Sometimes I think that we are 'painting by numbers' in a world monitored, policed and controlled by 'bean' counters, 'keep within the line' consultants and 'let's weigh the pig again' inspectors...

In this crazy world to meet their targets the 'bean' counters, the 'keep within the line' consultants and the 'let's weigh the pig again' inspectors rush around developing more and more initiatives that no one owns and that make little or no real long term difference to outcomes for our children and young people... and sadly in that sort of world, the evidence suggests that all you get is mediocre.

We all know that command and control doesn't work and we all need to wake up to the fact that what really, really matters is the quality of the people working with our children and young people, the quality of the leadership around them and the quality of the local services supporting our brilliant learning places. So let us nurture and support our learning teams to ensure that they deliver for our children and young people and let's take the best of what we do here in Leeds and learn from the best practice nationally and internationally; from Reggio Emilia, and from Sweden, Finland and Denmark and anywhere that will help us to build brilliant local provision.
Chris.