There are many times in my working life where something happens that makes me actually laugh out loud. I remember a former colleague saying that he wished he’d kept a note of all these interactions so he could write a book! One of these priceless moments occurred this week at Medtia.

Richard Monaghan, our pastoral lead, was leaving to take up a post in the South West. I arrived at the centre with bottle bag and card to be met by Lauren. Now, Lauren does have previous with her witty remarks – on an earlier visit when I was accompanied by the great and good from Kent and the South East, she told the assembled audience that I “sent her head West!”

I do try to keep my blogs informative and entertaining but Lauren proceeded to give me what has to be my favourite critique..

“Mr Quinn,” she asked, “are you always delighted?” I felt rather perplexed – I wondered what she meant.

“In your blogs you are always delighted,” she went on, “I’m thinking of setting up a group #alwaysdelighted.”

Clearly, I say ‘delighted’ a lot in my blogs then, Lauren?? At least you’re reading them!

This week I’ve been del thrilled with the work the Performing Arts teams and our young people have put into their production of ‘The Jungle Book’. It was wonderful to see the children and young people from New Bridge and Hollinwood working so well together, what an amazing experience. I was particularly impressed at the fact that the lights, sound and percussion were all undertaken by our young people. Thank you all for coming in your numbers to support the children, it means so much – they were all on Cloud 9 by the time the performances finished!

Bearing in mind last week’s blog and the challenge our sector is facing, I read an interesting article in The Guardian about schools in Hull yesterday (available here). It’s so important that our schools are ahead of the game with planning – we need the best buildings, the best staff and the very best curriculum models to ensure our young people have the best start in life.

I’ve also spent the week working with the heads of sites to plan for next year. These years come around so fast! We should hear in a few weeks whether our bids for extending and adapting our schools have been successful.

Next week we are interviewing for staff at Hawthorns School and we have an Ofsted due diligence visit at Medtia with regards to our new college provision. It may well be beneficial, when the inspector comes in, to introduce her to Lauren – she will certainty tell it as it is! Worth thinking about!!

So the Easter break is almost upon us – being back at New Bridge has been wonderful. I’m having a short holiday with my family before I whizz over to the US to do some work in a few schools and work alongside Apple in Cupertino. More of that on my return.

Can I wish you all a relaxing and safe break?

Graham

You can find all Graham’s previous blog entries here