We are on the edge of a radical and important transformation but one that may be lost unless we are very careful...

More than ever we need schools to connect more powerfully with young people, their families and the communities they serve. The research suggests that a great school can achieve great things but it's impact on a child's life only amounts to around 12-15% of the child's success. A great family and a great mum has a massively more important and influential role accounting for up to 30% of a child's success. And surprisingly a great community, an aspirational community, also matters hugely to a child's success. Sadly, while it helps, going to a great school is not the only answer to the problems we face and we must recognise that the answers to the real challenges we all face in raising standards and achieving world class outcomes for our children lie in tackling poverty, deprivation and poor parenting and in building equality and equity at the heart of everything we do.

Happy to discuss.
Chris

Language and attitude are such powerful determinants of how we think, how we act and how we behave...

When you are talking about a child, a colleague, a friend, an athlete, a dancer, a school, a place or anything else and you hear the word ordinary what do you think? You probably think of words such as average, dull, boring, plain, common, and satisfactory. You're probably not thinking of an ordinary colleague or an ordinary place because they simply aren't that important or that memorable.

So what do you think of when you hear the word extraordinary? Words such as amazing, wonderful, talented, gorgeous, outstanding and brilliant come to mind. You're probably thinking of an individual or a particular place that fits the description: a personal hero, a partner, a child, a friend, a great school, a great restaurant, an incredible footballer, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, a great poet, or your favourite place.

Sadly many people believe that if you are like most of us, ordinary people with ordinary jobs, that you have no hope of ever achieving success or doing something extraordinary: something that really makes a difference. It's not true. You are a unique and extraordinary individual with incredible potential and the difference between being ordinary or being extraordinary is not skill, the difference is attitude!
Chris

We certainly live in interesting times with schools increasingly moving centre stage and the end of national prescription and national control...

We need to re-imagine and redesign learning for this new age:

• to re-think and understand that more is better;
• to re-think and connect our learning places with other provision;
• to re-imagine our spaces for learning building on creativity, imagination and enterprise;
• to develop collaborative and team based approaches at the heart of what we do;
• to build learning webs, learning hubs and learning satellites since small is beautiful;
• to re-think teaching and formal learning to maintain excellence and academic rigour;
• to develop learning as informal and fun to connect with young people's interests and potential;
• to create learning places that young people love and shape to better meet their needs;
• to create learning places where young people have high self-esteem and feel in control of their own learning.

It's all about brilliant learning in brilliant learning places!
Discuss.
Chris
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I finished the day at Morley Town Hall watching a performance of Summer School Musical...

The Summer School Musical was produced by a group of young people from Morley primary schools who had worked as a team during the week with Danny a musician, composer and vocalist, Tanya, a dancer and Naomi, a visual artist to produce a real celebration of music, art and culture. The Summer School Musical took us all on a journey starting in the 1960's with train travel to the seaside followed by a trip to Spain and ending with a Spanish fiesta.

Th project was funded by our Find Your Talent programme working with Rachael Holdgate, her team from the White Rose Learning Centre and Jamie, Rebekah, Luke and Charlotte; peer mentors from local high schools.
Chris

Every now and then I meet people who are simply brilliant at their job...

It could be the headteacher I met last week whose intelligence and understanding has re-engineered the culture in her school to achieve outstanding outcomes for her students. It could be the primary teacher I met recently whose focused and uncompromising work has unlocked the desire to learn and read in each young person whose life she touches. It could be the classroom assistant I met recently whose passion and commitment for the environment and developing school grounds has completely transformed the learning landscape at her school. It might be the exceptional colleagues I work with at Merrion House who anticipate my every need or it might be the colleague who delivers both high performance and is a great team player.

Brilliance, true brilliance, is something we all value. It's a joy to encounter someone who is truly exceptional at what they do. So the question is how can you become known as someone who consistently demonstrates real brilliance? Dirk and I have been talking about this recently. Colleagues who demonstrate brilliance work hard at it. Clearly the key is that persistence, motivation and commitment are all required to deliver your brilliant best but importantly everyone can do it! Colleagues who demonstrate brilliance have identified the things that turn them on, that inspire them and that give them that buzz and then worked hard to develop and master their performance. They have added knowledge, skill, experience and practice to consistently produce at the highest levels. By the way the best any of us can be with low motivation is adequate. No matter how hard we work and how much we desire it, in the long run we will never be brilliant at something we are not intesrested in or inspired by; without high levels of motivation you can forget it. In other words, however hard we work in areas where we are not motivated and where our heart isn't really in it, we resign ourselves to mediocrity.

