MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE... PASS IT ON!

CHRISTMAS WISHES... PASS IT ON!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS... PASS IT ON!

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don’t and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said that it’d be easy, they just promised it would be worth it."

END OF TERM FOR 'MADE IN SHEFFIELD' ... PASS IT ON!

I was over in Sheffield again yesterday for a meeting with colleagues from the schools working on the engineering/advanced manufacturing strand of the Cutlers’ “Made in Sheffield’ Programme. These schools are Bradfield School, Firth Park Community College, Handsworth Grange School, Stocksbridge High School, Westfield School and Yewlands Technology College.

DISCOVER YOURSELF... PASS IT ON!

Passion and purpose are the keys to success

GREAT COLLEAGUES AND GOOD FRIENDS... PASS IT ON!

I was in Leeds again today and it was really great to have Christmas lunch at Thai Edge with some old friends and colleagues who, after four years, I still miss.

THE MASTER CUTLER VISITS FIRTH PARK ACADEMY... PASS IT ON!

I visited Firth Park Academy in Sheffield this morning with David Grey, the Master Cutler, Doug Liversidge, who chairs the Cutlers Education Committee and George Kilburn, the Cutlers Company Chief Executive.

MIRACLES CAN HAPPEN... HAPPY SUNDAY!

REAL CHANGE TAKES TIME... PASS IT ON!

It's always interested me that the evidence, alongside the school improvement and development research, strongly suggests that short 'quick fix' inputs have limited impact.

WE KNOW WHAT WORKS... PASS IT ON!

As we face the fallout from Sir Michael Wilshaw's latest Annual Report, it is important to remember that the answer isn't academies and free schools and it isn't the short-term, quick fix interventionist approach led by super-heroes. These things might have their appeal but, even OFSTED agree, they don't work.

CHARACTER, RESILIENCE AND GRIT... PASS IT ON!

We face financial problems, more cuts, local authority services increasingly under pressure, schools facing increasing challenge and academisation, OFSTED turning up the pressure and plenty of other challenges. Clearly to be successful, as demonstrated by Nicky Morgan who wants to send the army in and Tristram Hunt who realises we ned something different, we need to develop character, resilience and grit alongside knowledge and understanding.

INTERESTING READING... PASS IT ON!

Sir Michael Wilshaw's fourth Annual Report sets out the challenges we face

and what we need to do to continue to improve schools. 

MORE OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD... PASS IT ON!

We see the OFSTED Annual Report published tomorrow and I suppose that we are going to get more and more criticism and more and more initiatives as we gear up for the general election next May. More challenges, more opportunities and more quick fixes.

WE ARE ALL STORYTELLERS... PASS IT ON!

Research shows that every learner has the potential to be brilliant given individual support and guidance. The keys to brilliant performance lie in great teaching supported by coaching, mentoring and hard work.

SHARE YOUR PASSION... PASS IT ON!

What we need is a ”we can do anything" culture. 

A culture where we share our passions and do the things we love!

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES... PASS IT ON!

"The secret of change is not to use all your energy fighting the old but to use it building the new" Socrates

CULTURE MATTERS... PASS IT ON!

Culture is how we do things around here!

BETTER TOGETHER... PASS IT ON!

We don’t need to be told that striving for excellence and building world class provision is important.

SHARE, NETWORK AND LEARN WITH THE BEST...PASS IT ON!

We need to remember that nothing is impossible... there is an army of extraordinary teachers, coaches and educators out there and together we can change the world for the better. 

BULLYING AND COMMAND AND CONTROL DON'T WORK... PASS IT ON!

We don't have to put up with a culture of fear, with command and control, with this obsession with the past. 

LEADERSHIP v MANAGEMENT... PASS IT ON!

We all want every school and every classroom to be outstanding, extraordinary, world class …but what does it take to build brilliant? The answer is leadership!

THE TEACHER v THE TESTER...PASS IT ON!

We face an interesting challenge as educators and there is a massive chasm between the teacher and the tester.