Whilst driving into work every morning, I’m unashamedly tuned into Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio breakfast show. I must admit that when I turn on my wireless first thing, I feel slightly disappointed every now and then when I hear a replacement voice for Chris, as he is away that morning – the quality just isn’t the same. I really hope readers don’t feel the same this week as I try to ‘fill in’ for Graham, although I’m more than happy to accept the quality gap may be a big one to fill!!

Over the last 15 years I have been very fortunate to have been part of the ‘New Bridge’ story so far. This week I have been reminded again what a fabulous position we are in, developing and shaping the future of all of our learners and young people.

Yes, like all the public services, this challenge doesn’t seem to feel like it becomes any easier but in each sector, whether education, health or the police, we all share a common, core belief that is central to our work, demonstrating tremendous resilience and passion to go ‘toe to toe’ with these challenges and that core is ‘PEOPLE!’

Whilst able to spend a little more time at New Bridge this week, I have seen some brilliant examples of pupils helping each other. Regardless of background, regardless of their own ‘mountains to climb’, they support each other up and down the corridor, in the playground, in the classroom. These examples have been more than matched by the staff team – again, covering and supporting each other in the mornings, at breaks, at lunchtimes and in the classroom.

On Tuesday I spoke to 3 of our heads across the trust over various developments, issues and queries and each conversation was left with that shared determination to solve a problem, conquer a situation and ultimately get it right for the young person.

On Monday a number of our staff were able to celebrate the life of one of our young people, Charlea, who as Gavin mentioned in his blog last week, sadly passed away recently. I use the word ‘celebrate’ as that is what they did – Justin Bieber and Abba’s Dancing Queen had them literally dancing in the aisles. Having been fortunate enough to have taught Charlea, I know she’d have been over the moon with it!

Martina told me about the song that was played, ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus (I had to Google that though!). There are some incredibly powerful lyrics in there that capture what we do across the trust on a daily basis:

“There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb”

I have my own ‘mountain to climb’ tomorrow as a season ticket holder at Boundary Park. I hope that my troubled and beloved Oldham Athletic can conquer the mighty Macclesfield!

Have a great weekend,

Geoff

You can find all Graham’s previous blog entries here