End of Year Report for Michael Gove and the DfE

End of 2010 year School Report on Michael Gove and the DfE:

What a truly amazing year!

We often say that a year is a long time in education - well, if we compare where we are now at Christmas 2010, then seven months have changed the educational landscape for children, schools and school leaders. The new Government has learned from Tony Blair's published experiences of not using his first 100 days to get reform going. What can we deduce from the changes so far?

Autonomy 4 out of 5
The call for freedom has led to structural change that is enabling those schools and school leaders who wish to take control of their own decision-making through converter Academies to do so.
The free school approach is potentially more divisive and will often have a negative effect upon existing schools.

Accountability 1 out of 5
We are pleased to have an independent enquiry into SATs, but it all depends upon the outcome and the Government's response. The White Paper proposals for a high-stakes Reading test - and it's a 'phonics' test not a 'reading' test - for 6 year olds, and an English Bacc are signs that again the curriculum is going to be distorted for thousands of children on a poor evidence base and in opposition to professional judgment. Inspection should become fairer and encompass support. We fully accept accountability, but the system must improve.
We need to clarify the differences between transparency and accountability, understanding the
grey areas.

Engagement 4 out of 5
The DfE is talking with school leaders. Announcements though still come out of the blue - too many details announced through the press rather than direct to the profession.

Austerity 3 out of 5
The headlines suggested that school budgets were largely being protected. This was positive, but beneath the headlines many schools will struggle with funding. Early intervention and sixth forms are under particular pressure. The Pupil Premium level at an initial £430 per fsm pupil was disappointing and will not cover the costs of for example, a reading recovery teacher. Let's hope this substantially improves. Most quangos will not be missed, but the need for sports, the 'Every Child ......' infrastructure, music (subject to the Henley Report) and a lack of innovation (and virtual absence from the White Paper) with ICT, stand out.

12 out of 20 - a promising start could be tarnished by a return to ideological rather than educational thinking.   

Looking forward to 2011
A few priorities:
The end of SATs as we know them. Let us compete with world-class systems such as Finland on a level playing field (no external assessments until 18).
The creation of an effective system of KS2 moderated teacher assessment (including KS3 teachers). Must remember to hold schools accountable for results not methods.
Create confidence in schools to use their freedoms
A restructuring of LAs: now clarify a positive role 
Reconsideration of the effects of a reading test for 6 year olds, and an
English Bacc 
Wales moving towards equality of funding 
Northern Ireland moving towards educational engagement
Raising the Pupil Premium, and look forward to debate on national funding formula
We need to address exclusions
A fairer Inspection system.

We would then have a world-class DfE (and schools).

Michael Gove is a positive politician. I hope he understands that these classroom priorities are genuine and necessary. He should be careful of siren voices in the playground which could lead to much frustration and distraction in class.

James is two years old.

James is two today. I hope when he is older he will understand how his innocence, love, intelligence and fun give me unbridled joy each day. For both Veronicah and me James is the light of our life. James and wonderful grandson Ted, also two last week, shared a birthday party with their friends, bouncy castle, pass the parcel, party tea, and Thomas the Tank engine Cake and all.  

'No ifs, no buts, no education cuts'......

Lunch with Michael Gove, Secretary of State. This covered a number of areas of policy, including the experience of being an academy. The day was dominated by the very adjacent Student Protests about tuition fees. I've stated my concerns about how the increase in such fees will disproportionately affect children from inner area communities. This could have a significant effect upon social mobility as well as individual life chances. As I left the Department to return to St.James Underground station I met a large group of peaceful young protestors making their way down Tothill Street. The 'No ifs, no buts, no education cuts' was sung with gusto, but it was the young lad at the back with the banner - I'm only here to get out of PE' - which caught my eye. 

The Sheriff of Nottingham or was it Long John Silver?

At the Goddard Park Primary Christmas Concert on Tuesday night I was expecting to introduce our older classes when ten minutes before we started a breathless Year 5 teacher came along the corridor to let me know that the Sheriff of Nottingham was ill and his understudy unavailable for our Robin Hood-based pantomime. Within five minutes staff had identified that I had to fill the gap, produced a costume (partially stapled!) and handed me the script. Oh the joys of Headship. Needless to say the children, parents and staff had great fun with me playing the Sheriff (in the manner of Robert Newton's Long John Silver) with several ad libs about X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing. The children, not thrown by my presence on the stage, were brilliant and particularly enjoyed Robin giving the Sheriff his comeuppance.   

Twins and buses

I was walking in Swindon in order to collect my Senior bus pass when I came across an elderly lady having great difficulty in crossing the road on the icy surface. I assisted her to cross safely and she shuffled along her way. On my way out of the Council Offices I had occasion to cross the same stretch of road and immediately fell over with such force and speed that I injured my wrist and had a precautionary cast on for a couple of days. Veronicah suggested I purchase a Zimmer frame. As we have just received the joyous news that she is expecting twins next June I am challenging friends to come up with a design for a triple buggy (including James) and an attached motorized zimmer platform. At least James and I can go on the bus now to watch Swindon Town play free of charge - he is regarded as too young to pay and I'm too old! Our joy means that I'll be working until I'm 81.  

The Midlands and more tests

Working in the Midlands last week with Keynote presentations in both Leicester and the University of Warwick Science Park. At such meetings I always take the opportunity to meet and discuss with School leaders their individual challenges. The sheer professionalism of colleagues in the face of adversity is remarkable. The Government is sensible in providing more freedom and flexibility for school leaders to raise standards. What it must not do then is to ramp up the already overpowering accountability regime of OFSTED and SATs with the further distortion of the curriculum which will follow a high stakes reading test for six year olds, and an English Bacc for 16 year olds. Colleagues in the much vaunted Finnish Education system are able to work with children and young people who do not have to undertake an external test until the age of 18 years.   

Brilliant grandaughters Hope, Daisy, and Scarlett, with James 23/11/10

Singing for my supper in Gateshead

Several keynote speeches this week  including one to the Sing Up National Gathering at The Sage by the River Tyne in Gateshead. 24 years ago I became Headteacher of a school about a mile from here along the Felling by-pass. Bede Community Primary School. It had 83% free school meals. Very few parents had a job as all the major employers including Clarke Chapmans had closed down. The community was split by a railway line - now the Metro - with the Old Fold on one side and Sunderland Road on the other. As a designated Community Primary School we reached out to the community and enabled local people to set up a number of groups and activities. The Community School was one of the few meeting places for families.  

