Schools Got Talent!

This year 'Schools Got Talent' has attracted 46 acts involving 98 young performers from 14 secondary schools...

The semi-finals and finals will be streamed live and anyone with an Education Leeds, Leeds Learning Net or LCC e-mail account can register and vote. The website address is http://www.schoolsgottalent.org/. I hope as many colleagues as possible will want to log on and vote for their favourite from this pool of young talent here in Leeds.

Chris

My colleague Duncan Grant, Headteacher at Hill Top Primary School sent me this e-mail after we met at the New Headteachers Conference earlier in the week...

"Hi Chris, good to see you again yesterday at the new Heads conference at Oulton Hall. The two days provided a lot of good networking, support, advice and time to reflect. As always, being away made me wonder how things were back at school but, again as always, I needn't have had any worries. Getting home and clicking onto our website to find out what had happened on our 11 million takeover day it filled me with immense pride to sit back and take an objective and reflective view on the fantastic things that are going on...11 million takeover, rocket lauching with help from Leeds University, Indian Dance, numerous fundraising activities...I could go on but instead I'm asking you to just have a quick glance for yourself if you have time www.hilltopprimary.org.uk have a look under 'events', 'childrens work', newsletter, or indeed any other heading or link. It is of great credit to our TLR and Community Cohesion co-ordinator, Lindsey Towler, who tirelessly manages the website and promotes the school. I think you'll agree she's doing a stunning job. Also on there you'll see a link to a Muhazi Primary Powerpoint. This is the school in Rwanda that we are linking with through pictures and letters via Michael Tennant who, as you know, is out there with VSO. You'll even see him on the slides themselves. Anyway, just thought I'd point you in the direction to see for yourself if you have time. Let me know your thoughts. Oh, AND we are school of the week on Radio Aire next week! It's non-stop! Kind regards, Duncan."

I looked at Duncan's website over the weekend.It's a wonderful celebration of the work going on at the school. Brilliant photos and a lot of hard work! I loved the 11 Million Takeover section, Wear it Pink, the Annapurna Dance Company and Lift Off! I also really enjoyed the Muhazi Primary Powerpoint showing the school in Rwanda where Michael Tennant is doing VSO. It makes you realise how fortunate we all are... I think everyone should watch it! I look forward to seeing what they get up to on Friday with Children in Need!
Chris

I went back to the School Improvement Conference for the afternoon...

Colleagues were working in groups doing structured team work following the sessions in the morning. We had a quick collection for 'Children In Need' which we will be continuing all this coming week and raised an astonishing £522. Let's hope we can get it up to £1000 by Friday!

Feedback on the day suggested that colleagues had a stimulating and enjoyable day which reflected a lot of hard work by Mark Hopkins, Dorothy Smith and colleagues.
Chris

I went back to Merrion House to attend the set up meeting for the OFSTED inspection of Children's Services which focuses on safeguarding and looked after children...

The meeting chaired by Rosemary Archer, director of Children's Services, was attended by Gary Lamb HMI, from OFSTED, who will be leading the inspection and Elizabeth Oxford, from the Care Quality Commission. Gary talked us through the process and shared the commentary and the keylines of enquiry that the inspection team will be exploring when the inspection starts on 23 November until 4 December.

We certainly live in interesting times!
Chris

I started the day early at the 'Learning Landscapes' School Improvement Conference at Elland Road and it was wonderful to spend some time with around 300 colleagues whose passion, energy, commitment, determination and hard work has transformed, and is transforming, outcomes in so many areas...

We were entertained by children from Little London Community Primary School and Uni4m a talented group of young people from Carr Manor High School. We also had young people from Boston Spa School who listened and commented from a student perspective.

I talked to colleagues about our ambition for children and young people here in Leeds and about the the keys to brilliant outcomes for our children, their families and communities. I was followed by Sue Hackman, Chief Adviser on School Standards at the DCSF, who talked about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead about standards, excellent teaching and learning and the developing roles for local authorities and schools in a 21st century world. After coffee, Hilary Emery, Executive Director for Development and Improvement at the TDA, talked to colleagues about workforce reform, teamwork and partnership working before Dirk Gilleard talked about personalisation Evolve and butterflies.
Chris

I received this e-mail from Bridget Emery, who is Head of Housing Strategy and Solutions in Leeds City Council...

