CREATING REALLY GREAT SCHOOLS AT THE HEART OF EVERY COMMUNITY!

Following my visits to some great schools I was thinking again about what it takes to build brilliant...

What are the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that makes up a great school?

Looking at the extraordinary work colleagues and their teams are doing at schools in Sheffield, Leeds, York, Nottingham, Lincoln and Guernsey my suggestions for the jigsaw puzzle pieces would be:

• strong, passionate and totally committed learning leadership;
• clear, shared vision, values and beliefs driving all aspects of the work of the school;
• a wonderful learning team who passionately believe in what they are doing;
• high expectations of every young person and the whole learning team;
• strong, dynamic and meaningful relationships based on trust, respect and sharing;
• beautiful systems supporting the culture of the school;
• inspiring teaching within a nurturing and challenging culture;
• Intelligent accountability encouraging reflection and learning;
• high parental support, engagement and involvement; and
• recognition that all young people can learn and have the potential to become talented, brilliant, gorgeous and wonderful!

These learning teams, doing a brilliant job and creating a fantastic learning environment for their children, show us what's possible and prove that together we can create really great schools at the heart of every community.

Chris