JANUARY 2024

January is a tough month! As leaders, we strive to inspire our teams against a tide of the post-festive slump, short daylight hours, stormy & freezing weather elements, frustrations of failed “new year-new me” resolutions, and what feels like the longest wait until payday!  In an educational setting, this is also the probable feeling of hundreds of your families and children!  An overwhelming cloud of overwhelmingness!
 

So how do we keep inspiring our communities? 

Well, there is a line between optimism and denial! 
 

We must acknowledge the challenges of the month as they are our community’s realities.  It is tough. 
 

But there is hope and always an opportunity to celebrate.
 

2023 ended with OFSTED inspections for our two primary academies.  Each had a challenge ahead of them.  Each needed the recognition that their day-to-day practice for their children was doing its best for their next stage of education.  Proudly, we have started 2024 knowing they are doing this, and more.  More importantly, their reports celebrate what makes them unique but also bring them together as part of our trust. We hope we can keep doing more and even better for our children and celebrate how far we have come.
 

What else can give our teams optimism?  Well, Spring is on the way.  There are a few more minutes of daylight each day!  For those of us who leave early for work and return late, we are starting to see the lightness in our journeys again!  We have hope that there is more glorious light ahead of us and we can celebrate coming through the winter darkness.
 

Finally, we can inspire our teams through the optimism of the roles we hold within education.  What a privilege to work with brilliant young people, passionate staff, invested communities of families and a network of brilliant colleagues.  We hope the year ahead will see even more achievements not only for our children, but children and young people across our networks, and look forward to celebrating every little achievement, every single day.
 

Keep the hope everyone. 
Keep the hope.