LEADERSHIP, GREAT TEACHING AND TEAMWORK MATTER!

I have visited some great schools over the last few years and each visit makes me realise that leadership, teaching and teamwork are what matters.

These brilliant learning places are led by outstanding headteachers and principals whose energy, passion, commitment, determination and hard work is releasing the magic and potential in some great teams and some simply wonderful young people. It's strange that so many people fail to understand what it takes to achieve outstanding provision but the keys to brilliant are on display at these little centres of excellence: passionate leadership; great teamwork; amazing teaching and learning; determined practice; beautiful systems, intelligent accountability; and lots and lots of hard work.

Against a background of public sector budget cuts, new Academies and Free Schools, milestones, raised floor standards and a constant stream of announcements about the curriculum we must remain positive. Over the past ten years, we have seen the learning landscape transformed and achieved outcomes that no one ever believed were possible. Of course, there is still much more to do to achieve brilliant outcomes consistently across all our schools and to establish strong, dynamic and creative foundations to build a truly world class education system delivering world class outcomes for children and young people.

The key to the future is to create a culture of excellence working across a collaborative and cooperative network of brilliant learning places where we can share great ideas and enable colleagues to learn together. We must above all continue to question, to challenge, to dream, to imagine, to experiment, to explore and to discover.