CULTURE MATTERS!

The culture of an organisation is so important. How do you move on from saying the words to actually making the cultural change?

WE NEED TO CREATE A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE!!

"Whether they burst with excitement or simmer quietly, when you are in the presence of enthusiastic people, you feel happier and more excited about your life, perhaps you even feel inspired."

REMEMBER THAT PASSION MATTERS!

THIS IS A PASSIONATE ENTERPRISE!

Another week punctuated by stories from the NAHT Conference and parents keeping their children at home to avoid the KS1 SATS. It makes you realise if you had forgotten that education is a passionate enterprise built on the interaction between human beings: teachers, students and parents.

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD WITH THE CUTLERS' SKILLS!

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER BARNSLEY SCHOOL!

Kelly Drury, Training & Professional Development Manager at Barnsley Healthcare Federation, and I visited The Dearne ALC today. We were there to launch the 'Better Learners, Better Workers: Made in Barnsley' programme to another fantastic group of young people.

'BETTER LEARNERS, BETTER WORKERS: MADE IN BARNSLEY'... THE PATH TO A GREAT CAREER!

'BETTER LEARNERS, BETTER WORKERS: MADE IN BARNSLEY'

Kelly Drury, Training & Professional Development Manager at Barnsley Healthcare Federation, and I visited Holy Trinity Catholic and Church of England School and Horizon Community College today. We were there to launch the 'Better Learners, Better Workers: Made in Barnsley' programme to two fantastic groups of young people.

WHY VOCATIONAL LEARNING MATTERS!

This NFER Thinks paper argues for a fundamental change to the way we view vocational education.

EDUCATION TO EMPLOYMENT RESEARCH!

There is a growing body or research and evidence about what works regarding routes and pathways from education into employment. This publication from NFER gathers a lot of it together...

REMEMBER THIS SUNNY SUNDAY...

THE EDUCATION LEEDS EXPERIMENT: 2001-2011 TEN GREAT YEARS!

We had a great ten years in Leeds and our successes were everywhere; not just the GCSE/Level 2/Key Stage results but our attendance and exclusion figures, the OFSTED data, our healthy schools data, our PE and school sport data, our Stephen Lawrence uptake, our Inclusion Chartermark uptake, 29 new schools and much, much more. Colleagues in schools and Education Leeds did a simply brilliant job... and always remember when it comes to judging successes and failures...

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

LUNCH WITH MY FRIEND RUTH!

I had lunch yesterday with an old friend. Ruth Baldwin was one of the extraordinary, unique and fabulous individuals who made such a difference as part of the Education Leeds team over the ten years this fantastic experiment lasted and it was wonderful to see her again.