Local teenagers - the older brothers and sisters of pupils at Bede - felt isolated, and detached. They began burning out cars on the school field. We responded to this by talking with them and then setting up a football team. Some of the  boys played, and girls and boys were cheerleaders and supporters. We met each week and trained and talked. The local Police agreed to make a minibus available for friendly matches.We raised funds for a football strip and to go to a professional football match. The Police assisted, but would not agree to either a Newcastle or Sunderland game as these could be negative role models. Instead we went to Hartlepool v Burnley. I thought this might not be cool, but the group loved it as they had never been to a real match before. A after a few more friendlies the group were enjoying the experience. Later that Summer one of the boys, Mark, went to the local Cemetery with a couple of friends, sniffed a fire extinguisher, and sadly he died. His Mum had him buried in the team shirt as she said, "It was the only positive thing in his life".

Veronicah, James and I called in to see Alison and Angela at Bede - still the Admin Officers at the School - and lifelong friends. 

Virtually 100% of Primary Schools in Swindon have signed up to Sing Up. Goddard Park has hosted an area training session, and our children have benefitted significantly from this. It has been a very successful initiative. Parents and children were recently singing at Debenhams. Alongside this Wider Opportunities has provided expert instrumental tuition to a whole year group at a time, together with Roadshows of brass/strings/woodwind/percussion that have stimulated interest and enjoyment amongst our pupils. I hope the Henley Review identifies the essential need for music education for all, and that the Government places a requirement in a new National Curriculum with earmarked funds. We need a John Winterflood (Swindon Music Service) and a Liz Terry (Sing Up) to make this happen. Our children would be much richer as a result, and it is difficult to see any effective alternative provision - it is a specialized area of school life.

James at 21 months on the Isle of Man

An intensive time.

Each week is very full and recently I had the opportunity of visiting both the Isle of Wight and flying to the Isle of Man in the same week. What characterized both visits are shared challenges, very different contexts and the professionalism of local NAHT Officers when supporting Members.
The Isle of Wight is undergoing substantial structural change, with the demise of Middle Schools, and the introduction of an external Academy provider for a group of schools, and a further going into a Trust. The remaining schools will be with the LA. The Branch Secretary, John Dear, has worked tirelessly on behalf of colleagues. I was pleased to visit a number of schools including one of the Middle schools where senior staff expressed their concern that children will lose something special when the current system finishes next year.
We were met on Sunday at the airport on the Isle of Man by Tom Thompson Branch Secretary who gave us an impromptu tour of the Island. The next morning we visited two schools one of 280, and the other of six.
I saw quality work in both islands. The Isle of Man has invested well in Apple Macs and these were well used in a range of curriculum activities. It is facing a huge challenge to public finances with changes in VAT arrangements with the UK whereby there is a gap of £140 million to close with obvious effects upon schools. Again Tom was well respected by his colleagues and ensured that their views were clearly communicated.
I met with both Directors and discussed the key issues of reorganization and economic challenge.

Cyprus

• Children in Greek Cypriot national dress in the 26th Limassol Primary

Cyprus

The European School Heads Association (ESHA) Conference is in Cyprus, and I'm accompanied by Chris Harrison Vice President, Jack Hatch National Treasurer, and Roy Tedscoe National Council Member and ESHA rep. It is the first week of November and the temperature is around 30* with constant sunshine and brilliant views of the Mediterranean. In England it's cold, windy and wet. Is this a jolly? Well let me go through reality. To get here meant leaving home at 1am with Veronicah and James to sit in a cold bus station and catch a National Express bus to Gatwick North. Then a four hour flight with a 22 month old. Negotiating a transfer to the hotel took half an hour. The taxi driver spent a considerable time driving with his mobile telephone in deep conversation. We only had two near misses. From experience I only sit in the back seat of taxis, and I admired my Vice President's courage or innocence in taking the front seat. On at least one occasion he could have
shaken hands with a lorry driver. Taxis aside the hospitality is excellent.

Although a European event it provided an excellent opportunity to discuss wider international school leader issues with Mike Benson and Vicki Shannon of the Ontario Principals' Council, and Gail Connelly of the National Association of Elementary School Principals in the USA.


Next morning we had the latest from Andy Hargreaves and the Boston School: 'Performing beyond expectations'. The outcome of research on why some schools, local areas of schools, businesses, and sports teams stand out beyond the norm often in difficult situations.

Neil Hawkes presented on the Values Agenda. Although I've heard Neil before and subscribe to the message, the single factor I picked out was to make this work explicit in the school community. This is linked to our UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award work. As we are now an Academy Trust one of the early pieces of work is for the school community to revisit it's aims and values and ensure that these are agreed, communicated, and lived up to by all.

One of the best sessions in international work is the twin opportunity to network with colleagues and school leader organizations across the world, and to visit local schools. At the 26th Limassol Primary we were presented with Cypriot dance and song. In a quiet moment afterwards I congratulated the music teacher who then rushed off and copied for me with great pride a CD of the songs from an original school recording. It will remain the highlight of the trip, and I will showcase the children's work on several occasions. This resonated with a visit several years ago to a school in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand where traditional playing by Primary School children of the soot and the elegance and expression of their dance impacted immensely on those watching.

So do SATs tell all the story or increasingly indeed any of the story.....and the Finnish Heads - always lauded by successive Governments as the top of the PISA league table reacted with horror at the prospect of testing at 11 years. They believed that as this would distort the curriculum it would reduce the effectiveness of their schools!

Keynote speech to the South West Region

I'm immensely delighted to be National President of the NAHT.
I'm the 3rd President from Swindon following Matt Cammish, and Arthur Burke-Jones in the 1970's. Matt is in his 90's and was my own Headteacher at Secondary.

I had a wonderful working class upbringing in the 1950's and 60's and can remember a time before a television arrived for the 1958 Cup Final
My father and grandfather worked in the GWR. My Mum made the decisions for the family. There was always food on the table. After the privations of the second world war that was essential. The journey to freedom through the sacrifices of those who fought in that war are only too well understood last week, and some Royal Navy shipmates of my Dad's laid down their lives for it.

For many years when I was a child my Mum sat in bed early on a Sunday morning using beautiful copperplate writing and sums to ensure the bills were paid each week. I grew up thinking that there was a shop called 'apro' as Mum would come home with a pair of trousers or shirt and check if it fitted. It wasn't until I was much older I realized that she would go to the Co-op menswear in town and buy clothes for me 'on approval'.

