Dear Headteacher

From my visits to Norfolk schools and from the reports provided to me by my colleagues I am heartened by the quality and quantity of success there is in the education service. The last couple of years have been tough. We’ve all really focused attention on raising standards of achievement in schools. Part of the pressure that focus brings about, is the need to face up to aspects of our work that need to improve and that sometimes means we don’t give sufficient acknowledgement to the success stories that every one of us will have.

Over the last two terms we have discussed this at the Advancing Norfolk Education Partnership group and I promised headteachers and chairs of governors, at our area meetings, that we would find better ways of celebrating success. I have asked senior colleagues in the Department to give this a high priority. We will be looking for opportunities throughout the year to promote the good stories of education’s success and I hope you will help with this by contributing ideas and articles as requested. I hope that every school has a focus on celebrating its own success and publicly acknowledging the work of your pupils and staff. We are hoping to promote a more positive attitude to learning, to schools and to education as a whole.

As a first step in this more proactive approach I attach three copies of a new series of pamphlets we will circulate throughout each term, "Celebrating Success in Norfolk Schools". The first illustrates the outcomes of some very effective partnership work when architects from the County Council, District Councils and private practices worked with Advisers, headteachers, teachers, classroom assistants and pupils to develop some excellent projects to focus on a range of interesting investigations around their schools. The outcome was a wonderful interactive display which we put on at the Professional Development Centre and in County Hall. The pamphlet seeks to capture the enjoyment and high quality of the work for you to share with your teachers and governors.

Yours sincerely