Hi everyone,

I hope everyone has had a good week.

The success of the England football team certainly seems to be being discussed in most of our schools and organisations.  It’s really the lift that everyone has needed.  Let’s hope for a great game and a positive result.

So, what have I been up to this week?  It’s been very much a week of Governing Body and Directors meetings and tying up some loose ends with a school I support in Northampton.

On Monday I finalised my Trustees report.  I always enjoy writing the “end of year” report as it gives me the opportunity to both reflect on the year and to keep the Trustees informed of the plans for next year.

It’s clearly been a year dominated by the virus, but I’ve been able to report to Trustees about some of our schools’ (and organisations’) amazing other achievements.  It never ceases to amaze me how adaptive, creative and innovative our staff teams are.  All our schools have seen their work identified at local, regional, national and international levels.  Only this morning I heard of a new link where one of our schools is working on a project with a Canadian team that will improve some of our technological learning platforms.  We shouldn’t take for granted the reputations our schools and organisations have, not just across the region, but also more widely – our partnerships are testament to 20 or 30 years of hard graft.

Our schools are all busy trying to make sense of the new regulations relating to children, testing and self-isolation.  I have to say that the guidance is still very confusing and appears to have been rushed through.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we saw a change of direction before the children and young people start again in September.  We’ll be keeping a watch over the next few weeks.

I’m delighted that the government has, from September, given a (tentative) green light for overseas travel.  For all the children who missed out on Disney – you will definitely get the chance to go.

Let’s hope for a safe last couple of weeks, take care.

Graham

You can find all Graham’s previous updates and blog entries here