I lived in a town which had a highly skilled workforce and was a world leader in locomotive technology. It had extensive adult education programmes, and more voluntary societies per capital than anywhere in the Country. In many ways it was idyllic. We always realized however that there was a glass ceiling, and this was largely based upon education. Even comics of the time reflected this division. We had Alf Tupper tough of the track who would invariably defeat the effete character from a privileged background who expected to win races on status alone. Unfortunately, this did not always reflect life and the 11+ condemned many at an early age.

How times change? Well last year only 12 children from free school meal backgrounds made it  to Oxford.
There has of course been a meritocratic revolution. My generation - and I'm 60 - was the first to have the opportunity to go into higher education and even be given a student grant. Although it can be argued that a graduate's potential earning power should require a contribution through tuition fees, we should be careful not to restrict access at a time when the Country needs to invest in it's children and youth.
It faces a challenge from international systems of education. It is a challenge we have to meet if we are to have the freedom to flourish.


I want to take you on a journey. Where should we start?
Well according to the OECD PISA studies of international comparisons - and often quoted by our Government - a top performing Country is Finland.
I was speaking with a group of Finnish Headteachers on Saturday. There is no external test in Finland prior to 16 years old. The Finnish Heads said that their Ministry of Education was considering introducing tests as an easy accountability. It might be easy but it is sloppy thinking and the Heads were unanimous in condemning such a move as they felt it would distort the curriculum and encourage teachers to teach to the tests.

Returning to our journey. We live in an interdependent world, but we have we have to ask what about another of our competitors for future contracts? Singapore. In a Singapore Primary of 1500 pupils one of the classrooms had a complete wall as a computer screen set up as Singapore Harbour in the second world war.

Pupils can gain information by touching the screen, and place themselves as a second life style character in this scene and for example ensure survival or try to effect an escape. They can also do this at home with their parents. This technology is part of a project where the Ministry of Education and innovative companies are harnessing such state of the art technology and ensuring schools have the opportunity to access and use it. Michael Gove dispenses with BECTA. Where is there the thinking in the UK about harnessing cutting edge technological companies and schools? Is the interactive whiteboard the limit of our classroom world? Of course it
is not just having the technology, it is what you do with it that counts. Our challenge as a  Country is not just to innovate, but to look to children developing those skills, attributes and values that the future world will require. Even the CBI recognizes that a list of historical dates by itself will not make you an effective team player. I do though appreciate the need for children gaining core cultural knowledge. My 23 month old son is effectively using a computer for fun and can actively read 50 words. We also swim, sing songs, enjoy stories, and go to football, but I want his school to access the best technology. By the way it means I have to work until I am 81.

So what about Canada? Ontario is a major Province and the Superintendent of Schools can and does rotate school leaders. That means families moving to another part of the Province. The UK Government is moving down a greater autonomy route. Autonomy in our Country has been hard won and is jealously guarded. The new autonomy does provide challenge and opportunity to the NAHT and to schools. The NAHT is going to kitemark a Services to Schools provider for support services such as HR.
We need a NETWORK system for professional development. In Ontario, 95% of professional development for school leaders is undertaken by school leaders.   I've often marveled at the brilliance in many of our schools. How often do we visit each other and see this. We need to capture and share it. The NAHT could facilitate this. We need local/national and international networks of schools. We also should consider how we resource the time and workload involved and ensure it doesn't fall on already busy shoulders.

In Australia, the Country has largely escaped the major ravages of the recession and decided that it would keep its employment and activity in the economy up by providing one classroom or library for each school. The disadvantage is that, as with Building Schools for the Future, was bureaucracy and inappropriate matching with individual school needs.

We are told that Charter Schools in the US are the way forward and that the linked FREE SCHOOL model from Sweden is the way forward. NAHT National Council is about to take a view. At the very most we would want to see the 16 schools already announced be evaluated as a pilot. The potential for duplication in a time of austerity, and having a negative effect on surrounding schools is significant.

In South Korea high attainment rates disguise a very high teenage suicide rate that we would not accept.

The NAHT is currently conducting some research into these comparisons.

Prof Andy Hargreaves and his team at the Lynch School of Education in Boston supported by the Institute of Education in London is about to realease some work on Performing Beyond Expectations - businesses, sports clubs, and Schools - that are exactly that, and teases out key attributes and features for success, including:

High fidelity
Fraternity pride community
Fairflow courage
Fallibility try risk
Friendly rivalry with other schools. Work together - assist each other
Fusion lead
Feasible growth shallow not built sustainable
Culture and collaboration
Use resistance to innovate
Fast and fair tracking sample testing important not summative
Charismatic legacy
Fortitude perseverance courage
Counterflow unexpected
Connect to the past and an inspiring future
Firm foundations
Fight for what you believe in
If you are depressed then sort it out.
Fundamental future
Fear can't deliver Henry V before Agincourt. How you respond to it is vital.
The destination is a dream not a number.

The Spirit Level  by Wilkinson and Pickett published by Allen Lane identifies that  unequal societies such as the UK and US do worse in a whole series of measures.

So to be a Headteacher I think is the best job in the world. To be a Headteacher in my hometown gives me great pleasure, but it also is a continual reminder that we are largely accountable for our children's life chances and that is an awesome responsibility. When things go wrong we must expect quality support from peers.

   So the message to the Government is thank you for the freedoms, but that there is more to a league table than a list of numbers. Do not cherry pick on the basis of political expediency, look beyond the Daily Mail, and instead celebrate the excellence of much practice including school leadership, in this country.

Our challenge is to ensure we raise standards still further by opening our doors to one another and share this practice. Perhaps the South West could lead this revolution.
This then will give us the freedom to flourish.

September
Meetings included a whole range from Branches and Regions to the Secretary of State in the DfE. A regular meeting is the NAHT with ASCL to discuss school leadership issues together, and both with the NGA to get a Governors perspective. This can lead to concerted action, but at the very least is a forum for considering particular issues.

I attended the Party Conferences of the Lib Dems, and Conservatives, and colleagues went to Labour's. This is useful for party activists and MP's to find out more about NAHT policies and discuss the educational landscape. 

