Interesting Times!

Wednesday 7 October 2009

I was in London today...

I had lunch with Ian Harrison and Parin Bahl who manage the Capita Children's Services team and the National Strategies organisation before I met Kate Chhatwall who manages the National Challenge at the DCSF. I had arranged to see Kate to discuss our ongoing work with our fourteen National Challenge schools and to discuss whether there was any additional support they could give us to continue to drive up standards and ensure that every school exceeds the 2011 floor target and reaches 30% of its students achieving 5+A*-C grades at GCSE including English and maths. We also discussed the structural changes that will secure a transformational and sustainable learning landscape where every school in Leeds is achieving world class outcomes.

It was encouraging to spend time with these three colleagues who understood the challenges we are facing and were totally focused like me on the strategies, solutions and provision we need to put in place to provide great outcomes for every young person in Leeds... whatever it takes!
Chris

1 comment:

Kimberly Smith said...: Dear Chris,

I am a final year student studying BA (hons) Early Childhood Education (Leading to QTS)at Leeds Metropolitan University.

During the last six months, I have been in collaboration with Cambridge Professor John Siraj- Blatchford. I have worked with him on a research project in the early years looking at how ICT may support Sustained Shared Thinking.

In the last couple of months, John has asked me if i would like to put my interests in Sustainable Development into projects with local early years centres. Through both my work, and John's, it appears to be that very few early years settings are fully embracing sustainable development for the early years. Many are meeting the enviromental dimension, but find it dificult to incoporate both work on economy and social with such young children. Therefore it is my aim to work with Ireland Wood Children's Centre and turn this into a centre of good practice for sustainable development in the early years. John has invited me to share the projects that i have been running at the World Organisation of Early Childhood Congress, next August, in Gothenburg.

I wondered if you would like to take a look at the blog i have created, with Stephanie and Linda (the managers of the Centre). I would be interested to know if you or any contacts you have can provide us with any more help.

Thank you so much for your time,

Kimberly Smith

http://earlyyearseducationforsustainability.wordpress.com/
(kimberlysmith17@hotmail.com); 10 October 2009 at 11:50

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“I must accept life unconditionally. Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.”
Margaret Lee Runbeck

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John B. Sheerin

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William L Shirer

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C.P. Snow

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Charles R. Wiers

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Paul Tournier

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Francis C. Kelley

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Sydney Smith

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Chinese proverb

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William Faulkner

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Eric Hoffer

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John Lennon

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Robert F. Kennedy

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Mahatma Gandhi

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Abraham Lincoln

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Martin Luther King Jr.

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Norman Vincent Peale

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Albert Einstein

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Anonymous

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John Quincy Adams

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Ralph Waldo Emerson