Mick Waters

I spent a couple of hours this evening with my colleague and friend Mick Waters...

Mick used to be Chief Education Officer in Manchester and before that worked with Tim Brighouse in Birmingham. Mick also led the QCA work on revising the curriculum in Key Stage 2 and 3 before Michael Gove decided to go back to basics. It was wonderful to be able to share ideas and listen to what Mick is doing. He is working on the Black Country Challenge, chairing the Curriculum Foundation and very busy working with schools across the country. We agreed that we need to continue to work on:

• inspiring teaching and learning;
• an engaging curriculum;
• a coaching culture;
• developing brilliant learning places;
• alternative approaches to accountability.

It was great spending time with Mick and reassuring that we are thinking in very similar ways about the challenges we face to build world class provision and secure world class outcomes.

Chris