The 22nd saw Goddard Park become an Academy under the outstanding converter academy programme. This is another stage on our journey as an inner-area school of excellence. We feel we are in a position to further improve our children's life chances by becoming independent of the Local Authority, whilst having a cordial relationship. We remain part of our cluster group of schools. Our accountability is to our community and this is reflected in the five Trustee positions which reflect each key stakeholder in our school community inlcluding: parent/staff/community/Chair of Govs/Headteacher. Our Governing Body remains the same except we have one LA Gov out of choice and more from the school community. The retained LA funding comes to us, but we do not have one pound of other school's money - otherwise we wouldn't have gone down this road. Also we protect and invest in our brilliant staff, so all national pay and conditions remain in place. Will this help our children? I certainly hope so. We will reflect on it's impact. 

It is now accepted that National Council go to the President's Region for one of it's meetings each year. I chose Bath for the South West. I trained at what is now Bath Spa University. Veronicah completed her B.Ed (Hons) there last year. Council met in the Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel - no not part of that chain..
It was instructive that it was £3,000 cheaper than meeting in Central London! A key debate was on SATs as I've already referred to. There was a Council Dinner in the Pump Rooms with external speakers for and against the notion of Free Schools.

A very busy September would become a hectic October. James continues to thrive and I want to come home each night whenever possible to spend time with him.   

Freya

September held a key date of personal pleasure for me.

On the 9th September my daughter, Sally, and her husband Dan, had their first child - a girl, Freya. My sixth grandchild came in to the world with a cute nose and bringing great happiness to the family. Val, Sally's Mum, would be overjoyed with both our girls now having their own families.

Freya - born on 9th September 2010

September and SATs

The intensity of work as President has precluded writing for some time so I'm going to review September and October here and try to keep up thereafter if at all possible in real time.

September saw an external issue which needed the Association to take a clear view on. 

My view of National Council is that it has members who are expert and experienced in school leadership. They represent all strands of opinion in the membership. Any organization of this type, size and responsibility has great challenges in synthesizing the vast educational landscape and it's effect upon school leadership into clear concise policies that can be communicated to members, the media, parents, other groups, and the wider society whilst having an influence on Government and an impact upon it's legislation. One key way forward to assist the very good work of the Officers is for Council to have thoroughgoing, well-informed debates with clear outcomes. This means in my experience speaking to precise Motions rather than allowing debates to have ambiguous outcomes. 

At September Council it was decided that the major debates would involve the Association taking a position on SATs, and Operation of Council. Due to the length of debates, 'Free Schools' would be separately debated later in the year. The structural alterations to trial a new methodology of working of Council to streamline whilst providing quality information sessions, followed by debate and decision were passed. The key debate was as expected on SATs.

The Labour Government had failed to recognize the incendiary nature of this issue. 
Conference had voted in 2009 by 94% to 6% to call for action if having exhausted all other avenues the Government had failed to act on removing the current SAT regime. Further Consultation had produced similar results and a ballot for Industrial action gave a clear majority. Despite many increasingly desperate attempts to pressurize school leaders 4005 schools took action with the well-wishes of many thousands more. 

The new Government realized that this is a significant issue. Russell Hobby our new General Secretary underlined the need for a fundamental change to the SATs approach whilst still reaffirming that school leaders accepted a wider accountability. Following discussions with Russell and myself, the Secretary of State announced a full Independent Review of KS2 Assessment, but with a sting in the tail that SATs for 2011 would go ahead. This then was the background for National Council to take a considered decision on behalf of the membership. The detailed a far ranging debate covered all arguments and a range of positions. The outcome was decisive. By 34 votes to 2 National Council agreed not to call for action on the 2011 SATs.

There had been no motion to Conference on SATs due partially to timing with the boycott taking place ten days later. Even so, the key argument seemed to be that any Government should be given the chance to take the right action, and an Independent Review due to report in the Spring -although there would be no guarantee that this would come up with the desired outcomes - offered a sensible way forward. For some colleagues, who thought they would never see SATs again this was a bitter pill. The link we must make however is that there would have been no Independent Review without the action last May. Although the Secretary of State would not make such a link he has acknowledged the strength of feeling of School Leaders on this issue.

Part of encouraging Council to be decisive is then to communicate such outcomes to the Membership and media. Russell Hobby and I sent a letter to Members detailing the Council decision. Throughout September and October I have raised this issue at the several Branch and Regional meetings I have attended. This has led to a lively debate. My e-mail and postbag has also been fairly full. Most Members have responded positively once you are able to engage.

We now wait for the Chair of the Independent Review to be announced and work begin.
        

Well what a Summer it was.

The first Coalition Government since 1945.

4005 Schools with KS2 cohorts boycott the SAT tests. These tests disfigure and distort Year 6 for our children, lead to school leaders being placed under intolerable and inappropriate pressure by inspection teams, and provide ineffective information for parents, secondary schools and national trends. There must be a better way. We hope the new Government will listen to reason on this.

The Government did move quickly on legislation to provide greater autonomy for schools -starting with those judged as outstanding by OFSTED. These were termed converter Academies and would be state-funded independent schools run by Trusts and leave local authority or similar control. They would receive their share of the local authority retained funding. This received the support of the NAHT providing such schools were socially inclusive.

Goddard Park began it's journey to a new freedom providing it remained in the family of schools, and retained and developed it's partnerships. This was the start of an extremely busy summer.



        

......and to HQ.

It feels a long journey to HQ in Haywards Heath from anywhere beyond London. This is probably because travelling across London by Underground quickly loses its uniqueness with familiarity. My second full week as President started with chairing the monthly Strategy Group at HQ. This Group is made up of the National elected and senior employed Officers of the Association. It looks at key issues – both internal and external – facing the NAHT and takes its lead from National Council and Conference policies and decisions. Strategy Group ensures effective monitoring of progress of Association priorities and business between Council meetings, and that Council is fully informed of this in order to make informed decisions when charting our direction.

We have a dedicated HQ workforce who are skilled and knowledgeable about supporting school leaders.

On Monday night I arrive at The Valley for the League 1 Play-off second leg, Charlton Athletic v Swindon Town. Swindon are leading 2-1 from the first leg. Having watched the Town for a documented 57 years it’s ‘in the blood’ and I meet up with several friends as over 3000 Swindon fans arrive at the match. After an action packed 90 minutes and extra time, with each side down to ten men, the teams are tied at 3-3 on aggregate. We are now in a penalty shoot-out with the winners going to Wembley. Town are notorious for their poor penalty shoot-outs, but what’s this, the Charlton captain misses and the Swindon players keep hitting the back of the net. It’s the last penalty and Steven Darby, a fullback on loan from Liverpool, has the chance to send us through.

