You’ve done all the right things; provided leadership and direction to your colleagues, rewarded courageous risk-taking, encouraged innovation, honored diversity, demanded personal accountability, put children and young people first but it all just went to the dogs in an OFSTED inspection report...

It’s 3:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and you’re at the fridge again because you can't sleep. You find yourself breaking into a rage every time some well-meaning and over-paid consultant who has never managed anything tells you he has all the answers, to “play to your strengths,” and “enlist everyone in a positive change effort.” So what do we do?

However tough the going gets, there is always hope especially when some of us have travelled this road before. There is a light at the end of the tunnel which isn't a train coming the other way. We all know that it’s a very tough journey but they all are aren't they when you work in the big cities. There are clearly no guarantees of success, but pressing on is our best hope.

This is our business and we are ultimately responsible for the health, the well-being and successes of all the young people who live here in Leeds. So let's all list the five things that will make the biggest difference for our young people. Take a moment to recognize how difficult these things will be and then do them anyway. Our job is to convince enough people to join in the pursuit of a better and more sustainable tomorrow; a tomorrow that delivers better schools and better outcomes for our children and young people than we are achieving today... whatever it takes!
Chris