I know many things about myself. One is that I am over emotional at times; I think that it is because I care about things and am passionate for a better world for my family and its future generations, for my friends and colleagues  but also for the wider range of young people I come across.

Today 14^th November 2021 would have been my father’s 96^th birthday. We lost him 15 years ago. When I reflect, I know that so much of me and my drive comes from him- not in  the same way as he showed it- but with the same intensity. He was a giver to the whole community all his life but especially to young people. I watched him his whole life do that and that clearly infused my life.

I probably over-think it more. There is no ‘probably’  actually. That is no doubt  from  my mother’s side.

Wilf Lowe was my mother’s cousin. He arrived in Singapore just as it fell to the Japanese. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like for a young man who had spent his life in the Fens on a farm to travel across the world in the 1940s – let alone the consequences of being a Japanese prisoner. He died in the camp of peritonitis – what agony! Alone away from his family and home. Just one of a million stories.

 So, it is important on days like this to turn this into personal commitment for the future. There are many things we have to fight for, to create the world that these people gave their lives for. They could not imagine the world that we now have, how we live, the technology, the accessibility but also our new vulnerabilities. Yesterday, the COP 26 set us all a target that is a battle as big as anything we have faced in the past.  

But I think the bigger battle is one for a kinder, more generous world. This pandemic has shown us at our best but also at our worst. Can we take this opportunity to recognise how a school could be for all our young people to be valued and succeed; take this moment to place care for vulnerable and elderly to the fore bearing  the cost. Many were the generation that gave so much for us to be where we are now.  I could go on but …

But whatever we want of our governments and institutions, all this comes to our personal commitment. We don’t have to wait for others and bemoan. We must act ourselves and act on those that represent us. One of the things you  have to guard against as you become older is that you have an opinion on everything. Wisdom is not the preserve of the old. But here is my personal creed borne out of today’s emotion. Making my ambition public is my way of holding myself to it.

• I will continue to work as I do now to create a new vision in our schools as to how we improve and fulfil our values and moral purpose. I don’t do it – that is down to outstanding professionals in those schools- but together we can show a better way forward recognising the power of our teachers , support teams and leaders to create that efficacy from the inside not from external criticism and judgement.
• I will with Margaret renew our commitment to Bajabulile  Primary in Mamelodi in South Africa.  We will do our best to get there as soon as we can.  In the meantime, I intend to invite them to join our international group of laboratory schools so we can share their work widely but also help them develop their work further.
• I am committed to creating a memory and legacy for my good friend Richard De Boef  who we lost so surprisingly this year. We are due to launch the scholarships in his name in the New Year and I will be seeking crowd funding for this initiative  shortly. Please help.
• Next year is our 50^th wedding anniversary. Wow! So we will find a special way to celebrate this together. The planning starts now.
• And then there is the family …all four generations of them. Increasingly we can celebrate what they do rather than support the journey…. Katie will get her degree in earth Sciences, Charlie will get her admissions to university for midwifery, David will get his outstanding GCSE results…and the rest will make their own positive  steps to success. Our job is to be there as we are needed. What a privilege to build them with the same moral purpose that their parents have inherited. Proud!
• And then there are friends and colleagues who stick with me through all my over emotional and intense ambition. I will work hard to live up to their commitment to me and can only promise to inflict even more daft ideas on them. Know that you are my legacy, so when I step aside from the leading – very soon – then you will continue the mission. But know that that friendship although often built out of being work colleagues, is to you first and not  to the work we do together. You are my energy.

 But what we need to do is stay fit and healthy, so we can continue to be self sufficient and make a difference. We will not become dependent. Somehow!

It’s a day to remember and reflect. Let’s move on and upwards.