In front of nearly 30,000 he steps up and scores! Pandemonium breaks out and the Swindon fans trumpet the ecstasy, and the Charlton supporters in virtual silence, the agony. We are at Wembley on 29th May. The Town players and fans share fifteen minutes of undiluted pleasure. As we leave I do a three-sentence interview for GMTV, which it seems every child in my school sees.

On Tuesday it’s the Operation of Council Task group. Excellent debate and engagement leads to a positive direction of travel in trying to ensure our National Council is the most effective it can be when representing 28,500 Members. The ideas that have surfaced will be reported back to Council in June.

Later in the week I meet with Carole Whitty, our former Deputy General Secretary, to discuss some members having access to the SSAT’s Leading Practitioners in Enterprise for identified staff in their schools. Carole’s husband, Tony, has just been inaugurated as Mayor of Totnes in Devon. I’m sure he is going to have a great year.

I attend Secondary Committee on Friday, and we interrogate funding, accountability and curricular issues such as Diplomas facing Secondary colleagues. This is a very good meeting and we set ourselves clear tasks.

There has been vibrancy about the week.

Our Chair of Governors checking progress

First full week as President of the NAHT

Monday 10th May is the start of the NAHT and NUT SATs Boycott. I’m approached by a wide variety of media, and undertake three radio interviews and several newspaper interviews from across the Country.

On Tuesday 11th, I travel to the Royal Commonwealth Club in London for a meeting in the morning with ASCL (Association of School and College Leaders). This looks at developing some joint positions on issues such as accountability, and funding. We are joined by the National Governors’ Association for the afternoon session. Discussion includes the future role of School Governors; and information about the rather sad berating of Chairs of Governors whose Schools were taking part in the SATs Boycott. My own Chair of Governors characterized this as being ‘bullied’.

Train to Manchester on Wednesday, to take part in interviewing candidates for the new post of NAHT Director of Operations on Thursday 13th. This post is designed to be responsible for the day-to-day operational concerns of an organization serving 28,500 Members and a further 11,000 life Members, and will be line-managed by the General Secretary. It will enable the General Secretary to concentrate on key issues relevant to the Association. A very good field. After a fairly exhausting day we (Stephen Watkins, Jack Hatch, Margaret Evitts, Russell Hobby and myself) arrive at a decision and await a response from the selected candidate - which is a Yes. Arrived home Thursday at 10.15pm.

Catching up on Friday with preparation for next Monday’s Strategy Group meeting at HQ in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. The Strategy Group meets monthly and is made up of the National Officers: President, Vice President (Chris Harrison), Immediate Past President (Chris Howard), Treasurer (Jack Hatch), General Secretary (Mick Brookes), General Secretary Designate (it is Russell Hobby’s first official day of working for the NAHT), and invited senior staff. Media interviews continue throughout the week. Several further invitations arrive for meetings and speaking engagements. I’m also working on writing two articles, and following up letters from two Branch Presidents.

My first full week as President is set against the SATs boycott, and the construction of the first coalition UK Government since 1945. What will the next week bring?

Some members of Goddard Park choir and staff at Liverpool

Presidential Speech to 2010 NAHT Annual Conference

Presidential Speech to 2010 NAHT Annual Conference

Presidential Speech to 113th NAHT Annual Conference.

My Conference theme of freedom to flourish is based upon the urgent need to ensure the power-holders in our society recognise that the creeping centralization of education in our Country has had its day and we should move forward to release the talents and creativity of our children so they can succeed with the lifelong challenges that will face them.

We also should challenge the growing fragmentation of our school system and it becoming a marketplace.
Freedom itself was well understood in previous generations, but more recently it has been seen in absolute terms.
Freedom to allow the weakest and most impoverished to go to the wall is unacceptable. I see freedom from child poverty as a key aim of society. Freedom must have a moral imperative to it.

In educational terms it is essential that every child, and every school, have the opportunity to succeed.
The question is: will this come from draconian measures that denigrate many in league tables, will this come from calling schools failed rather than in need of targeted support, will this come from hounding out Headteachers who have given their whole careers to encouraging children and raising standards of performance and then expect this to be an attractive post for Deputy and Assistant Heads to aspire to. What Michael Fullan calls ‘high stakes vulnerability’.

When I sat for the fifth time in my career waiting for the last 30 minutes of an OFSTED Inspection in February this year, and the final judgements I was with my Deputy. She knew the Inspection had gone well and I asked her if she now wanted to go for Headship. Her answer was a clear and resounding ‘No’. ‘I never want my career on the line for what we might hear in 30 minutes time’.
There was no answer to that, as I have known excellent Headteachers who have suffered such a fate. Assessment has to be proportionate, fair and supportive. Accountability should not be destructive by being permeated by a lack of trust.

Data is very important but it has been elevated to an industry in its own right. We must regain its context of assisting in identifying children’s progress and then support intervention and good professional development when necessary.

Reductionism plays to the sound bite and trite headlines. Our schools deserve better.
There is a rather sad view from Government and some of the Oxbridge-educated elite, that parents are unable to comprehend a few sentences to indicate the progress of a school. The idea of a School Report Card poses a challenge to us. If a school is to be reduced to a single letter then this should be opposed root and branch. It would, of course, feed into a whole new league table system with the A’s to the F’s.



However, a School Report Card with a wider range of weighted indicators, and identifying trends over time is something worth negotiating. Schools are complex places and even to capture a range of indicators and weigh them requires careful and professional engagement between educationalists and those who have a meaningful grasp of statistics. Although the construct will be difficult the outcomes could be a well-rounded and accessible Report.

