The sunshine on Friday was just so bright. I had a meeting for Headteachers in Shire Hall in Gloucester to look at ways in how we can collaborate more to get even more for the students in our county and in the Forest of Dean in particular. Despite the Thursday night forecast there was no … Continue reading “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” Martin Luther King Jr. →

Happy New Year. Like many people this morning I found myself scraping ice off the car at 6am ahead of driving to work. It seems the deluge of rain we have experienced throughout the winter so far is about to be replaced by a cold spell next week. I had a Year 9 boy ask … Continue reading “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer” Albert Camus →

The buses have all left with our students heading off for a much needed break, staff have gone home to their families and the school is about to close for the holiday season after a long 15 weeks of a 39 week academic year. Term 1 is finally over and it is 2016 when we … Continue reading “Christmas isn’t a season, it is a feeling” Edna Forbes →

The end of the penultimate week... almost. It feels a long term and I know educators, support staff and students are gearing themselves up for that final week, week 15, of this long term. I am talking about my Headship experience in Bristol on Monday and I have been doing a lot of reflecting over … Continue reading “Leadership and Learning are indispensable to each other” John F. Kennedy →

Like many people I woke up on Saturday morning to be confronted with the shocking and appalling events that were still unfolding in Paris following the IS terrorist attacks on innocent people doing nothing more than enjoying their Friday evening in Paris. At a football match, in restaurants, cafes and a concert. My friend who … Continue reading “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe” H. G. Wells →

A school I work with in Delhi, Bal Bharati School, sent me greetings for Diwali, the Hindu festival of light. I gave a talk over video conference this week explaining Bonfire Night and the importance of light also in the increasing darkness of late November with winter around the corner, a long way to go … Continue reading “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” Albert Einstein →

I have struggled all week to comprehend how miserable, grey and wet this first week back after half term has been in contrast to the sunshine during the break.  It’s hard to believe my 3 kids were playing in the sand and running into the sea at Brehac beach, northern Brittany this time last week. … Continue reading “A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers” Plato →

I have to start my weekly blog by praising my colleague and the students of Applied Media.  I missed them out last week when I mentioned how impressed I was walking around the Applied Learning Area. The week has been filled with colleagues working hard on looking at how they mark work, the dialogue that … Continue reading “Education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living” John Dewey →

I was able to take my family to the Forest Festival on Sunday near Coleford at the kind of invite of a parent of students at Wyedean. The sun was shining and the colours of the Forest around the festival ground gave the day a lovely sepia feeling.  My daughters didn’t do too well at … Continue reading “We know what we are, but know what me may be” →

I drove back through the Forest of Dean today from a meeting of Gloucestershire Secondary Heads.  The sun was shining and it was just glorious.  One moment in a room full of serious conversation regarding the new OfSTED framework and potential further funding cuts, the next driving through the glorious sunshine of the Forest with … Continue reading “The most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child’s home” William Temple →