Author Archive | SirJohnJones

Another of my headteacher friends has received the dreaded OFSTED call. I always resisted the temptation to train for the Inspectorate as I just couldn’t imagine being someone schools dreaded hearing from; whom, when in school, staff avoided like the plague; and whose leaving was celebrated with a party! Don’t get me wrong, some of […]

Why is it that when you eat a 2lb box of chocolates you appear to put on 5lbs!? I always struggled with maths and this hasn’t helped.

So January, the month of resolution, has finally passed. Looking back over the year, I was saddened to read of the death of Nobel Peace Prize-Winner, Professor Wangari Maathai. Four years ago, it was my great privilege to welcome and introduce the professor to 1000 delegates at a National Education Conference in Denver, Colorado. She […]

I went to see Malcolm Gladwell speak recently and was fascinated by what he had to say. I have read Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers so knew what to expect but his calm, engaging style was a pleasant surprise. His chosen subject was ‘serendipity’ which he described as the search for something that you do […]

I have had a quote in my head for some time and often wondered about its source. Occasionally, I would ask of the deputies in school, ‘Went the day well?’, not knowing where I had first come across it. Then, on Tuesday in the Times, through a kind of Galilean serendipity, there it was – […]

I was intrigued by the result of the competition to find words, both suitable and powerful enough, to be engraved on a sculpture at the centre of the Olympic village in London. When the games are a distant memory (and maybe even the stadium!) these words in stone will endure as a legacy to the […]