BE POSITIVE AND OPTIMISTIC AND YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!

It has been another interesting term and spending it with some great colleagues makes you realise how much there is that is extraordinary about education, schools and learning...

It is important that we count our rainbows and not our thunderstorms because it is very easy in Michael and Michael's challenging and negative world to forget what matters and that it doesn't really matter which school our children go to but it does matter which classroom they are in. A culture of excellence starts and finishes in the classroom. I know that because I have spent time, this term, this year and over my whole career, working with so many great headteachers, teachers and students who are are achieving some fantastic outcomes, many working in the most challenging contexts. What matters is teaching and what teachers and classroom assistants do, and the culture, atmosphere, expectations and attitudes they create in these potentially wonderful learning places.