For many years the Diocesan Board of Education has organised a conference for all the headteachers in its schools and academies. The theme this year was ‘How’s your vision? Leading through a theologically rooted Christian vision’.
On 25 April 80 delegates attended the conference in the Weston Room at the Cathedral. Paul Dunning, Director of Education for the Diocese shares more about the day:
After a welcome from Dean Andrew, we were led in an inspiring time of worship by pupils from St Nicholas Priory VA primary school in Great Yarmouth. Their singing was amazing and set the tone for an inspirational day.
We heard from three speakers as to how they had used an explicit Christian vision to lead their organisations in different contexts.
Mark Lacey (CEO of the Diocese of Salisbury Academy Trust) used Philippians 4:13 to inspire staff and pupils across the trust to realise they ‘can do all this through Christ who gives me strength’.
Gemma Gillard (Founder and CEO of the charity Truth Be Told) told us of the God-given vision she had for how storytelling could be used to bring children, families, churches and the elderly together by taking storytelling into care homes.
Kerry Savage (Headteacher at our own Homefield primary school in Bradwell) described the journey her school had been on developing their school vision based on Joshua 1:9 (be strong and courageous) and Matthew 19:26 (with God all things are possible). This has led to a Christian vision for the school of ‘Curious Minds, Open Hearts and Joy of Learning’.
Our final speaker was Dean Gordon (Executive Headteacher at the Phoenix Federation, Lewisham, London) who told the story of the challenges he has faced in his journey into headship as a black educator. It was a challenging and moving presentation showing that racism does still rear its head in contemporary Britain. This gave us the chance to remind all our school leaders that the Diocese Racial Justice Network is an important group to get involved with as we seek to prepare our pupils for life in a multicultural society.
