Saturday was about three C-words:
confronting our shared challenge,
connecting with others, and
contributing towards a better and brighter future for young people in Devon and Cornwall.
Three’s the magic number, they say, so we’ve shoe-horned our reflections from the Summit into three E-words:
energy,
elevation, and
expertise.
Over the next three days, we’ll share these.
They won’t be exhaustive (another E!), but will hopefully serve as a starter for others to share their reflections too—because that’s what this is about, it’s a conversation (another C!!).
Energy (and power)
Energy is the ability to cause change; power is the rate energy is moved.
We had both on Saturday.
About 100 people—80ish school leaders and 20ish trust leaders—came together to affirm a shared purpose.
It’s hard to convey what that felt like but Jon’s mid-morning missive from his breakout room probably gets as close as any other picture on my phone 👇
And if you’re wondering what was next on the agenda, it was lunch.
That’s a lot of energy.
But so what? Meanwhile, thousands of kids in Devon and Cornwall will have been thrashing around celebrating classmates’ birthdays. What’s different about a room full of educational leaders?
Well, many things, but also power—that which transfers energy. That which has the ability to transform a moment like this ☝️ into something else.
And, together, we have that too. Old power and new power, alike.
School leaders are powerful people. People trust and respect teachers and school leaders. It might not always feel like it but school leaders are some of most highly-regarded and deeply influential people in society.
For example, the most recent Ipsos Veracity Index—the longest-running poll on trust in professions in Britain—has teachers ranked fifth with nurses, engineers, doctors and scientists marginally ahead.
Schools are powerful organisations: deeply rooted in the communities they serve with some serious operational heft behind them. A typical two-form entry primary school, for instance, will have an annual operating budget just shy of £2m.
And people really value schools. Beyond providing young people with the opportunity to learn and acquire new skills, knowledge, and experiences:
they’re hubs for community development;
they attract economic investment and create jobs;
they build social cohesion, promote tolerance and understanding, and improve health and well-being.
It’s quite the remit. And we seldom acknowledge the full picture.
So, schools and their leaders are already pretty powerful. But, together, they’re even stronger.
What was clear on Saturday was a desire to harness the shared energy, expertise and creativity in the room. That, together, we’re stronger and more resilient. And that, together, we’re better able to serve constantly changing circumstances and adapt in uncertain times.
Now, I appreciate that’s a fairly high-level, abstract reflection to open with—but it really was palpable on Saturday.
And it’s really important too.
If we want to make things better, the first thing we need to do is make better things. But it’s not the only thing. If we’re to have the impact we want at the scale we need, we need to bring others into the movement and use it to push one another on.
We’ll return tomorrow with some deeper—and more concrete—reflections on how we ‘elevated the challenge’ but until then, it’d be great to hear about:
People’s reflections about any of the above;
Any of the many relationships renewed or rekindled during the course of the day; or,
The next steps—little and large—people left the room with to move us all on.
More to come…
I echo all of the above Sam.
My inbox today sums up the power of connections- three emails asking about some of the ways that the school I work in is reducing the disadvantage gap all stemming directly or indirectly from the SW100 movement and all keen to connect further.
My main two words from Saturday- energy- it really was palpable- and the second is hope.