AFTER THE OLYMPICS, THE LEGACY: Extraordinary, Outstanding and Brilliant… whatever it takes!

"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

The Olympics has once again shown us the outstanding practice, the incredible young people, and the inspirational colleagues that exist in this country. They have highlighted the fact that success in life, be it sporting, artistic, technical or academic, is about passion, persistence, determination, commitment and hard work, within a learning landscape where we all have an unrelenting and uncompromising focus on excellence alongside a belief that every child and young person has potential and talent and magic and that it is our job as educators and coaches to find it! We must escape from this obsession with celebrity and focus on 'Sport for All', 'Arts for All' and 'Education for All' where success comes through effort, blood, sweat and tears not luck and a lottery win!

In terms of education, we are seeing the learning landscape we currently know, love and understand being completely reinvented and turned on its head as I write alongside an attempt to write off what we achieved over the last ten to fifteen years. The success at the Olympics isn't a one off quick fix, it is down to a long term well resourced and well supported sports strategy that started over ten years ago and was rooted in school sports partnerships. Similarly, educational success depends on a well resourced and well supported long term education and learning strategy to drive world class outcomes and our ability as educators and coaches to simply roll up our sleeves and build a better schools and learning system for this new world. A learning system to equip our little learners with the skills they need to be successful bigger learners and to be successful in a world that is changing beyond recognition. A learning system where every child is fit and healthy and given the opportunity to excel in sport and the arts and where every little learner is a reader, write and counter by seven or eight, a powerful little learner by the time they leave primary school and on a pathway to sporting, artistic, technical or academic success by the time they leave secondary school. We need to continue to build brilliant learning places with strong local engagement and powerful and committed governance. We need to develop project-based learning, nurture talent, creativity and imagination wherever we can find it, and we need to share and network the things that work and stop doing those that don’t! As with our success in sporting excellence we need master coaching, deep practice and ignition to drive practice and provision!

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! Let’s 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. We must all set new goals and to strive, work and struggle, each and every day, to help our children and our colleagues be extraordinary, outstanding and brilliant… whatever it takes! Bring on the Paralympics!!
Chris