We hear a lot about Austerity
If we think front-line services are well-funded then why at a recent meeting of local Heads one explained how she was a dab hand with the boilers and her deputy was A* at unblocking the drains when the caretaker wasn’t on duty. Another Head spoke of the financial work she had to engage with, as there was no money in the budget even for a shared bursar.
We must expect that all Heads receive effective support for their role as of right. The Workload of school leaders is immense and these posts require effective support in all phases.
• This should include good direct and personal administrative support for Headteachers as of right.
• Our default position should include the time to read, think strategically and visit other schools as part of the job. This is essential in sharing good practice.
• How much resource has been wasted in the last thirteen years on quangos and consultancies. One major private consultancy went from having 43 major contracts with the Department in 2003 to 141 major contracts in 2007. Did any one of these raise standards in any school, did anyone of these teach a child to read, and to read for pleasure?
• We must retain the investment for schools.
What about key support from the wider educational field? Whilst the GTC has yet to capture the hearts and minds of the profession it should consider focusing more on its core business which is not professional development, and completing its work more expeditiously. The National College – and it is important to have a National College - now talks of Schools as quote ‘Outlets’. Why doesn’t the National College insist with local Governance that it broker bespoke support for every School leader where aspects of performance cause agreed concern. It is far too in the thrall of exalting the latest fad of structures and models of leadership than working with all existing leaders. School leaders don’t need Chain schools or outlets, they need effective advocacy and appropriate support.

Rather than tackle the issue of recruitment we are now hearing that Federations are the panacea. Two years ago I had the opportunity of running two schools until a new Head could be appointed. I would suggest that with additional non-contact time for Deputies, the savings being suggested are illusory; apart from the immense pressure it can place on Heads. If a Federation is part of a bottom-up approach and retains a school presence where otherwise it would disappear then a case can be made. As a major instrument of Government policy it is a fig leaf.



Autonomy is multi-layered. In essence it should be about not a market culture, but a collaborative one where schools support and inspire one another. It is the ability to place decision-making at a level where it counts and makes a difference. This has had more effect than many misplaced initiatives, because it liberates professional thinking and action. We should guard this autonomy carefully. In many parts of the world, from Canada to Kenya, Headteachers are regularly rotated and moved without choice by provincial or district education authorities.
This often happens when a Head has worked in a school for four or five years. Research suggests Headteachers are particularly effective between years 4 and 7 in any school.
I’ve been a head for 24 years so I must have been effective at least a couple of times.
As the advert states ‘everyone remembers their favourite teacher’ and I would add everyone remembers their Headteacher


What do we deduce from this? For the last 13 years successive Governments have attempted to run schools, the curriculum and even classrooms from the Department in Sanctuary Buildings in SW1. I don’t believe they understand Local Management of Schools. As Bernard Levin said, ‘the less the power, the greater the desire to use it’. They have invested heavily in expensive quangos to do their bidding and second-guess schools. This amateurish command and control approach has had its day so what do they do - try to blame Headteachers and Schools. Well it won’t wash.

There are some congratulations to the Government
On investment, and, for example, with Children’s Centres. This is an excellent example of a Government working at its best. It realised the lack of joined up services for 0-4’s, and it has rolled out a programme embracing both statutory and voluntary sectors with a core offer and message. Where Children’s Centres are run by Schools or work in close harmony they have been particularly successful in early intervention and removing the inhibitors to learning.
Now though you place a blight on this success by making them subject to heavy handed OFSTED Inspections and we have another accountability industry set up, providing a major distraction for staff and parents.









The challenges with Society ahead include:

• The quick fix. Building and maintaining a good school takes time. Seeing a quick data fix by pushing children through hoops does not embed learning. We must move away from the football metaphor of saying that unless the manager achieves promotion this season then they should face the sack. On that basis we would see the departure of many more Secretaries of State. There is the need for effective and continuing professional development that resonates with the school culture.

We have simplistic messages going out from the Media and this reflects a failure of governance by the Government. In the Times in March an editorial suggested that OFSTED had indicated some 40% of children at the age of 11 ‘could not read or count at the level expected’ and then carried the message that the Government would have a ‘guarantee that parents could sack failing Heads’.

The Culture of celebrity
The celebrity based and all-embracing sound bite media in modern life elevates the shallow. It does not encourage taking on the difficult or hard tasks, which might not be immediately rewarding. It does not encourage perseverance in the face of adversity. It does not encourage positive risk taking. It does encourage the soft option of gambling. It does encourage children to be grown up before their time and in the loss of childhood and innocence that this means. Consumerism needs to be balanced with the real. Spending time at a football match with your child rather than always seeing it on television. Going swimming together, or having a picnic, has to be encouraged rather than just the latest fad on the games machine.

We also have the evil of drugs – we require fresh thinking – what has been attempted to date by successive Governments has failed and the spectre of drug dealers near the school gates must end. The market in drugs must be destroyed. Too many young people are ending up in the criminal justice system to feed their drug habits. A Magistrate friend estimates that 60% of cases before him are in some way drug-related. The burgeoning prison and young offender institutions are a testament to this failure. As with racism we need to be part of the answer. Schools play a vital role in community cohesion, but we must expect others to be partners with us in society.

Professor Andy Hargreaves speaks of parental responsibility. I would expect any future Government to echo this. We must expect parents to be full partners with schools and to support our work. The creation of a Local Commissioner to hear parental complaints again moves in the direction of lacking trust in schools and Governing Bodies.




The NAHT defends its membership – most LA Officers and OFSTED Teams are fair and professional - and fortunately the vast majority of Parents and Governors are challenging but supportive – but the message must go out loud and clear that the Association can no longer tolerate its members having their careers at the mercy of rogue elements and will take these people on - if necessary in the Courts to end the culture of the ‘disappeared’.


Is there hope in the Election Manifestos?

A hero of mine is Dickens
The other night I had a dream, and in it there came the clunking of chains: followed by three spirits

• The first was a vision from sanctuary buildings via Keble College, Oxford
It was the Secretary of State.
As we know the number of colleagues applying for Headship is very low so what are we going to do to make it more attractive? He and his closest advisers put their collective wisdom together and came up with:
Yes let’s introduce parent votes to remove school leadership teams that’ll do the trick.

• There followed a vision with a full mock up of sanctuary buildings via Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
It was the Shadow Secretary of State.
There has been huge structural change in schools and public sector funding will be very tight. What does the education system need? He and his closest advisers put their collective wisdom together and came up with:
Swedish-style free Schools, which will allow all and sundry to set up and run schools and take critical funding away from the rest.

• The third vision was someone with a rail ticket to sanctuary buildings via Kings College Cambridge
It was the hung-parliament Secretary of State.
The blame culture has a demoralizing effect upon hard working teachers and school leaders. So what shall we start our manifesto with? He and his closest advisers put their collective wisdom together and came up with this introduction:
Too many children are still leaving school without the knowledge and skills to be successful. Finding a good school is a struggle, lessons don’t always stretch the brightest or support those who need more help…..


