Welcome
To Our CEO’s Blog
CEO’s Blog: November 2023: 400 years – and counting.
As I have stated previously in my blogs, I came to reading for pleasure relatively late in life. Certainly, as a child, I was not an avid reader. My family home was not one in which…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: October 2023: Not enough crosses!
When my children were growing up I, like many parents, would often take the opportunity to look at their exercise books from school. I’d thumb through them with several questions I’d hope to answer. “What work…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: September 2023: “Chauffeur Learning”
Upon the recommendation of my coach, I have recently read Caroline Goyder’s “Gravitas”. In what is quite an expansive work, she articulates numerous examples and testimonies where individuals have demonstrated their “gravitas” – a quality that…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: August 2023: The Persistence of “Common Knowledge”
For this month’s blog, I wanted to focus on something that teachers come across frequently: a perception from their pupils that they already know something when, in fact, they don’t. Often these misconceptions are innocuous and…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: July 2023: “Listening to others, sharing with others, learning from others.”
For my final blog of the academic year, I want to articulate two things that I hope you will see are very much related. First, I want to thank all of my colleagues – leaders, teachers,…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: June 2023 “How’s the water?”
I’m always very conscious in my blogs that I will be sharing something that will be new to me but may not be new to you. It can be very difficult to gauge how widespread a…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: May 2023: “A Community of Communities”
For this month’s blog, it would be remiss of me to not feature some of the aspects of the King’s Coronation that resonated with me over the last few days. One of the most prominent features…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: April 2023: “A born leader”?
If you’ve ever observed a group of children playing and socialising, it will have become obvious to you fairly rapidly which individuals hold sway over the direction of play and the dynamic of the group. John…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: March 2023: “Many Hands”
We all know the expression that “many hands make light work”. One of the key advantages of working within a group of schools – or a group of anything for that matter – is the opportunity…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: February 2023 The IKEA Effect
As my more regular readers will know, I am drawn to philosophy and critical thinking – and believe their wider study and application in our schools would see our young people and those who work alongside…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: January 2023: “Prepare your children for the road.”
I will start this month’s blog by wishing you a Happy New Year, and every best wish for the year ahead. At the time of writing, we are preparing for the official opening of Fradley Park…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: December 2022: “Availability is the best ability.”
Like many of you, I watched the World Cup Quarter Final football match on Saturday evening, which saw England knocked out of the tournament by current-holders France. Inevitably with such events, especially in an age of…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: November 2022: “Slaves to moods, appetites and passions.”
At the start of this academic year, I was invited to give a presentation to the staff at one of our schools. The theme I chose to talk around was that of discipline, and specifically the…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: October 2022: Strategic Choice: Theseus’ ship, Brailsford’s bike, or Orville and Wilbur’s Flyer?
As leaders, we all have aspects of our work that ignite our passion more than others. A number of years ago, I read John C Maxwell’s “Five Levels of Leadership”, in which he argued that the…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: September 2022: “The amber of this moment”?
It would be impossible to publish my monthly blog without reference to the events of such magnitude that we all witnessed in September – a month which saw the arrivals of both a new Prime Minister…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: August 2022: “The joys of a ‘Cardiff Bay Moment’
As this month draws to a close, and once again I am pushing against its end to get my blog published in time, I wanted to reflect on a few recent experiences. Our family always knew…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: June 2022: What would my Mom think of that?
At the time of writing, this coming Sunday (19th June) will be Father’s Day. It is this event in the calendar when, as a father of two, I annually see the hope of a day without…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: May 2022: Letter to Year 13 revisited.
Those who’ve been reading my blogs for some time may recall that I once wrote a “letter to Year 13”. It was July 2019, and the blog can be found in the archive on the MAT’s…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: April 2022: “Eyes on, hands off.”
The concept of “eyes on, hands off” is straightforward enough. Our governance, not just in schools, but in hospital trusts, police and prison services, and many other public and private bodies, should be driven by effective…
Keep reading
CEO’s Blog: March 2022: “How to code, and what to code.”
Viewers of regional news in the West Midlands will no doubt have seen the very recent story regarding the deployment of driverless buses to ferry passengers to-and-fro at Birmingham International Airport. The inaugural journey was the…
Keep readingLoading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.