I started the day with Tessa Mason who now works for the TDA...

Tessa was helping us plan a day for Susannah Todd, Deputy Director for Children's Centres and Extended Services at the DCSF. It was great to be able to plan a day where we could show off the best of our work on workforce development and family support.
Chris

We need to remember that we are all talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful; all potential high achievers wherever we work in this crazy enterprise; in the school kitchen, the playground or the playing field, the classroom, the laboratory, the workshop, the office or at Education Leeds...

We all try out new recipes and approaches, we test assumptions, we experiment with new concepts and ideas, we look at data and outcomes and we constantly search for the magic ingredient that can lead to a breakthrough and help us make even more of a difference to the lives of our children and young people. In our constant search for brilliant; brilliant food, brilliant systems, briliant provision and brilliant outcomes, we must be creative, methodical, pragmatic and demanding and our personal standards have to be focused, relentless and uncompromising. Only our brilliant best is good enough for the children and young people, the families and the communities we serve. It is important that we all remember that achieving the outstanding, the brilliant, the magical comes from putting your heart and soul into your work. It is about being passionate and loving what you are doing to bring out your absolute incredible potential. The words 'passion' and 'love' are there because they are the secret to brilliant. If you don't love what you are doing with a real passion, you are wasting your life and you should take your magic and your potential and go and do something else!
It has been an incredibly difficult week full of meetings, challenge and frustration but interspersed as always with little interludes of real magic. I visited South Leeds High School as part of the Corporate Assessment tour we arranged for the city's inspectors and auditors. We celebrated the achievements of yet another cohort of fantastic Higher Level Teaching Assistants. I attended the beginning of the RM/Education Leeds 'Demonstrating Transformation Conference where Professor Tim Brighouse gave the keynote address. I visited East Ardsley and Kirkstall St Stephen's CE Primary Schools. I had breakfast with some of the Templenewsam Halton Family of Schools headteachers and lunch with the Seacroft and Manston Family of Schools headteachers.

I have to admit that I have struggled over the last three weeks and I am sorry to say that on occasions I have lost the plot. I have become very tired, depressed and negative and I recognise that I have started to undermine the very special culture, values and relationships we have all worked so hard to nurture and develop here at Education Leeds. However, thanks to some friends and colleagues, I am pleased to say that at the end of the week and over the weekend I have readjusted the volume and the balance. I have managed to relax, unwind, refocus and re-read Dale Carnegie’s "How to Win Friends and Influence People". It’s a great book, first published in 1937, and things don’t get any clearer than this:

• Don’t criticise, condemn or complain;
• Give honest and sincere feedback;
• Be genuinely interested;
• Smile and laugh;
• Remember colleagues names;
• Be a good listener;
• Make colleagues feel valued;
• Avoid arguments;
• Respect colleagues opinions;
• Admit it when you are wrong;
• Be friendly and supportive;
• Get colleagues to agree with you;
• Let colleagues do the talking;
• Let others feel that ideas are theirs;
• See things from colleagues’s viewpoints;
• Be sympathetic to other ideas;
• Appeal to the moral purpose;
• Tell powerful stories;
• Set colleagues challenges;
• Begin with praise and appreciation;
• Identify mistakes indirectly;
• Talk about your own mistakes;
• Ask questions;
• Help colleagues save face;
• Praise every little thing;
• Talk colleagues up;
• Use encouragement;
• Encourage people to be happy at work;
• Keep it simple.

'Whatever you do, keep it simple' should be etched on the wall in every staff room, every office and every room at Education Leeds. Complexity is the curse of the digital age. It is a type of intellectual pollution that drives out clarity of purpose, smothers thinking and common sense and impacts negatively and destructively on colleagues happiness, productivity and engagement. We all know that achieving absolute simplicity is something none of us will ever achieve but if we don't make some real effort, if we don't train ourselves to look for ways to simplify, we can guarantee our lives will become more complex, busier, less efficient and even more stressful and destructive.
Keep the faith.
Chris

On Monday I started the day with Cllr Richard Brett, Paul Rogerson and other colleagues at the Leeds Museum...

We were all showing our inspectors and auditors a picture of Leeds. Starting with the fantastic map on the floor at the Leeds Museum we then set off on a bus tour around the city. We stopped at one of the new lift health centres on Dewsbury Road where Ian Cameron, Director of Public Health, and Sandie Keene, Director of of Adult Services, talked about the health challenges we are facing in Leeds and the differences between the richest and most advantaged areas and the poorest and most disadvantaged areas of Leeds. We then moved on the South Leeds High School to meet Colin Bell, Headteacher, and two of his students, Dave Richmond, Area Manager, and Chief Superintendent Mark Milsom from West Yorkshire Police. They all talked about the challenges and opportunities facing us in South Leeds and one young female student who talked about her experiences at the school and how Peace Jam had changed her life. She was a brilliant advert and ambassador for the school. We moved on again to Tech North for more presentations; this time on Teenage Pregnancy by Sarah Sinclair from Children's Services and NHS Leeds, on Care and Safeguarding by Rosemary Archer, Director of Children's Services, and Sandie Keene and on NEET by John Paxton who heads up our Integrated Youth Support Service. John also brought a team from Archway and again a fantastic young woman stole the show.

All in all it was a great start to the day and I hope that the inspectors learnt a lot about Leeds, because I certainly did.
Chris

I attended another inspiring Celebration Event this week...

