Leeds, Stockholm and Riga

We are building strong and creative partnerships with Stockholm and Riga to develop, nurture and sustain our school leaders and to radically improve educational standards and outcomes. My visits to wonderful schools in both great cities have been great opportunities to listen and learn. Where have I been recently:
¨ The Nordic Grammar School in Riga;
¨ The Hessle Gymnasium in Stockholm;
¨ The Arstaskola in Stockholm.

From my visits I am increasingly clear that we need to have much higher expectations of our young people and to create a more civilised culture within our schools. We need to develop a more flexible and creative skills based curriculum to excite and challenge more of our young people. We need to create brilliant learning places on learning campuses connecting together our youth offer, advice and guidance, family and community learning. We need to build places that open early and stay open late all year round.

I am also clear that schools in Stockholm and Riga can learn a lot from us… our inspiring teaching, our healthy schools work, our Stephen Lawrence Education Standard, our work on inclusion and much, much more.
Chris