18.7)
• South Leeds (10.4)
• Wortley (25)
• City of Leeds, although we do not have the figure, their 5+A*-C is 29.7, so they cannot get above 30%.

The provisional GCSE results show that the % achieving 5A*-C grades has increased by over 5.9% to 62.9%, the % achieving 5A*-C including English and mathematics has increased by 4.2% to 47.7% and those achieving at least something has gone up to 97.8% an increase of about 1.1%.

Over the last seven wonderful years here in Leeds so many people said that it couldn't be done; that we couldn't achieve great results, that our young people weren't able to rise to the challenge. These results, once again, prove the sceptics wrong and shows what can be achieved with dynamic leadership, relevant curriculum pathways and an engaging offer, great teaching, powerful student tracking, detailed monitoring and support and strong systems of positive discipline and rewards. We send our congratulations to all those brilliant, talented, gorgeous and wonderful colleagues who have made this possible and achieved this fantastic team effort and some remarkable outcomes for young people across Leeds.

There are no excuses; the challenge for us all is to continue to learn from the best. Here in Leeds at John Smeaton, David Young, Garforth, Horsforth, Morley High, St Mary's and wherever else it is. We then need to build these characteristics consistently and powerfully across all our provision to ensure that we drive transformational change and continue to achieve the step change in outcomes necessary to secure the economic and social well-being of individuals, families and the City of Leeds.

Their is no magic ingredient just blood, sweat, tears and sheer hard work but on a day like today you know that it is worth it!
Chris

This is a a more up to date summary of the provisional A-Level results, which are still not yet complete...

They show that the %A grades has increased by over 1.5% to 18.0% and the overall pass rate has gone up to 96.1% an increase of about 2.5%. We are closing the gap once again with these results but the relevant national figures are 26% achieved A grades, a 1% increase, and 97.2% passed so we still have work to do re-engineering our post-16 provision. Once again this year the points per student has fallen but the points per entry has increased suggesting that we are entering young people for fewer subjects where they are doing better.

Schools that have achieved great results this year include:

• Abbey Grange CE High School;
• Benton Park High School;
• Boston Spa School;
• Crawshaw High School
• Guiseley School;
• Horsforth School;
• Prince Henry's Grammar School;
• St Mary's RC High School.

We have also seen good results at the following schools:

• Allerton High School;
• Brigshaw High School;
• Garforth High School;
• Bruntcliffe High School;
• Morley High School;
• Priesthorpe High School;
• Rodillian High School;
• Roundhay High School;
• Wetherby High School.

We are still waiting for results from Carr Manor, Lawnswood, Primrose, Pudsey Grangefield, Ralph Thoresby, Woodkirk and Wortley High Schools.

Chris

Today we have the AS/A2 results published and once again our young people have achieved some fantastic results...

The provisional results, whixch are not yet complete, show that the %A grades has increased by over 1% to 17.9% and the overall pass rate has gone up to 95.9% and increase of about 3%. Once again this year the points per student has fallen but the points per entry has increased suggesting that we are entering young people for fewer subjects where they are doing better.

Schools that have achieved great results this year include:

• Abbey Grange CE High School;
• Benton Park High School;
• Crawshaw High School
• Guiseley School;
• Horsforth School;
• Prince Henry's Grammar School;
• St Mary's RC High School.

We have also seen real progress at the following schools:

• Allerton High School;
• Brigshaw High School;
• Bruntcliffe High School;
• Priesthorpe High School;
• Rodillian High School;
• Wetherby High School.

Most of the remaining sixth forms are very small.

Chris

My colleague Bill Pullen, headteacher at Farnley Park High School sent me an e-mail about the work he has been doing with the Innovations Unit...

The school, with it's local cluster, has been developing an approach based on appreciative enquiry. Initially the work focused on transition but they are now looking, with their wider children's services cluster, at the NEET issue.