The Higher Level Teaching Assistant Celebration Evening brought together another fifty talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful colleagues from schools across the city. Colleagues who are transforming outcomes for young people. It was a fantastic evening and Sue Roe and her team had done an incredible job. Louise and Rebecca had worked really hard to create a very special evening to celebrate these great colleagues achievements.
Chris

My colleague Kevin Burke from the BESD SILC sent me this after reading the poem a friend sent me...

"Dear Chris, I work at Elmete Central BESD SILC and often read your blog (mainly to catch up with the city's excellent learning journey!) As well as a rant, my e-letter is to thank you really for putting the poem onto your site. As you know it's extreme where we work and sometimes the possible seems to be the impossible! Our kids complexities are beyond belief. We have a dedicated team in our school. All working above and beyond to ensure that the most Leeds' kids achieve, succeed and have the best start to their life. Our outstanding team know exactly what our kids need to achieve and this will hopefully be idenitifed in the next few years' examination results. I feel that more than often BESD practitioners are slamemd for trying to achieve the unachievable. For example, in my opinion our year 11's aren't ready for GCSE Shakespeare- nor interested, why would they be!? So why are we judged on the fact that they can't read it, let alone understand? It makes my mind boggle to wonder where these standards for BESD come from. As the dedicated team of profressionals we work above and beyond to sustain our kids. I know we give them a good start. If we didn't I for one wouldn't work here. A day in the SILC can't be described. Sometimes, this challenging enviroment seems unachievable, but with our visionary head, who always ensures our safety and practise is consistent and spot on, the extreme job becomes easier. I currently lead music and have a lot of passion for creativity and believe that it anchors progression. The poem has encouraged me tonight, so thanks. Sorry for my rant, it just picked me up after a heavy day. Kevin."

We all know that we all need to do more on this critical element of our work and I am deeply thankful to all those colleagues who work so hard in our behaviour continuum with some of the most challenging and difficult young people in Leeds. The success of our efforts here are so important to what we are trying to achieve so I am grateful that those talented, committed and fantastic colleagues who are making such a difference for this group of our children.
Chris

I have been having a hard time dealing with some impossible challenges and a friend who saw that I was not my usual self sent me this...

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."

It is always important that we remember why we do what we do here in Leeds. We are climbing a mountain and while we have so much more to do to reach the heights of real excellence and world class standards, we must never forget what we have achieved over the last few years to drive up standards and continue our relentless and uncompromising focus on improving outcomes, attendance and behaviour. We are all working hard to deliver brilliant outcomes for all our children and young people.

I am grateful for the message and the support I have received from so many colleagues.
Chris

I moved on to Kirkstall St Stephen's CE Primary School...


This is an amazing little school where Stephen Viles, the new headteacher, and his talented team are doing outstanding work and releasing a real magic. The school has recently achieved the Advanced Healthy School Standard and it was great to walk around this brilliant learning place to meet so many talented colleagues and so many fantastic young people.
Chris

I started the day early at East Ardsley Primary School...

This is a great little school where Jane Wedlinscky, the headteacher, and her talented colleagues are doing a wonderful job. The PFI building is in fantastic condition largely due to the way it is managed and the great caretaking and cleaning team; it looks as good as new! Jane is working hard on a range of exciting initiatives; Inclusion Chartermark, Healthy Schools and developing Foundation Stage provision. I was shown around the school by two wonderful young ambassadors who are the best possible adverts for the work that Jane and her colleagues are doing at this great little school.
Chris

I started the day at the RM and Education Leeds 'Demonstrating Transformation through the effective use of ICT' Conference at the Garforth Holiday Inn...

I was there to open the conference with Dirk Gilleard who was talking about Evolve, our e-learning vision for Leeds, and to listen to my friend and colleague Professor Tim Brighouse talk about 'Outstanding Teachers in Leeds and the Learning Technologies'. It was a fantastic start to the day with a group of talented colleagues who are working together to unlock the potential of every child in Leeds.
Chris

It has been a very hard couple of weeks..

We all face relentless and uncompromising pressure and higher and higher expectations. The real challenge is how do we continue to improve learning and outcomes for all our students? And how do we create provision that delivers significantly better learning outcomes? The challenges remain driving up secondary standards, improving the very low secondary contextual value added, improving attendance and improving behaviour. We must work even harder to address the needs of young people achieving very little after eleven years of statutory education, tackling those not in education, employment and training and we must ensure that no schools in Leeds achieve below the floor targets; whatever they are!

I often wonder why some of our provision is so fragile, so prone to failure, so limited in its effectiveness and so poorly performing when compared to the best in Leeds let alone the best in the country. Wherever we are not achieving brilliant outcomes we must do something. We must re-imagine our systems, processes and provision and be brave enough to ask ourselves what we can do to ensure that there is step change in outcomes for all young people here in Leeds... and then get on and do it!

I have been to some incredible learning places recently. Across the city, brilliant colleagues working in schools and classrooms are releasing the magic and delivering world class outcomes, often against the odds. We know what it takes to build brilliant... it's alive and well here in Leeds.

• leadership matters;
• attendance is crucial;
• managing behaviour vital;
• enthusiasm is contagious;
• small is beautiful;
• relationships are key;
• passion creates ownership;
• coaching counts;
• persistence and determination go a long way; and
• you tend to get what you expect.

This job we do is too important for any of us to be ordinary. We must all strive. each and every day to be extra-ordinary, to be outstanding and to be brilliant.

Chris