Thursday 12 February 2015

SUCCESS IS SIMPLE... PASS IT ON!

"People are always blaming their circumstances for where they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them."

Wednesday 11 February 2015

WORK HARD, STAY CONNECTED, VOLUNTEER AND GIVE TO OTHERS... PASS IT ON!

Another half-term approaches and it's important to remember that research suggests that we can change and become happier and healthier just by taking small steps which can change our lives for the better.

Thursday 5 February 2015

THE TALENT CODE... PASS IT ON!

I am still working on the brilliant Cutlers' 'Made in Sheffield' programme and I was re-reading the 'Talent Code', by Daniel Coyle, which covers similar ground to 'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell, 'Bounce' by Matthew Syed and 'Talent is Overrated' by Geoff Colvin. It draws on research to show that skills, behaviours and character traits are things that we can create, grow and nurture.

Tuesday 3 February 2015

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, PHONE A FRIEND... PASS IT ON!

We should all remember that when it comes down to what really matters... it's faith, family and friends that make life worth living!

Monday 2 February 2015

ARE ACADEMIES THE ANSWER?

Last week the Education Select Committee published its report on the impact of academies and free schools and their conclusions are worth reading especially after hearing the arguments on the radio this morning with Nick Gibb MP claiming that the academies were a great success story and Alasdair Smith claiming that they were a disaster. So here we go again. I am right and you are wrong...

"No-one wants their child to go to a failing school and no-one wants to them to go to a coasting school either. 'Just enough' is not good enough. That means no more sink schools and no more 'bog standard' schools either. Our aim is this: the best start in life for every child, wherever they're from - no excuses." David Cameron's Conservative education policy proposals, to be announced today, would mean that schools rated as requiring improvement would automatically be considered for academy status. However, Alasdair Smith, from the Anti Academies Alliance, challenged the assumption that turning a school into an academy would improve results. "There is not a single scrap of evidence that academy status improves our education system and increasingly there is plenty of evidence that it is producing a chaotic education system,"