Bushey Meads School continues to link with other education networks as a way of sharing best practice and staying in touch with the latest initiatives that benefit our own Multi Academy Trust and the 2000+ staff and students within our organistion. Our strong links with the Greenshaw Learning Trust enabled us to attend their annual Governance Training Day in Reading on Monday of this week and it was good to hear the keynote delivered by Laura McInerney – education journalist, public speaker, author and co-founder of Teacher Tapp. Laura hosts and keynotes at conferences throughout the year and is one of the UK’s most-recognised education journalists. A long-standing Guardian education columnist and the first editor of the award-winning Schools Week newspaper, she has a reputation for straight-talking, fierce commentary.

During the day she reminded Governors and school leaders present of the very real challenges facing education at the moment including the national funding crisis, ongoing strike action, challenges with the recruitment of teachers and associate staff, mental health in teenagers, attendance in schools, the pressure of Ofsted inspections, negative media attention and unrealistic expectations from stakeholders. It reassured me of the continued success we have managed to sustain at Bushey Meads, despite the obvious challenges. We continue to recruit great staff, continue to develop our infrastructure and keep that all important focus on the students – enabling them to Aspire to Achieve, make good progress and achieve their potential. It also reminded me that we all need to continue to have a Mind to Be Kind and really value our hard working staff in these challenging times.

As parents and carers do continue to show your genuine appreciation as I know it makes a difference to the immensely hard working staff who, on a daily basis, go the extra mile for your children.