Welcome

I think that all of us who lead schools would agree that the era of the ‘hero headteacher’ has long gone. At one point the popular myth prevailed that one person could sweep in, grab everything and everyone by the scruff of the neck and achieve almost instant transformation. With one or two exceptions, such approaches rarely succeed in practice. From my experience, Helen Keller’s observation that ‘Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much’ has a great deal of truth in it. I think it is much more realistic to take the view that school improvement is a shared enterprise in which a broad team work together in order to make progress over time.

At a recent review day to evaluate progress of the implementation of the Warwickshire Education Strategy, I was struck by the way in which that same philosophy has been put into practice, with a wide range of groups and individuals across the area working together to achieve our common aim.  

It was fascinating to hear progress reports from the many different sectors within Warwickshire’s education provision, each feeding back on the contribution that they were making to achieve the overall goals that we have set ourselves. Similarly, it was great to hear about the many stakeholders who will be involved in the process over the coming months, ranging from those of us working in schools to LA officers, elected members, parents and students.

Just as development planning and the implementation of change takes time in schools, the same will obviously apply to this coordinated strategy across Warwickshire’s education services. However, there is a real sense of forward momentum and evidence that the positive impact of decisions already taken is being felt across the system.