Well, I’m back.

After the most amazing professional development I have ever done, I undertook the journey from San Jose to LA, LA to London, London to Manchester – all within 17 hours. To say I’m exhausted is an understatement.

So, I’m sitting in the lounge at London Euston reflecting on how lucky I am to not only do a job I love but to also get an unrivalled insight into one of the world’s most innovative companies. Before my visit I had no idea how immersed Apple were in relation to their moral purpose. I assumed they sold iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple TVs.  One of my colleagues, Andrew Morrish, summed it up brilliantly in his blog where he stated,

Apple are not a company that sells tech. Instead they exist to make us think differently about what we perceive education to be. Technology is merely a means to that end. One particular comment from one of the Austin store retail managers stands out for me: ‘What we do as employees of Apple we do first for ourselves and then for the world. Our soul is our people … people who shine a spotlight on you to stand outside it.

I think one of the key challenges we face is to ensure that all the learning from this week is put into practice so we can impact upon children’s learning and their achievements.

The organisations in our trust need an agreement so as to invest in resources, develop project plans, empower our workforce, communicate to families and key stakeholders (certainly involving the children and young people), baseline assess in all curricular and learning for life areas and empower our workforce. We have to work smarter and ensure we optimise learning opportunities through the development of technology.

I did a short video when I was over in San Jose (after seeing the Infinite Loop), I hope you find it interesting.

Well that’s me done for the weekend – I’ll see you on Monday,

Graham

You can find the latest from Graham’s visit here