How far are our politicians away from reality?
We are offered more ineffective accountability, more structural change, and more blame.
My concern is that current and prospective Governments have a grad grind view of education, which is materialist in outlook and is designed for a bygone age. The Conservatives look back with rosy-coloured spectacles to a time when Ladybird books ruled and there was a policeman on every street corner. Well, Michael this did not exist for all and many children were condemned not to reach their academic potential by selection at 11. I work in a community where the average child has heard 17 million words and had limited experiences by the age of five, yet I live in a community where the average child has heard 50 million words and has had a wide range of first hand experiences by the age of five.

I would not suggest that materialism is unimportant to those without modern essentials. It is that we are not as a society providing the riches of mind or as T S Eliot put it: It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time.
• The 1956 Doris Day song
• Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
• What will be will be
• The song did win an Oscar for best original song in a film, but its sentiment must be challenged.

Another hero who did challenge is Paulo Friere. Friere saw the struggle for popular education and informal education of adults as liberationist. He saw those without power in society transforming their lives. Freedom indeed.
Carmen was a 33 year-old mum with two girls living in an inner area community. She wanted to help in school. From this she became a Teaching Assistant and gained NVQ 2 and then 3, followed by a Foundation Degree, and a B.Ed (Honours) with six marks away from first class. Carmen took part in the Graduate Teacher Programme and received QTS. Her practice was excellent and she progressed to Early Year Foundation Stage Leader and is now an Assistant Headteacher.

That wouldn’t happen this year as with the economic downturn some are looking for shelter in teaching until the storm abates. We must remain a vocational professional with the highest calling.

It also challenges the education establishment who are involved in developing policies and initiatives. They must come from a wider spectrum of society. How many understand the searing experiences of growing up in some of our inner area communities. Last year, Oxford accepted 12 children from free school meal backgrounds.
To doff our caps in deference to power holders without accountability on their part can lead us to the Banking disaster, that is causing untold damage to private and public sectors in our Country.

The challenges of the next forty years are complex. The personal, national and global challenges of climate and environmental change and its effect upon the natural world including mankind are manifest. It is our children’s and grandchildren’s world we are custodians of. How are we preparing them for their decision-making?
• Or as Tamsin Elliott when aged 8 put it ‘The world is in such an awful state
When I’m older I’ll make it great
No more wars or pollution
How I wish I could find a solution.
No more oil in the sea.
But this won’t happen just because of me.
So I’ll find some people to help me,
And together, we’ll save the
WORLD!”

There are positive programmes such as UNICEF’s Right Respecting Schools Award, the Transition Towns movement, and the International Schools Award amongst others that assist children.

What does international experience tell us?
A common theme doing the rounds is that in forty years time Africa with the lowest wage rates will be the workshop of the world, South East Asia and India will be the businesses and entrepreneurs of the world, and Europe will be the pensioners of the world. Now Mrs Oakley in 1958 in Gorse Hill Juniors ensured that I knew this didn’t cover the whole globe, but the theme is still relevant.

Singapore has some Primary Schools where whole classroom walls are covered in a Computer screen and children can place themselves as characters in the Second World War in Singapore harbour, and gain information and make decisions as they participate. They can also do this from home with their parents engaged as well. What I would give for that in Swindon, with its heritage of the Great Western Railway, and other areas of the Country for children to engage with the past, but with learning for the present and future.

Benjamin Disraeli stated that ‘Upon the education of the people of this country, the fate of this country depends’.
We look forward to an interdependent world, but must also think through what the UK vision for excellence in that world should be.

That vision, excitement and engagement cannot be created or communicated through the structural changes, league tables, and the dead hand of command and control from Sanctuary Buildings. Nor can it be developed through a fragmentation of schooling where structural change will no doubt favour the metropolitan chattering classes to the detriment of every other child who will have larger classes and fewer resources.


It is interesting to be compared with Finland. Finnish teachers have class sizes of no more than 24. They have a fully comprehensive state system. Have Ministers checked their assessment regime with no external tests until 15. What they do is liberate their school leadership and provide additional development funding to all schools.

There is often referral to PISA and similar international comparisons of academic attainment between Countries. The two features that stand out are firstly, UK children coming near the bottom of the well-being comparison. Although there is much hand wringing it has led little practical response; and secondly, there is much more disparity within Countries than between them. Parental occupational status and socio-economic background has a much greater effect on student performance, than whether you operate an education system with different structures.

These then are some of the challenges and inhibitors to progress.

So what are approaches and culture we need for success?

Trust is vital. As Andy Hargreaves states, Active trust. We have to be persuasive in developing this. Local stakeholder governance is essential. We start from a positive base. Surveys indicate that parents have high trust in their Headteachers. We believe in hope, and have relentless optimism for our children.

Mutuality This is an old co-operative word, but it suggests that there are shared interests, which should encourage partnership and being connected in a landscape where schools collaborate on working together rather than remain isolated in unfettered competition.
Most Parents send their children to their local school. Some voices are now contemplating a lottery for secondary places as the only way forward. As Ted Wragg said, ‘The idea that the market place takes care of quality by itself is one of the most bogus arguments that (has) emerged’.

Schools not structures. Deal and Paterson suggest that:
Of late far too much emphasis has been placed upon reforming schools from outside…while policymakers…are pressing for new structures…..too little attention has been paid on how schools can be shaped from within….excellent schools can be at the heart of every community, schools which teachers and the vast majority of parents can ensure are positive, caring and intellectually challenging’.
We must then trust schools and school-leaders to raise standards.
Successful school cultures have leadership emanating from many people – authentic leadership that maintains and supports learning for all children as well as learning for all staff. Successful cultures have leaders who know how important schools are to children and want to make them the best places they can be.
Early intervention is vital. This cannot be compromised, and should be enhanced.

Schools are organic as with all organizations. Over a few years we can be on top form some of the time and pretty good most of the time and occasionally have a hiccup. Just at the time the school might want some support which if carefully and jointly targeted and accepting of responsibility, is effective, instead, along comes OFSTED and instead we get a punitive, clunking fist which demoralises rather than enthuses.
Christine Gilbert talks of raising expectations and then only uses the big stick to do this.

