I visited a group of schools last week that set me thinking again about what makes brilliant...

I think the things that make brilliant are...

• strong, disciplined, focused and passionate distributed leadership;
• clear, shared vision, values and beliefs driving all aspects of the school;
• a talented, energetic, enthusiastic and creative learning team;
• a rich, exciting and engaging curriculum offer, inside and outside the classroom;
• a powerful, stimulating and interesting learning environment for everyone;
• confident, creative and passionate use of appropriate strategies and approaches to raise standards and achieve the five outcomes;
• high shared expectations of children and the whole learning team;
• strong, dynamic and meaningful relationships;
• inspiring teaching and learning within a nurturing culture;
• individual tracking of childrens progress and achievements;
• early, appropriate and focused interventions;
• high engagement and involvement of young people;
• high parental engagement and involvement.

I need your help here and would welcome feedback... is this the recipe for outstanding schools releasing a very special magic or have I missed something?

Chris