Interesting Times!

Sunday 6 December 2009

My colleague Ken Campbell, Stepping Stones Programme Manager in the Aimhigher team here at Education Leeds sent me this...

"Hi Chris, I am attaching a letter from Sophia, a former pupil of Parklands HS. The experience of attending the programmes at Derek Fatchett, supported by undergraduates from Leeds University, has quite literally changed her life. Sophia writes...

"I have been attending the Stepping Stones mentoring project at Derek Fatchett CLC for 3 years now and I’m sad it’s ended. It has helped me in so many ways that I have the confidence that I can do the best in many exams and achieve the grades I need to help me go further in my life. It has also helped me make new friends and try things I would never have wanted to try without the support from the mentoring team. Visiting Herd Farm helped me learn cooking skills which have been helpful to me in later life. Also I am doing my Duke of Edinburgh. I am on my Silver Level as I have completed my Bronze the second time we tried. I have learned not to give up but keep trying and you will succeed in the end. Also it has helped me build team work skills, as I was not very good at it at first, but now I can say I am quite good now."

Sophia thoroughly enjoyed the residential summer school and will be our guest at our annual summer school evening on 21st January when she will describe her 'journey' and the benefits of summer school. I hope that Dinneka will also come along to give her perspective on first term at university. I am also inviting students and carers from other West Yorkshire authorities as well as reps from the universities.Best wishes, Ken."

It is wonderful to hear from some of our young people that the programmes we are delivering are making a difference and helping young people like Sophia and Dinneka achieve their potential.
Chris

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Brilliant Quotes!

“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

“Happiness is not in our circumstances but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are.”
John B. Sheerin

“Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline.”
William L Shirer

“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase: If you pursue happiness you'll never find it.”
C.P. Snow

“Doubly rich is the man still boyish enough to play, laugh and sing as he carries and emanates sunshine along a friendly road.”
Charles R. Wiers

"Faith is not a shelter against difficulties, but belief in the face of all contradictions."
Paul Tournier

"Convictions are the mainsprings of action, the driving powers of life. What a man lives are his convictions."
Francis C. Kelley

"To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger; but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can."
Sydney Smith

"It is often just as sacred to laugh as it is to pray"
Charles R. Swindoll

"Things never go so well that one should have no fear; and never so ill that one should have no hope"
Turkish proverb

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself"
Chinese proverb

"Don't bother to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
William Faulkner

"In times of change, learners will inherit the earth,while the learned will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists"
Eric Hoffer

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
John Lennon

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."
Robert F. Kennedy

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."
Mahatma Gandhi

"Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way."
Abraham Lincoln

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King Jr.

"There is nothing in life so difficult that it cannot be overcome. This faith can move mountains. It can change people. It can change the world."
Norman Vincent Peale

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein

"Life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take but the moments that take our breath away."
Anonymous

"Patience and perseverence have a magical affect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
John Quincy Adams

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and woman to win them."
Ralph Waldo Emerson