And finally at the end of yet another long, challenging and wonderful week in Leeds I attended the Leeds City Council Excellence Awards...
Sadly we didn't win any of the 16 awards but we were nominated in eight and shortlisted in two.
Congratulations to and the Visually Impaired Team and everyone else who was nominated having won the Education Leeds Spirit Awards.
Chris
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Friday, 20 November 2009
We are the people we've been waiting for!
When I attended the education guardian 'Innovation in Education' Conference recently Lord Puttnam showed a clip from a film...
Everyone who cares about education and learning needs to see this film. You can see a clip from the film 'We are the People We've been Waiting For' here. It lasts six and a half minutes but I promise it will be worth it.
Chris
Everyone who cares about education and learning needs to see this film. You can see a clip from the film 'We are the People We've been Waiting For' here. It lasts six and a half minutes but I promise it will be worth it.
Chris
My colleague Christine Marsden, Curriculum Development Manager at the Education Business Partnership sent me this e-mail...
"Hi Chris, Bruntcliffe School made the Regional Social Enterprise Final but were just beaten to the post as overall Best Social Enterprise. However they went on to win the Leeds Best Social Enterprise in June and won the Schools category for the Business Links Yorkshire and Humber Social Enterprise award in October. They also appeared at the Footsey show in Doncaster in October. They have put themselves forward for the school category for the National Social Enterprise Awards. Many of you will have seen their stand at the Regional Social Enterprise or Leeds event and I’m sure you were impressed with their efforts. Ryan Hirst who manages the programme at Bruntcliffe is very passionate and this shows in the way the students respond and the quality of work they produce. They would be grateful for your votes to help them achieve this final accolade. They certainly deserve to be in the final.
If you would like to vote for Bruntcliffe School then could you please click on the link below. You have to vote for a business in each of the 4 categories but there is a short intro to each so it only takes a couple of minutes to complete. Please vote – lets make Bruntcliffe the first Leeds school not only to get to the final but also to win it.
http://www.socialenterpriseawards.org.uk/awards_vote.php?action=vote
Many thanks, Christine."
I hope as many colleagues as possible will vote for Bruntcliffe who are doing brilliant things in this area and reaching and engaging some very special young people .
Chris
"Hi Chris, Bruntcliffe School made the Regional Social Enterprise Final but were just beaten to the post as overall Best Social Enterprise. However they went on to win the Leeds Best Social Enterprise in June and won the Schools category for the Business Links Yorkshire and Humber Social Enterprise award in October. They also appeared at the Footsey show in Doncaster in October. They have put themselves forward for the school category for the National Social Enterprise Awards. Many of you will have seen their stand at the Regional Social Enterprise or Leeds event and I’m sure you were impressed with their efforts. Ryan Hirst who manages the programme at Bruntcliffe is very passionate and this shows in the way the students respond and the quality of work they produce. They would be grateful for your votes to help them achieve this final accolade. They certainly deserve to be in the final.
If you would like to vote for Bruntcliffe School then could you please click on the link below. You have to vote for a business in each of the 4 categories but there is a short intro to each so it only takes a couple of minutes to complete. Please vote – lets make Bruntcliffe the first Leeds school not only to get to the final but also to win it.
http://www.socialenterpriseawards.org.uk/awards_vote.php?action=vote
Many thanks, Christine."
I hope as many colleagues as possible will vote for Bruntcliffe who are doing brilliant things in this area and reaching and engaging some very special young people .
Chris
I moved on to yet another Induction Session for new colleagues to Education Leeds at the Derek Fatchett Centre...
These sessions always inspire me as I meet great new colleagues who have made that decision to join the A Team... the best education team anywhere! These colleagues bring creativity, imagination, ideas and experience and they certainly are talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful additions to their teams. Our job is to continue to develop the leadership and culture that will release their potential, their magic, their passion and target their hard work to make a real difference for our children and young people. They asked some great questions about how we build an education and learning system for the 21st Century focused on personal and social skills, sustainability, creativity, the arts, global citizenship and life skills and how we remove the fear factor which is stifling brilliant practioners.
Answers on a postcard.
Chris
These sessions always inspire me as I meet great new colleagues who have made that decision to join the A Team... the best education team anywhere! These colleagues bring creativity, imagination, ideas and experience and they certainly are talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful additions to their teams. Our job is to continue to develop the leadership and culture that will release their potential, their magic, their passion and target their hard work to make a real difference for our children and young people. They asked some great questions about how we build an education and learning system for the 21st Century focused on personal and social skills, sustainability, creativity, the arts, global citizenship and life skills and how we remove the fear factor which is stifling brilliant practioners.
