I was thinking again about the things that we need to encourage, to achieve our dreams and our vision for brilliant learning in Leeds:

• Every child is born a genius and an artist;
• Families, and particularly mothers, are a child best, and most influential, teachers;
• There are many different roads and pathways to success;
• We must have high expectations of all our young people;
• All our schools must be brilliant learning places;
• Every child must be a reader and every child must count;
• All roads and pathways must be rigorous and lead to further and higher education;
• Educational investment must start early and support families;
• Learning must take as much time as it takes;
• Discipline and hard work are the keys to success;
• Great schools must have great support;
• Everyone needs high self-esteem and high self-efficacy;
• Data and research must inform teaching and improve learning every day;
• Funding must be predictable and sufficient to produce world-class performance;
• Services for young people, and especially those with special needs, must emphasize outcomes, not processes;
• Environmental education and global citizenship must be a core subjects.

I hope that this list might provide us with an interesting start to another debate. What have I left out? What shouldn't be on the list? Answers on a postcard if you can't post a message!

Chris