Interestingly, talking about speading myself around and making the best use of my time, I missed my first 'Standards Meeting' yesterday...

In case you don't know 'Standards Meetings' are meetings between local authority colleagues and the DfCSF about standards in schools. They happen at this time every year and together we review progress, consider individual schools which might be causing concern and set targets for attendance, exclusions and Key Stage performance for the future. It's a really important meeting and shapes in many ways the working relationship between us and the DfCSF.

This year for the first time since I came to Leeds I knew that I didn't need to be there. That my colleagues would be brilliant without me, that I wouldn't add any value and that my time was better used with Terry Waite at the 'Respect for All Faiths' event. The question is was I right?

I am reliably informed that the meeting was a great success and that my team were fantastic! It makes me so proud when I realise that we all share the same values, that we live eat and breathe this stuff and that these highly intelligent, passionate and committed colleagues understand the challanges we face, the journey we have been on and whwt we have achieved over the years and importantly constantly and brilliantly fly the flag for Leeds, Children Leeds and Education Leeds.

Who were these powerful advocates and heroes... Gary Nixon, Jane Hall, Carol Jordan, Chris Pollard, Brian Tuffin, Dorothy Smith and Dirk Gilleard... I know that I will have missed some but I'll complete the list later.
Chris

I spent the morning with Terry Waite who had joined us to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Peace, 21 September 2007...


We had arranged a Respect for All Faiths Conference and invited Terry as the main speaker.

The conference was chaired by Mohammed Kamran, Chair of the Muslim Youth Council here in Leeds. He is an amazing young man who talked confidently and positively about peace, respect and difference. Terry Waite talked, with great authority and passion, to the audience of young people and key stakholders and partners about peace, understanding, faith and respect. The highlight of the morning, however, was the performance by children from Hugh Gaitskell Primary School led by their teacher and coach Colin Trenholme... they were brilliant!
Chris

"Work on relationships, not schedules.
Work on effectiveness, not efficiency.
If you know where you are going in life,
it does not matter how long it takes to get there."
Stephen Covey


I spent the afternoon with the Leadership Team looking at how we continue to build and develop a brilliantly effective team to manage the opportunities that lie ahead. It's strange but focusing on the people is not as easy as you think because there are always things happening, new opportunities, new challenges and there are simply too many distractions. However hard I try, I find it impossible to spread myself around enough to engage and talk to all the colleagues who are doing such a great job here in Leeds. We need discipline and focus to achieve a higher level of trust and to really appreciate and celebrate the contribution of others.
Chris

I went on to Brodetsky Primary School to meet Simon Camby, the new headteacher...

It was really refreshing to talk to Simon about his school and what he is trying to achieve... his focus on quality teaching and learning, on simple systems and on monitoring, tracking and interventions. Walking around the school with Simon the early indications are that there is a real energy and commitment and importantly some great young people. I will watch the school with interest to see how Simon and his team get on.
Chris

I spent this morning with Rosemary Archer, Director of Children's Services, and her extended leadership team...

It is important for us all to think team, to wear the Children Leeds T-shirt and to always remember what a great team it is and what we have achieved for children and young people over the last few years here in Leeds. However, we all agreed that it is also important that we understand and respect the diversity and richness of that team. We are not trying to create some new sort of professional workforce that blends together all the skills, knowledge and understanding that exists across that brilliant team... we still want brilliant social workers, brilliant teachers, brilliant youth workers and brilliant early years practitioners who work together around the child and the family to make a difference. As Rosemary herself puts it we are after a salad not a soup!
Chris

I sometimes wonder why I am so tired...

I know some of you are saying that it's my age or that I do too much but I have been reading again and the latest research from the business world suggests that 15% of the people in any organisation do nothing while another 60% are disengaged. I calculate that that leaves 25% of us doing all the work... no wonder I am tired!
Chris

Brilliant colleagues are incredibly optimistic, positive, creative and intelligent people...

I know because I am surrounded by these people... Dirk, Ros, Pat, Carol, Rehana, Dorothy, Martin, Jackie and Shirley are all good examples but it reaches down to the Team Leaders and down throughout Education Leeds, Leeds City Council and into many of the organisations and partners we work with. These are people who focus on solutions, not problems. They possess a compelling vision for their piece of the jigsaw puzzle. They spend most of their time working on goals to achieve the vision. They persist at things and take total responsibility for successes and failures.

Whatever you are doing...
1. You have to be optimistic.
"Optimism Fuels Our Success.
Pessimism never won any battle."
Dwight D. Eisenhower

2. You have to be positive.
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. You have to be creative.
“There is no security in this life.
here is only opportunity.”
General Douglas MacArthur

4. You have to be intelligent
"To the dull mind, all of nature is leaden.
To the illuminated mind, the whole world sparkles with light."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

So whatever you do, above all, be optimistic, positive, creative and intelligent.
Chris

I dashed to London on Tuesday afternoon for a meeting with Lord Adonis and colleagues at the DfCSF in Sanctuary Buildings...

Cllr Richard Harker and I have been trying to arrange a meeting with Lord Adonis to discuss our developing secondary school improvement strategy for the central area of Leeds and whether Academies can add to the mix and enhance what we are doing. It was a really helpful meeting which agreed that we should work with all our partners and stakeholders to develop a 'Central Leeds School Improvement and Learning Model'. The DfCSF will work with us and support us as we take forward Building Schools for the Future, the Learning and Skills Council's Review of FE Provision and together we will look where Academies would help us drive the school improvement agenda and achieve faster and more sustainable progress.
Chris

I started the day with the Leadership Forum at Space @ Little London Primary School...

The Team Leaders are a fantastic bunch of colleagues and we reviewed the last year and started to set the agenda for the coming term and the coming year. My colleague Dirk Gilleard did a really brilliant session on the learner entitlement in Leeds. We also had a brief input on the Joint Area Review from Jackie Wilson who is working in the Director of Children's Services Unit here in Leeds.
Chris

I started the day today with the Leadership Team for our regular fortnightly meeting...

The Strategy Managers are a great team... bright, capable, focused and totally committed to our mission here in Leeds. The challenge we face is how we coach 17000 colleagues to greatness. Impossible the sceptics chorus but all it requires is simplicity, persistence and clarity. It demands each of us to focus on what is vital and to eliminate all of the distractions.

After six years of research, I'm absolutely convinced that if we just focus our attention on the right things and stop doing the irrelevant things that consume so much time and energy we can create an amazing effect without increasing the number of hours we work. I'm also convinced that this applies to whatever we're engaged in, including our personal and private lives.

So long as we can choose the people we want to put on our own bus, each of us can create a team of brilliant colleagues. Each of us can take our own area of work and can concentrate on moving it from OK to good to brilliant. Focus on results, tackle mediocrity and create a massive impact within your own area of responsibility.

By the way it doesn't really matter whether everyone gets it. It only matters that you and I do. Now, it's time to get to work.
Chris