INVENTING THE FUTURE: THE NOTTINGHAM LEARNING TRUST!

I spoke to a great group of colleagues in Nottingham yesterday about what it takes to build brilliant...

I was at an event organised by the Nottingham Learning Trust talking about  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 Nottingham, 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