Another Award!

I heard that we won another award at the Leeds Architecture Awards 2010...

The fantastic Pudsey Grangefield School building won one of the awards at the Leeds Architecture Awards 2010 dinner last night. I hope colleagues will send me more details of the award.
Chris

This morning I attended the 'Vision for Leeds 2013 - 2030' Steering Group meeting at the Civic Hall...

The group is working with colleagues from the Leeds Initiative to develop a new vision for Leeds. The Leeds Initiative team has been working with partners and groups across the city to answer some fairly basic questions:

• What do we want Leeds to be like in 2030?
• What are the big themes and issues we need to address?
• How do we put people at the heart of this work?
• How do we cope with the increasing population?
• How do we involve young people?
• How do we address sustainability?
• How do we address health and well-being?

This is a great theme for schools to explore with their children and young people who will be between 25 and 40 years old in 2030. I hope that every school in Leeds will get involved in this important piece of work through their school councils and their curriculum?

Chris

I ended the day at the Shortage Subjects Trainee Teachers Recruitment Event at the Park Plaza Hotel...

I had been asked by my colleague Rachael Dearns to talk to these young potential mathematics, science, modern foreign languages and ICT teachers about Education Leeds and our vision for learning. The trainee teachers also were able to attend subject-specific workshops, learn about NQT induction, writing applications and interview techniques. They were also given the opportunity to meet our teaching supply agencies and some headteachers and colleagues from schools.

Rachael and the team had organised another brilliant event which this year attracted around 90 potential colleagues in specific shortage areas in our secondary schools. I hope that it means that we will be joined by some wonderful new colleagues in September.
Chris

This afternoon I met with NAHT colleagues...

We talked about a range of issues including:

• The NAHT SATs campaign;
• Lessons from the severe weather;
• Strategies to fill vacancies, recruit and retain headteachers;
• Children's Services, the recent inspection and the review;
• OFSTED inspections of schools;
• NEEC 2012; and
  
• The Teaching Awards.

We are constantly looking to improve and develop our core business of raising standards and improving outcomes for all our children and young people. The relationship we have established with headteachers is strong and increasingly effective and it is great to have feedback highlighting the things we've got right and the areas where we can do better. Honest, direct and constructive feedback from colleagues has helped us over the years to refine, focus and improve our services to our schools. The trust, respect and partnership we have developed over the last eight and a half years continues to shape our improvement strategies and to further develop our support for headteacher colleagues.
Chris

I moved on to the 'Mind the Gap' Premiere event at the Shine Enterprise Centre...

'Mind the Gap' is an media project which this year involved Allerton Grange High School, Leeds West Academy and Woodkirk High School. Three teams of young people created their own documentaries to explore the statement in a Learning and Skills Network publication that 'only 13% of businesses feel confident that young people leave school with the right skills for the workplace'.

This innovative and successful project was co-ordinated by Becky Cumberworth, one of our Enterprise Ambassadors, who had worked with the three schools on the project. Each group of young people presented their documentaries before an invited audience. The three presentations all explored aspects of the issue really well and demostrated that young people across Leeds have high aspirations and are developing the skills needed for the workplace. Groups then discussed the folowing questions:

• What can we do to make young people more aware of the skills needed by employers?
• How can schools and businesses work together to ensure that young people are able to secure and keep a job by the time they leave school?
• If there isn't a skills gap, what is making employers believe that there is?

It was a really stimulating and interesting morning with three groups of young people who were brilliant ambassadors for their schools wonderfully supported by Becky, Mike Cooper and his team. The challenge and the gap seems to be a more about misunderstanding and ignorance on both sides and requires more communication, more initiatives and more projects like this to bridge the divide and build intelligence and understanding.

Chris

"The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children – their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born"
UNICEF

I met with Alison Shaffner and Jane Wardman this morning to talk about the pilot work for a Children's University developing here in Leeds...

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! We hope that the Children's University will 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.

We need 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. I am grateful to Alison and Jane for their hard work with the Seacroft and Manston Family of Schools who are piloting this hugely important piece of work.

Chris

The Teaching Awards

"The Teaching Awards provides a unique opportunity for us to celebrate those who, tirelessly and often selflessly, dedicate their lives to securing a future for the next generation"

Lord Puttnam of Queensgate CBE

We are not very good at shouting about our heroes... those incredible people in every school who through their daily work make a real difference. There are hundreds of them across Leeds and at least one in every school I visit. So why not nominate a school, a teacher, a headteacher, a classroom assistant, a learning partner or a school governor for a Teaching Award. We all know that these are inspirational people who help change lives for the better. Help us celebrate their achievements and reward their dedication by nominating the unsung heroes in our schools. Anyone can nominate online at www.teachingawards.com. It is a quick and easy process which only takes a few minutes, but it's the best way to say thank you to some of our talented, gorgeous, brilliant and wonderful colleagues who are transforming young people's lives.

The Teaching Awards categories for 2009 are as follows:

• The Award for Special Needs Teacher of the Year
• The TDA Award for Teaching Assistant of the Year
• The Becta Award for Next Generation Learning
• The BT Award for Teacher of the Year in a Primary School
• The DCSF Award for Governor of the Year
• The DCSF Award for Sustainable Schools
• The Guardian Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School
• The NCSL Award for Headteacher of the Year in a Primary School
• The Royal Air Force Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School
• The SSAT Award for Outstanding New Teacher of the Year
• The DCSF Award for Enterprise
• The Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement

The closing date is 1 March 2010 so why not nominate a colleague, a school or someone who has made that difference?!
Chris

I ended the day with Rachel Walmsley, a colleague who shares my passion for strategies that support motivation and emotional intelligence, that build self-esteem and confidence and that constantly celebrate progress and personal achievements...

Rachel Walmsley is co-author of 'The Little Book of Visualisation'. She was formerly a classroom assistant and a teacher and has worked with over a hundred schools delivering a programme called 'Creating a Coaching Culture' which uses strategies like relaxation, visualisation and coaching. Rachel is working with Sue Roe and Peter Coverdale to deliver a workshop called 'Being the Best You Can Be' as part of a Support Staff Conference on 18th March at Weetwood Hall. It was great to talk to Rachel who is doing sme really interesting work with some wonderful schools across the city.
Chris

I moved on again to yet another induction session at the Derek Fatchett Centre...

These sessions for new colleagues to Education Leeds are inspiring as I get to meet great new colleagues who have made that decision to join the A Team... to join the best education team anywhere! These colleagues bring energy, creativity, imagination, ideas and experience and they certainly are talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful additions to their teams. These colleagues worked in our Hearing Impaired and Visually Impaired Teams, our Admissions and Transport Team, our Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Team, our School Improvement Team, our Inclusive Learning Team and it was great to be able to spend some time with them.
Chris