"Dear Chris, I am writing to let you know how brilliantly the Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows performed at the Music For Youth Schools Prom held at the Albert Hall on Monday evening.
As you probably know the band are a collection of young people from various high schools and colleges across Leeds although the band is based and rehearses at City of Leeds. My son, for example, attends Allerton Grange and there are also some pupils from Swallow Hill Community College and various others. The band is led by Victoria Jaquiss, Steel Pan Development Officer at Artsform, who is absolutely inspirational and who puts in an incredible amount of very hard work all through the year supporting the band members and encouraging them to believe in their own talent. She is very well supported by Natalie Marks, Joe Mooney and Bex Ainge - who all work for Artsform. Monday evening was very nerve-wracking as a parent but the band seemed to take to the big stage like it was an everyday event. The music they played was magical and the applause from the 5000-strong audience deafening. What a credit this band is to Leeds as a city and to Artsform/Education Leeds. The rest of the evening was equally fantastic with bands and choirs from across the country - I highly recommend you to attend a future Schools Prom if you haven't done so before. And I hope you get the chance to see the Sparrow play in the near future. Maybe they could play at a future Education Leeds event? I'm sure they would love to. With regards, Bridget."

It is wonderful to hear about the continued success of the Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows who I know are brilliant!

Chris

I had lunch today with members of the School Teachers Review Body who were visiting Leeds as part of their national programme consulting and listening to local opinions...

They had visited Carr Manor High School yesterday and this morning they visited Carr Manor Primary School. In both schools they spent time with the headteachers and groups of teachers to discuss a range of issues from headteacher pay, system leadership, leadership competencies and responsibilities, pay and conditions, relationships between schools, Education Leeds and the City Council, SEN responsibilities, Mathematics shortages, other hard to fill posts, teacher's working time and pay and conditions. We also raised issues around the need for complimentary pay structures to recognise Higher Level Teaching Assistants, classroom assistants, support staff and the partnership working by multi-agency teams across Children's Services.

They said that they were really impressed with Leeds; with Carr Manor High School and Carr Manor Primary School, our headteachers, our teachers, our colleagues, our realationships, our creativity, our ideas and our partnership working. Congratulations to everyone involved for showing Leeds off to it's brilliant best!
Chris

I started the day at the Newly Appointed Headteacher's Conference at Outlon Hall...

My colleague Elaine Bown who looks after the induction of new primary headteachers had asked me to speak to the group about the vision, the expectations and the support for headteachers in Leeds. The induction and support for new headteachers is vitally importnat and it was great to be able to spend some time with these brilliant colleagues and to emphasise the 'Think Team' approach we are developing across the city.
Chris

I spent a brilliant lunchtime and the early part of the afternoon with some amazing children from Moortown Primary School and Stanningley Primary School as part of our '11 Million Takeover' activities...

Young people often amaze me and this session was no different; their confidence, passion, engagement and energy was wonderful to see and reflected the work our colleagues working in these two schools are doing... they are very obviously doing a brilliant job.

We talked about Education Leeds, education in Leeds, the environment and sustainability, school food and drink and school buildings. We also discussed their apirations an waht they wanted to be when they left school, university or college... we had lawyers, judges, doctors, surgeons, teachers and police officers of the future. It was great to spend some time with such wonderful young people.

I hope to have some pictures soon.
Chris

My colleague Nicola Palmer our Information Policy Access Officer sent me this e-mail after her visit to Ireland Wood Primary School and Lawnswood School...

"Hi Chris , Hope you are well. Just thought I'd send you a quick email to let you know about our visit to Ireland Wood Primary School and Lawnswood School. It is very unusual for our section to visit schools - so its always a bit of an outing! We went to have a look at their pupil records as we are developing further records management guidance for schools. Ian, the Head teacher at Ireland Wood, and all his staff were so very welcoming and made us feel right at home. They answered all our questions and gave us a really good starting point for our development work. We also visited Sara Hart and Sue Cooper at Lawnswood who again made us very welcome and answered all our questions - obvious or otherwise! We really enjoy going into our schools, especially when we have such a good experience. Many thanks to Ireland Wood Primary School and Lawnswood School for their time. Best wishes Nicola."

It's great to get good feedback about colleagues visits to schools. Everyone should get out to see the golden threads that connect everything we do to a child, a young person and a school and to see what we are doing and why.
Chris