SMILE AND THE WORLD SMILES WITH YOU!

BE YOUR BRILLIANT BEST... WHATEVER YOU DO!

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

IT'S ALL ABOUT TEACHING AND TEAM WORK!

Building great schools and great provision requires strong and highly effective learning leadership, powerful governance, an organisational infrastructure with beautiful systems, financial resources and autonomy, professional excellence at all levels, intelligent accountability and brilliant, responsive and flexible support... and most of all it requires teamwork.

IT'S EASY TO BE CRITICAL, BUT IT'S NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS!

I am struggling to balance the negative, destructive and short sighted approaches and outpourings from the DfE and OFSTED, with the outstanding things I see every week in ordinary schools where ordinary teachers working with ordinary young people, are achieving extraordinary outcomes.

THINK POSITIVE!

BE POSITIVE!

“You can program yourself to be positive. Being positive is a discipline … 
and the more adversity you face, the more positive you have to be. 
Being positive helps build confidence and self-esteem”

Rick Pitino, University of Louisville Head Basketball Coach

Whatever the critics and the sceptics say education and learning has been transformed over the last 15 years and our successes are everywhere; not just the GCSE/Level 2/Key Stage results but the attendance and exclusion figures, the latest OFSTED analysis, work on healthy schools, work on developing the arts and music, work developing PE and school sport, work on tackling racism, work on inclusion and equity and much, much more. So many colleagues in so many schools have done a simply brilliant job... and always remember when it comes to judging our successes and failures "It is not the critic who counts...

THE SEVEN KEYS TO RELEASING THE MAGIC!

These are seven things that will make a real difference in your family, your school, your team, or your organisation. Do all seven, and you will release real magic!

OF COURSE WE WANT EVERY CHILD TO GO TO A GREAT SCHOOL... BUT THIS IS A SIMPLISTIC APPROACH!

In a world where OFSTED strikes fear into the hearts of headteachers and teachers, it is important to remember that the current short-term, quick fix and interventionist approach is not based on in-depth understanding of the research evidence about what works or a detailed understanding of the context and culture of schools.

THE MASTER CUTLER VISITS FIRTH PARK ACADEMY AGAIN!

I visited Firth Park Academy in Sheffield yesterday morning with David Grey, the Master Cutler, to celebrate the achievement of their engineering, NHS and cultural ambassadors.

WE NEED TO FIND ANOTHER WAY TO BUILD BRILLIANT PROVISION!

Acadamisation and take overs are not the answer! We need to find another way! The keys to success lie in recognising that the vast majority of the workforce in our schools have the ability to be outstanding and simply need to find themselves in a supportive, developmental culture which nurtures excellence, expect high standards and has high expectations.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

We have created a negative and destructive culture where bullying, command and control and high stakes testing are seen as the only way to achieve excellence. Those in control dismiss anyone who disagrees with them as the 'enemies of ambition' despite evidence from the best performing systems across the world which reinforce the need to nurture, develop and support learning leadership, beautiful systems and intelligent accountability.

MUSIC AND THE ARTS MATTER!

Music and the arts are a central part of the human experience and young people cannot participate or understand our history without engaging in music and the arts... 

REMEMBER, IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD!

ITS A WONDERFUL WORLD: 

Don't let it get you down! 

Stay true to your beliefs! 

Stay true to your friends! 

Stay true to the things that matter!

REMEMBER THAT MUSIC AND THE ARTS MATTERS!

There are so many of us who passionately believe that every child matters, and that those who are the hardest to reach and the hardest to teach matter more. Increasingly experience tells us that for young people generally, and for those harder to reach young people, music and the arts matter...

CAN I HELP?

I have some spare time at the moment and as you know I like to be busy. 

WHAT MATTERS!

We should all remember that when it comes down to what really matters... it's faith, family and friends that make life worth living and we all need to stay busy and active as we get older!

DEVELOP THE SKILLS AND ATTITUDES THAT MAKE YOU UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT!

We need to stand back and think about the skills, knowledge and understanding our children and young people need to thrive and succeed in the increasingly complex world we all live in. We know that "The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind... computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands....

THE TOOLS AND STRATEGIES THAT MATTER!

So many people tell me that they find it hard to manage the stress and the pressure and ask how you can manage to stay cheerful, positive and enthusiastic. It's easy if you know how and if you have the right attitude and the right tools and strategies...

ATTITUDE OR FACTS!

THIS WEEKEND WE ALL NEED TO READ THE GOD STORY!

The older I get, the more I realise that friends, family and faith are the things that really matter. And having spent time with some of my friends this week, I found this story which made me remember that sharing, believing and friendship count...

"A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with chocolate bars and cokes and he started his journey.

ANOTHER GREAT NIGHT AT THE CUTLERS HALL IN SHEFFIELD!

I was at the Cutlers Hall this evening where David Grey, the current Master Cutler, led the celebration event for the Cutlers 'Made in Sheffield' Cultural Ambassador programme which Zeena Rashid and colleagues have been developing the at Firth Park Academy over the last two years working with some brilliant partner organisations.

THIS ELECTION DAY RESOLVE TO TAKE SEVEN STEPS!

It's Election Day 2015, and I am reminded that we all need to take seven steps to be happier, healthier and more satisfied with what we have and less preoccupied with what we haven't got!.

KINDNESS MATTERS... PASS IT ON!

As the election here in the UK looms and we are led to expect chaos afterwards,

 we should remember to be kind.

THE SAND AND THE STONE!

I found another powerful story on the web. It tells the story of two friends... "Two friends were walking through the desert...