Cllr Richard Harker, Dirk, Ros and I went to John Smeaton Community College to look at their fantastic new building... apart from the very small staff room and dining facilities it is absolutely amazing. The whole school was calm and quiet, the atmosphere was purposeful and the students all looked very smart in their new uniforms although very clearly some of the boys were not used to wearing ties!

John Daulby, the Headteacher and Marilyn Steele, the Deputy Headteacher, have done a brilliant job and their enthusiasm, commitment, ambition and energy shone through our brief visit. John Smeaton is a school going places!
Chris

I went back to Merrion to be briefed about an interview I am having next week with the Teenage Pregnancy National Support Team...

My colleague Jenny Midwinter talked me through the latest position and the issues the team were likely to be interested in... it is deeply reassuring to have such talented and intelligent colleagues working on issues like Teenage Sexual Health.
Chris

I moved on to Hollybush Primary School for another STEPS celebration...

Two wonderful colleagues who had trained as facilitators for the STEPS programme had run a course of a group of parents at Hollybush and I was invited to present this group of mums with their certificates. My colleagues, Chris Bennett and Val Cain, who manage the programme here in Leeds also attended the celebration. This is a brilliant programme delivered by some incredible colleagues and I am constantly staggered at the impact it is having.
Chris

I went on to St Oswald's CE Junior School to attend a special assembly marking the 420 years of the school and the official opening of their wonderful ICT suite. The suite was opened by the oldest ex-pupil who is 96 years old and their youngest child who is seven years old. The assembly was great and the children were amazing.
Chris

I started the day at Queensway Primary School...

I had arrived early in Guiseley and thought I'd pop in to see Gail Palmer-Smeaton and her wonderful team for a quick cup of coffee. The school is in the middle of building work as the new children's centre is being built but Gail and the team are their usual high octane selves and making the most of living on the edge of a building site.
Chris

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst…a spark that creates extraordinary results."
Antoni Hadi

I went on to New Bewerley Community Primary School to talk to Patrick Wilkins, the headteacher, about the challenges he and his team were facing and how we could help. We talked about the really significant challenge Patrick and his team had faced and managed in setting up the new school in its brilliant new building with the SILC partnership, the Children's Centre and the Extended Services agenda in this very disadvantaged bit of Leeds. We also talked about the low standards, the monitoring of teaching and learning, target setting and the intervention strategies they are using.

The school faces a number of real challenges with high levels of mobility, high levels of free schools meals, a significant white working class population and low standards on entry and at the end of Key Stage 2. However, the thing that strikes you as you walk around the incredible building is that this is a healthy and happy school with a calm, purposeful learning environment and a team who are very focused on meeting the needs of their children.

The school also recently won the Royal Institution of Charterered Surveyors Judges Special Award for its Inclusive Environment having been shortlisted for three other categories.

Chris

I went on to join colleagues from the City Council's Corporate Leadership Team on a tour of the city...

We were rehearsing the tour we are planning for the inspection teams who are carrying out the Annual Performance Assessment of Leeds and the Joint Area Review of Children's Services. It was a great opportunity to listen and learn about the regeneration of Leeds and some of the brilliant provision we have developed including the Two Willows Children's Centre in Beeston and Carr Manor High School. I am really looking forward to doing it for real next week!
Chris

"A culture of discipline is a principle of greatness."

I started the day at Brownhills Primary School...


I visited the school to talk to Alan Scott, the headteacher, about the challenges he and his team were facing and how we could help. We spent time talking about the children; the school population has changed significantly over the last few years. They now have 32 different languages spoken at the school!

We also talked about the monitoring of teaching and learning, target setting and the intervention strategies they are using. Alan told me about the very rich and exciting curriculum provided for the children which complements the work on literacy and phonics, numeracy and numicon. The school is a leading school for SEAL and they are a healthy school. To prove it I went out into the playground with Alan to take part in a really fantastic 'Wake Up and Shake Up' session led by the schools wonderful PE coordinator. The children loved it and Alan and I found it really hard to keep up with the pacey and fun routine!

The school faces a number of real challenges with high levels of mobility, high levels of free schools meals, a growing ethnic minority population and low standards on entry and at the end of Key Stage 2. However, this is a healthy and happy school with a calm, purposeful learning environment and a team who are very focused with good systems developing for tracking children's progress and intervening as necessary.

It is deeply encouraging to visit schools and see the developing rigour and focus in schools which is more personalised and more intensive than ever before. Increasingly I am certain that we know how to achieve brilliant outcomes; we need disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined systems, disciplined governance, disciplined resourcing and disciplined action .

And the order is vitally important because it is all about brilliant colleagues, self-discipline and ownership!
Chris

"The main characteristics of effective leadership are intelligence, integrity, loyalty, mystique, humour, discipline, courage, self sufficiency and confidence."
James Fisher

I went on to Intake High School to talk to their governing body about the chgallenges and opportunities we are facing with standards, Trusts, Academies and the LSC review.
Chris

'Change comes from small initiatives which work, initiatives which initiated, become the fashion. We cannot wait for great visions from great people, for they are in short supply at the end of history. It is up to us to light our own small fires in the darkness'
Charles Handy

I went on to the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard awards ceremony at Space @ Hillcrest.It had been a great morning and we spent the afternoon celebrating the achievements of some great schools.

Chris