We should remove the blame culture and celebrate success
School leaders and teachers do not walk into schools each morning and say ‘how am I going to lower standards today?’ We must challenge Government to stop directing schools from the latest tabloid headline or sound bite discussion on breakfast tv.
Ministers should understand that Waterloo Road is a fictional series not a documentary.
We share the vision of every school, a good school and stretching the minds of the next generation of children.
There is a challenge for the media here. Be courageous and celebrate our children’s effort and success. You are part of their well-being as well.


Ensure schools are subject to fair and effective accountability.

Tim Brighouse and Ted Wragg identified the need for an inspection system that provided support and less destructive pressure.
What do we need to achieve this?
Well it is here. It’s The NAHT Charter
Fair accountability, and real accountability as in our Charter. It accepts that we are accountable to society and parents in particular, and ensures that accountability can support progress not hinder it. This is not a soft option. It is rigorous and ensures that schools can become in Sergiovanni’s phrase, ‘Communities of responsibility’.
We need to build a consensus around the Charter as the way forward. It is a developing document.

We must however, work with our democratically elected representatives to develop and construct a better understanding.
They must in turn listen to and engage with School leadership prior to pouring out more legislation and regulation.
Irrelevant and bureaucratic initiatives such as ‘licence to practise’ should go.

Now I wish to turn to the future of the NAHT.
I am proud to be the President of an Association, which stands up for its Members and for the children of this Country.
We are in a period of change, and I would like to give sincere thanks to the work and leadership of Mick Brookes as our General Secretary. I will return to that theme tomorrow, but for now, I would also like to praise the dedication of Branch, Regional and National Council post-holders who give dedicated service week in week out for the benefit of Members across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We have an able and high quality team of paid staff at Headquarters, and I would like to mark the tragic passing of Ian Foster a former Council Member and latterly an Education Officer at HQ, whose wit and friendship is much missed.
In the field our Regional Officers ensure the best information and representation is available without any comparators in the land.

So where now:
Whilst we expect Government to create a fair and equitable playing field and conditions for success, we should also look to ourselves.

From another hero, JFK, I turn to say - ask not just what your Association can do for you, but ask yourself what can you do for your Association?
To build upon the excellent foundations of service and support should come professional sharing and development. In the Ontario Principals’ Council in Canada, 95% of continuing professional development is led by school leaders themselves.

We should consider that amongst our 28,500 members there is a tremendous amount of expertise to share. How often do we have the opportunity to go into each other’s Schools to see excellent practice? I have seen a state of the art programme on learning to read in a Hampshire Primary, a brilliant web-based school development planning and progress toolkit in Cornwall, innovative early years outdoor play in Corby, thought provoking international engagement in Treherbert, music to raise the soul in a school in Belfast, sporting prowess in an East London High School, a Special School providing fabulous opportunities for children with severe learning difficulties in Swindon, creative dance in a Gateshead Primary, and if I want to know how Diplomas are funded then I have to weave my way to Plymouth to speak with a Deputy Principal who certainly does know!


These are a small sample of the many thousands who could share and gain from such practice. Let us make the NAHT the vibrant natural home of sharing this. We are considering whether the Education Conference in the Autumn of each year should be its pinnacle and entitled ’Sharing the very best practice’, and we need you to nominate school leaders in your area – sometimes yourselves – who could assist in developing this.
A second and allied theme is communication and expertise. Our website continues to develop and we now have the means to set up Communities of Interest, for example: the Early Years Foundation Stage, or Design and Technology, or in ICT perhaps Social networking: friend or foe? These Communities or Forums are a great opportunity to engage online with colleagues, again to share best practice. We need Forum Leaders to develop areas of interest. This will compliment our excellent printed professional publications.

The third area I want to mention is debate, discussion and representation.
We should be confident about debating education policy and providing the school leadership view to influence future thinking and making strong representations on proposed legislation.




…..and that leads me to move to how having made the professional case, and winning the educational high ground with widespread support from Parents, Governors, and Researchers, and even the House of Commons Select Committee, it would be foolish of any Secretary of State to ignore our position on assessment. Last year, we offered to work with the Government to end the iniquity of SATs.

SATs which in particular humiliate school leaders through league tables, and leads directly to the disappeared: those Heads whose lose their job directly due to the use of SATs data as the basis for Inspection. I now have excellent former colleagues, in one case running a bed and breakfast guesthouse in the West Midlands, and many others sitting on imposed early retirements through the blandly termed, but professionally deadly ‘compromise agreement’.
We are also stuck on the moral dilemma of having booster classes for those on the margins of Level 4 or additional support for a ‘C’ at GCSE. Why aren’t all children in a booster class?
As parents know the stress for 10 and 11 year olds is palpable.
Why, if is it acceptable for 5 and 7 year olds to have their teacher assessment moderated, and SATs disappear for 14 year olds overnight and no-one notice,
is it acceptable for 11 year olds to have their final year in Primary distorted and disfigured.

As John Coe, from the National Association for Primary Education, reported to the NAHT Commission of Inquiry, the SATs testing and league table regime is unfit for purpose and deeply damaging to the quality of primary education. It is unfit for assessing children’s progress, for assessing schools, and for assessing national standards.

Despite exploring - and exhausting - every avenue to try and negotiate a way forward, we have met a brick wall. Secretary of State, we advised you last year not to test our resolve on this issue, well the NAHT membership has spoken, as it has the right to do so in a democratic and pluralist society, and has voted for the first time in decades, to end this iniquity for you.

Michael Rosen shares a poem with the sense of optimism in life starting with understanding the terrible experiences of children in the Lodz ghetto in the second world war.
Today
The rain has died
My shoes have died
The sun has died
My coat has died
The earth has died
Today

One day
The rain will flower
My shoes will laugh
The sun will sing
My coat will fly
The earth will dance
One day


We look forward to discussing a new approach to accountability, based upon the NAHT Charter, to be considered by Conference today, and underpinned by thoughtful work such as we heard from Professor Andy Hargreaves on the Fourth Way this morning. This accountability is not a soft-option instead it is an effective and professional one. One, which our children, and Country deserve.

Whoever is Secretary of State on 7th May we to invite you to engage and negotiate with us.

Let us have 24,000 flourishing Schools with children who we – that’s schools, parents and local communities - want to communicate the will to work and the desire to learn. Let us have real partnerships. To enable freedom to flourish continue to give the real front-line the resources we need, remove the blame culture, and trust School Leaders and teachers, the best ever school leaders and teachers, to enthuse, excite, and enable, our children to be the very best they can be.
Then the earth will dance.....