Answers on a postcard.
Chris
I started the day at the Leeds Governors' Conference at the Village Hotel...
The conference was attended by over 150 governors from across the city and was focussed on student voice and safeguarding. Rosemary Archer and I talked to the governors about Children's Services and the keys to brilliant provision before children from the school councils at Castleton and Shadwell Primary Schools gave fantastic presentations about the impact they were having in their schools. I talk so often about magic but these young people certainly brought some to the conference.
Chris
The conference was attended by over 150 governors from across the city and was focussed on student voice and safeguarding. Rosemary Archer and I talked to the governors about Children's Services and the keys to brilliant provision before children from the school councils at Castleton and Shadwell Primary Schools gave fantastic presentations about the impact they were having in their schools. I talk so often about magic but these young people certainly brought some to the conference.
Chris
Thursday, 19 November 2009
And finally today I attended the Looked-After Children Celebration Event at the Civic Hall...
The Banqueting Suite was packed with standing room only for this wonderful celebration of the achievements of some of our looked-after children. Cllr Stewart Golton, Lead Member for Children, and Cllr Richard Harker, Lead Member for Learning joined the Lord Mayor, Cllr Judith Elliott, for the event which recognised the personal, academic, social and sporting achievements of over sixty young people from across Leeds.
Chris
The Banqueting Suite was packed with standing room only for this wonderful celebration of the achievements of some of our looked-after children. Cllr Stewart Golton, Lead Member for Children, and Cllr Richard Harker, Lead Member for Learning joined the Lord Mayor, Cllr Judith Elliott, for the event which recognised the personal, academic, social and sporting achievements of over sixty young people from across Leeds.
Chris
Some sad news!
Chris Pollard, Head of National Strategies within the School Improvement Service here at Education Leeds sent me this bit of sad news today...
"Dear Chris, I am very sorry to have to tell you about the death today of one of my team, Jane Rose, who has been fighting cancer for 6 years. Jane was a primary mathematics consultant, who worked with us for 8 years, and prior to that was a teacher in Leeds. She has put up an amazingly brave fight, and all her colleagues and friends are immensely saddened by her loss. She was in her early 40s and leaves a husband and two young daughters. Chris"
"Dear Chris, I am very sorry to have to tell you about the death today of one of my team, Jane Rose, who has been fighting cancer for 6 years. Jane was a primary mathematics consultant, who worked with us for 8 years, and prior to that was a teacher in Leeds. She has put up an amazingly brave fight, and all her colleagues and friends are immensely saddened by her loss. She was in her early 40s and leaves a husband and two young daughters. Chris"
In a world where OFSTED, the DCSF and everyone else continue to give us hassle and are never satisfied with what we do, we must remember how fragile and precious life is and we all need to ensure that our colleagues know how much they have achieved here in Leeds, the difference they have made and are making and how much we value them and their contribution. Jane will be deeply missed by everyone who knew her, she made a real difference here in Leeds and our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this terribly sad time.
Chris
I moved on to the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors Information Day at Leeds Metropolitan University...
Hialry Farmery and her colleagues had oerganised another great day for some of our Anti- Bullying Ambassadors working with Childline, The Project and Leeds Rugby Foundation. The initiative now involves over 200 young people from 13 primary schools and 17 secondary schools across Leeds who are working with us to tackle bullying. Hilary and her colleagues are doing a brilliant job and the feedback from schools, from young people and from our ambassadors is that things are getting better but that we still have more to do to ensure that every child feels safe at school.
Chris
Hialry Farmery and her colleagues had oerganised another great day for some of our Anti- Bullying Ambassadors working with Childline, The Project and Leeds Rugby Foundation. The initiative now involves over 200 young people from 13 primary schools and 17 secondary schools across Leeds who are working with us to tackle bullying. Hilary and her colleagues are doing a brilliant job and the feedback from schools, from young people and from our ambassadors is that things are getting better but that we still have more to do to ensure that every child feels safe at school.
Chris
I moved on to Woodkirk High School Specialist Science College...