"Appreciative Enquiry is a method of capacity-building that seeks to build on the seeds of excellence that exist in an organisation or service and to use that approach to make a quantum change. It is one of the most powerful approaches that can be used when the organisation or service is facing challenging circumstances and needs to develop a quick positive solution to the way forward. There are four clear stages and a clear methodology that an action group follows:

• The first stage is the Discovery Stage where members of the Action Group go out and find where excellence exists, and come back and share their findings;
• The second stage is the Dream Stage where members of the Action Group create a future vision of what the service might look like without constraints or boundaries;
• The third stage is the Design Stage where the Action Group develops a shared practical solution to improve the organisation and service; and
• The fourth stage is the Delivery Stage where the Action Group implement their plans.

Last year, with support from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), the Farnley Extended Services Cluster used Appreciative Enquiry to focus on the challenges faced by young people at age 11 when they move from one service provider to another. An Action Group was established with staff from different organisations, who agreed from the outset that in following the approach as part of their own professional learning they were committing to the following:

• Signing up to a time commitment so there was no question of picking and choosing which meetings to attend;
• Giving a personal commitment, rather than sending a representative;
• Committing to the project when not everyone in the organisations recognised the opportunity they were being given to participate in a leading edge national project;
• Acting as agents for change when not everyone in the group could have foreseen that that there might be some resistance to producing a quantum change in the organisation or service;
• Being part of a mutually supportive group, and encouraging other members of the group to take risks and to change their thinking; and
• Participating in supportive reflection using learning journals to capture their professional learning gains.

The project lasted from November 2007 until March 2008, and was hugely successful. The outcomes included:

• A redesigned curriculum and teaching method for Year 7 students;
• Colleagues from different service providers established an environment of mutual support and trust;
• Barriers were removed between the service providers for young people at age 11;
• Every single member of the Action Group made significant career progression; and
• The TDA selected this group for further funding and consultancy support form the Innovations Unit.

This year, having demonstrated that this can be an effective method of professional learning across different service providers, we want to focus on a pressing issue that affects a wider range of service providers across the West Leeds. The high number of young people who are NEET, Not in Education, Employment or Training, at age 16 is recognised to be a significant issue in the area. We recognise that no one provider can solve this issue on their own.

We are therefore setting up an Appreciative Enquiry Action Group across targeted children’s service providers, which will meet from September 2008 to February 2009. The Action Group will follow the same 4 stages of Discovery, Dream, Design and Delivery, drawing on the pockets of excellence that exist in West Leeds and beyond. We would anticipate the following outcomes:

• An effective model that can be used elsewhere in Leeds or nationally;
• A strategy that reflects the future delivery pattern of 14-19 service provision and the increase in the staying-on rate;
• Identification of some of the reasons why young people fall through the net at age 16;
• Positive steps that identify those at risk of becoming Not in Education, Employment or
• Training, and the practical support that can be given to them;
• Tangible benefits for young people and their families;
• The creation of professional proximity in service providers; and
• An understanding of the contribution that different service providers can make.

To achieve these outcomes and more, members of the Action Group are being asked to sign-up to a time commitment, to be present at all sessions, to view this as part of their professional learning, and to recognise they are active agents for change. Members will bring support and trust to the Action Group, and the commitment of their individual organisations. "

It's great to hear about the real learning going on across Leeds and Bill and his colleagues are doing some incredible innovative work which will make a real difference to some of our most hard to reach young people and their families.

Chris

I met Maria Bourke again yesterday to talk about how we might work together...

You all know I have a thing about health, discipline and effectiveness. Well, Maria leads an organisation called 'Lets Get Healthy' and we are working to develop two pilot programmes here in Leeds:
1. A schools pilot to tackle childhood and family inactivity and obesity;
2. A schools/Education Leeds 'health and well-being' pilot.

Maria's energy and enthusiasm is fantastic and I hope that we can get things going next term. As always we just need to find the resources!
Exciting times.
Chris

My colleague Rosie Denison talked to me about a project the school meals team have been working on...

They have been developing a packed lunch policy and have involved young people through Youth on Health. These photos capture some of the magic...