BE OUTSTANDING!

"The principal goal of education... should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things... men and women who are creative, inventive, and discoverers." Jean Piaget

Life is never ever dull, and my travels have once again showed me the outstanding practice, the incredible young people, and the inspirational colleagues that exist in Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and other places up and down the country.
Change is happening wherever we look at a frightening pace, and all of the authorities and organisations we currently know and understand are being completely reinvented as I write. We need to work within the opportunities this new educational landscape presents to build a new schools and learning system for this new world. A learning system to equip our little learners with the character, resilience and grit they need to be successful bigger learners and to be successful in a world that is changing beyond recognition. A learning system where every little learner is literate and numerate by seven or eight, a powerful little learner by the time they leave primary school and on a pathway to college, university, employment and success by the time they leave secondary school. We need to continue to build brilliant learning places with the team around the school supporting the team around the child and the family at the heart of our communities, with strong local engagement and powerful and committed governance. We need to nurture creativity, innovation and enterprise wherever we can find it, build challenge into everything we do and share, network and learn from the things that work and stop doing those that don’t!

We must continue to build brilliant and never settle for satisfactory when what we do can be outstanding. OK, satisfactory is easy, predictable and anyone can do it... well almost anyone! We must all agree that we will never settle for things that are just good enough when with a bit of energy and effort we can be outstanding.
Chris