Jonathan White, the headteacher, had invited me to visit the school after receiving one of my recent letters and I talked to the Leadership Team about some of the issues they are wrestling with in their quest to build outstanding provision consistently across the school. They also talked to me about problems with procuring building work and the need for a Leeds ICT approach to tracking, monitoring and intervention. We were joined by the Chair of Governors, who accompanied us on a quick tour of the school before one of the sixth form took over and showed me the best bits. Our whistle-stop tour covered English, history, geography, psychology, science, ICT... we looked in on classes in Year 7, Year 9, Year 10, Year 11, and the sixth form. What really struck me apart from the confidence, commitment and assurance of my guide was the atmosphere around the school, the positive behaviour, the wonderful relationships, the focused, enthusiastic, young and caring staff and Jonathan's relationships with his students. Lunch was pretty good as well!
Woodkirk is very obviously a good school but it is going to be a great one under Jonathan's leadership and with this great team of colleagues releasing the magic in their wonderful young people.
Chris
Jonathan White, the headteacher, had invited me to visit the school after receiving one of my recent letters and I talked to the Leadership Team about some of the issues they are wrestling with in their quest to build outstanding provision consistently across the school. They also talked to me about problems with procuring building work and the need for a Leeds ICT approach to tracking, monitoring and intervention. We were joined by the Chair of Governors, who accompanied us on a quick tour of the school before one of the sixth form took over and showed me the best bits. Our whistle-stop tour covered English, history, geography, psychology, science, ICT... we looked in on classes in Year 7, Year 9, Year 10, Year 11, and the sixth form. What really struck me apart from the confidence, commitment and assurance of my guide was the atmosphere around the school, the positive behaviour, the wonderful relationships, the focused, enthusiastic, young and caring staff and Jonathan's relationships with his students. Lunch was pretty good as well!
Woodkirk is very obviously a good school but it is going to be a great one under Jonathan's leadership and with this great team of colleagues releasing the magic in their wonderful young people.
Chris
I started the day early having breakfast with some of the new headteachers here in Leeds...
These new headteachers are an amazing group of colleagues and we talked about Infobase, buildings, behaviour, healthy schools, increasing numbers, 21st Century Schools, special needs and behaviour provision, early years, extended services, 'Every Child a Reader' and talked about the characteristics of brilliant provision and how schools could maintain their focus on standards with so many intiatives, so many pots of money to chase, so many consultants and experts and so much constant change.
We all agreed that the key is to maintain a focus on quality and to nurture passion, enthusiasm, determination, persistence and patience while being able to phone a friend when help was needed. We talked about the importance of developing confident, self-critical and reflective practitioners who understood the learning process and working positively with colleagues from Social Care, Health and the voluntary sector to support families and build healthier and more sustainable communities through community hubs; the primary schools. We talked about the many challenges we all face but what was deeply encouraging was that, alongside their passionate commitment to their children, there was a total focus on ensuring that their children were exposed to rigorous, pacey and brilliant teaching to ensure that as far as possible they all became literate, numerate and had the necessary social and emotional skills to succeed.
It was a brilliant start to the day with some great colleagues and we need to do more of this; to talk more, to share more, to network more and to celebrate more. We talked about the challenges that lie ahead and the need to be more creative and more collaborative and to stop the merry go round of meetings, bureaucracy and things that made no difference to children and families and focus on those we know do.
Chris
These new headteachers are an amazing group of colleagues and we talked about Infobase, buildings, behaviour, healthy schools, increasing numbers, 21st Century Schools, special needs and behaviour provision, early years, extended services, 'Every Child a Reader' and talked about the characteristics of brilliant provision and how schools could maintain their focus on standards with so many intiatives, so many pots of money to chase, so many consultants and experts and so much constant change.
We all agreed that the key is to maintain a focus on quality and to nurture passion, enthusiasm, determination, persistence and patience while being able to phone a friend when help was needed. We talked about the importance of developing confident, self-critical and reflective practitioners who understood the learning process and working positively with colleagues from Social Care, Health and the voluntary sector to support families and build healthier and more sustainable communities through community hubs; the primary schools. We talked about the many challenges we all face but what was deeply encouraging was that, alongside their passionate commitment to their children, there was a total focus on ensuring that their children were exposed to rigorous, pacey and brilliant teaching to ensure that as far as possible they all became literate, numerate and had the necessary social and emotional skills to succeed.
It was a brilliant start to the day with some great colleagues and we need to do more of this; to talk more, to share more, to network more and to celebrate more. We talked about the challenges that lie ahead and the need to be more creative and more collaborative and to stop the merry go round of meetings, bureaucracy and things that made no difference to children and families and focus on those we know do.
Chris
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