Well, there goes another week. Talk about busy!

The beginning of the week started with a wonderful Christmas showcase. There were children and young people from New Bridge School, New Bridge Learning Centre, Hollinwood Academy and our pathways (notably Lumenus).

It’s quite a while since I’ve seen a performance as strong as the young people’s interpretation of The Snowman. Wonderful dance, movement and drama. I loved the fact that many of our Key Stage 3 children sat in awe watching the performance. It really inspires the younger children when they can see, first hand, the standard of pieces. There were many other highlights. The choirs, the films and we mustn’t forget our amazing band led by Zeina Din. What came as a surprise was the tiny snippet of our whole MAT production based around The Greatest Showman. Coming to our theatre in the New Year. I’d reserve your tickets now as it promises to be a show like we’ve never seen before!! I believe children from all our schools are taking part.

I’ve also spent the week in many Governor, Trustee and Directors meetings. It’s wonderful to hear from the heads of sites about the progress our children and young people are making.

On Wednesday myself and a few colleagues met with a couple of very prominent and influential members of the Apple leadership teams. Matt Cocks leads the education arm of Apple across Europe. He meets with the CEO of Apple, Tim Cooke, on a regular basis. He is a big player – he is influential. He came up from London to see and hear about, first hand, our Apple 1:1 initiative. We told him of our plans, he observed the children and staff using technology and we threw around ideas. He is a self-proclaimed maverick. Just the type of guy we like to work with. Everything we discussed was solution focused –

• How do we roll out 1:1 at real speed?
• How do we ensure all our staff teams are supported?
• How do we ensure the technology works?
• How can we develop Apps to support teaching and learning?
• How will we be able to use iPads with young people with the most academic needs?
• How can we transform our curriculum to make it better fit for purpose?
• How do we use technology to support our mainstream colleagues?

Matt has invited a number of our team down to London in the New Year to attend the Apple International Summit. He’s speaking to his contacts in other areas of the world to seek out the very best practice. Laura, our head at Hollinwood Academy, was keen to check out some initiatives that appeared interesting in the Middle East – I thought she was taking about Lincoln not Abu Dhabi!!!!! If we are going to drive forward our ambitions we need to partner the best in the world. It’s going to be an amazing journey. Spring Brook Lower are rolling out as I write and Hawthorns and New Bridge in the New Year. You’ll be delighted, Lauren, when we get to Horizons.

So, all in all a really busy but incredibly productive week. It’s derby week where the mighty Latics take on the mighty Shakers – best behaviour everyone!

Wrap up well and have a great weekend,

Graham

You can find all Graham’s previous blog entries here