RELEASING THE MAGIC!

I was speaking at the Entrust Breakfast Seminar at the NCTL Seizing Success Conference at the ICC in Birmingham yesterday and I met some great colleagues. I was talking about what it takes to build brilliant...

Wherever you are in the world I expect, like me, you are searching for the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that makes up a great classroom, a great school, a great organisation, a great local authority or a great chain!

REMEMBER

"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those 

who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis." 

Dante Alighieri

STANDARDS, CURRICULUM, ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY!

I don't know about you but I am struggling at the moment to understand the obsession with GCSEs, new grading systems and the constant running down of the achievements of our young people and their teachers. To achieve world-class outcomes, we need a new approach driving cultural and system change and if we really want to be successful we need to achieve deeper levels of engagement by all headteachers, teachers and other stakeholders and we need to work together to create a more collaborative and cooperative approach. 

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT!

I finally got back to the gym yesterday after struggling for weeks with a bad back and it's true everytime that exercise makes me feel better but I am not convinced by those people who constantly tell me that exercise is the best way to lose weight.

SIMPLY BELIEVE!

If you read the McKinsey Reports, analyse the PISA data, review the research evidence about 'what works' and listen to people like Ken Robinson, Dan Pink and Tony Wagner it is increasingly obvious that we need to develop skills, character and knowledge in our little learners and our bigger learners.

GRIT, PERSEVERANCE AND PASSION!

Grit is a positive trait that involves perseverance and passion to accomplish a long term goal no matter what challenges lie in the way.

HAPPY SUNDAY: FOLLOW YOUR HEART!

SKILLS, CHARACTER AND KNOWLEDGE!

The national and international research very clearly identifies that we need to re-engineer and re-imagine the curriculum in schools to develop skills, character and knowledge, to meet the needs of the world of work and to equip our children and young people for life in a rapidly changing world.

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?

BRILLIANT STUFF: Cutlers' Education Committee

I was in Sheffield again yesterday morning meeting with the Cutlers' Education Committee to look at how we continue to develop the work we have been doing this year with Bradfield School, Firth Park Community Arts College, Stocksbriodge High School and Yewlands Technology College.

WELCOME AND THANK YOU!

It is great to know that the blog attracts such a diverse audience from around the world and that it has now attracted over 100000 visitors since it was set up two years ago...

TEACHING THE ELEPHANT TO DANCE!

A colleague asked me recently how we started with the challenges we faced at Education Leeds and I told him he should read a great book by James Belasco...

REMEMBER!