Who wants to be mediocre? Who wants to be known as "satisfactory?" Wouldn't you rather try to be brilliant? The first step to unlocking your brilliant best is to know these things; what do you love doing... what really turns you on at work?... what would you do even if you weren't being paid?

And then the trick is to get someone to pay you to do it!
Chris

I had breakfast this morning with Maxine Room...

Maxine was Principal and Chief Executive at Park Lane College here in Leeds before it became the new Leeds City College and is leaving us to take up the leadership of the Lewisham College in South London. The College appointed Maxine as its new Principal and SHE will be the first black Principal of a general further education college in London, replacing Dame Ruth Silver DBE who is retiring after 17 years having taken the college from a once failing establishment to its current outstanding and Beacon status. Before joining Park Lane College, Maxine was Principal and Chief Executive of Swansea College, a post she held for over four years moving the college from good to great!

Maxine has been a breath of fresh air here in Leeds and she will be missed.
Chris

"Whatever you do, you need courage.

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong.

There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.

To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them."

The blog will again go quiet for a few days while I continue to get rid of the knots, unwind, relax, recharge and get ready for yet another brilliant year here in Leeds. I hope everyone out there manages to do the same. And remember when you are out there... think team, think family, think about the things that really, really matter and hold hands and stick together.

Take care.
Chris

I had a really interesting meeting this morning with Ger Graus, Chief Executive of the Children's University. The meeting had been arranged by Mark Hopkins and was also attended by Alison Shaffner from the Extended Services team, Andrea Cowans from the 14 - 19 team, Kes Sowerby from the Study Support team and John Price from the Find Your Talent team. We have an opportunity to develop the work that the Seacroft and Manston schools have been doing with the Children's University, with the Children's University providing some start up funding.

The Children's University is a national organisation that provides support to 7 to 14 year olds accessing an exciting and innovative menu of learning activities and experiences outside normal school hours. It celebrates the learning journey through a 'Passport to Learning' and recognises achievement and rewards participation through certificates and ceremonies. Raising children's aspirations is important to the Children's University which aims to develop the understanding that learning can help us all on our journeys to better places in life!

The Children's University could build on the brilliant work already going on in Leeds in Playing for Success, Study Support, Breeze, Find Your Talent and connect with every sports venue, museum, gallery, library, attraction, business and learning place in Leeds and across the City Region. Mark is going to set up a small working group to develop a Leeds Action Plan to take this forward and connect some of the pieces of brilliant work we are already doing to establish more of a learner entitlement for our 7 - 14 year olds across the city.

Watch this space.
Chris

I started the day early at the Learning Centre at Headingley...

This week is one of two weeks this Summer where John Bedford and his colleagues are releasing the magic at the two learning centres; Yorkshire Cricket and Leeds Rhinos. It was wonderful to see twenty, very lucky young people arriving for their second day at the Learning Centre and to see the relationships John and his colleagues have developed with these young people; many of whom have already experienced one of the Learning Centre programmes.

The more I see these Centres and the brilliant work they do the more I want to franchise the brand. Wouldn't it be great to have one in every school or at the very least one in every cluster in Leeds.
Chris

It doesn't matter where we look - school, classroom, staffroom, organisation, team, office - we need to ask ourselves the following questions...

• 'what are our strengths?'
• 'what are our weaknesses?'
• 'what does brilliant learning in brilliant learning places look like?'
• 'what do the pieces of the brilliant jigsaw puzzle look like?'
• 'where is it happening?'
• 'where are our stars?'
• 'which teams are releasing the magic?
• 'which individuals are releasing the magic?'
• 'can we share and learn from what we know works?'
• 'can we share and learn from what we know doesn't work?'
• 'how do we learn from our mistakes?'
• 'how can we turn our challenges and opportunities into adventures for our colleagues?'
• 'how can we give individuals and team opportunities to experiment, explore and take risks?'

How do we continue to build brilliant in a changing world?
All comments, suggestions and advice welcome.
Chris