I have long been a fan of changing the world for the better in profit making companies.  Whilst others shy away from “for social good and profit”, I have always liked it. Whilst the charitable sector and “not for Profit” organisations are an important part of social good, they are often grant or donation dependant, making them potentially vulnerable. If a profitable business is running great schools, or helping the unemployed to get jobs, it will also be generating wealth. Two for the price of one!  I think in the world of social good there is a place for

• Community groups
• Charities
• Public sector
• Not for-profit social enterprise
• Profit making social business

Wey Education is firmly in the last camp with its aim of improving the results and outcomes for school children whilst making a return for its investors.

It has been interesting reading the think tank, Policy Exchange report today, which also makes a case for the private sector in Schools in England, they also feature on the benefits of the profitable mutual. See http://policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/social%20enterprise%20schools%20-%20feb%2012.pdf  for their report.

Whist I have some sympathy with the view that commercial sector should not be making large profits out tax funded activity, I really don’t think it holds much water if the cost is fixed no matter who provides the servicers and as long as the contract for the service is based on achieving quality outcomes.  

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I recently gave a talk about transforming public services and positioning them to respond to the challenges they face. Dramatically reducing funding, being divested of their provision, changing working practices, becoming customer focused, commissioning services; these are all things the public sector are facing.

I talked about the need for leadership and not just management, the need to have a clear vision, to know what you want to achieve the need to take risks. However mostly I talked about the need to create a culture that is fit for the business one needs to do. A culture that lets all see “how we do things around here”, or “how we behave around here”.

In the public sector we spend a huge amount of time on reorganising and restructuring our organisations and on producing brilliant plans for the future.

Actually our main effort should be on creating the culture that will drive the behaviours we want. Great people doing great things will deliver great results. We need to establish the behaviours we want and reward them, recognise them in our appraisal systems and communicate them to our staff and customers.

All too often we forget to do this and then wonder why our great new plans are delivering exactly the same as our rejected old plans.

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On Saturday it was Beyond Westminster, Tuesday LBC and the paper review and Thursday the Report on Radio 4, to listen follow the link..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015crkq

The programme was questioning the validity of the dramatic fall in reported numbers of permanent exclusions in schools. Whilst none of my children have been permanently excluded, they have had fixed term exclusions, huge amounts of time in the withdrawal room and spent long slugs of corridor time which surely has to be the biggest waste of all!   My god son, was forced to change school because of his behaviour, he did spend weeks at home as this was sorted out with no education, he did move to another school, he did end up in part time provision in a Pupil referral unit and predictably a very bright boy did not get five GCSE’s. So it wasn’t just my professional experience that  lead me agree to try and explain the exclusion system to the radio programme it was my personal experience of what happens when it simply doesn’t work.

The programme looked at several aspects of exclusion, I focussed on the “managed move”. When the managed move happens because a school has run out of patients with a pupils behaviour, it is in fact an exclusion by another name, it has the advantage for the school of not being classed as an exclusion, so it does not show up in the Department for Educations figures, in theory it also has the advantage  for the pupil of allowing them to start a fresh in another school without the stigma of being excluded.

The child does start in a new school with a different cohort, and this can be the break they need from their old peer group to  give them the chance to start a fresh. In reality more often than not the challenging behaviour they demonstrated in their previous school follows them to the new one and it is not long before they start the cycle of temporary exclusions and eventually another move or a permanent exclusion.  

The programme did not focus heavily on what can be done to ensure no child needs to be excluded or “moved” . Whilst I accept that there will always be the extreme situations that may require excursions or a fixed term or permanent  basis I do believe a large number can be avoided.  The real trick to keeping children in the school of their choice, is not a  magic wand in the cupboard, it is providing pupils with great teaching and learning, in a well lead school, with clear vision, good teachers and excellent relationships with parents.

Sadly when schools are not run well in England, the governors, school leaders and all too often the media,  blame the children, poverty, delinquency and poor parenting.  You only have to look at a school like Woodside in Tottenham which is achieving far higher than the national average in 5 GCSE’s with English and maths in one of the most deprived, and as recent events show dysfunctional, areas of the country. They don’t have a magic wand they Joan McVittie, a truly great head teacher, who has driven a high quality teaching and learning environment.

We can’t clone Joan’s but we can learn from what she does and share her good practice.

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I was on Radio 4’s beyond Westminster programme on Saturday morning. I was interviewed about Academies and Free schools, 11 minutes into the programme you can hear my dulcet tones.

I hope I was able to simply explain how the funding works and expose the myths and truths!

Click on the link below to listen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015bgvc

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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From an idea for an education company I am now mortaring a long and have publically stated an intent to buy the Place group. Very exciting times for us.

This was the announcement made on Thursday last week.

WEY EDUCATION PLC

(“Wey” or the “Company”)

Memorandum of Understanding to acquire The Place Group Limited

Wey Education Plc, the PLUS listed education business is pleased to announce that the Company entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) on 14 September 2011 to acquire the entire issued share capital of the Place Group Limited (“PGL”), a specialist Programme Management and School Services Company (the “Acquisition”).

Background

PGL is dedicated to the education sector and its mission is to help schools develop their visions, strategies, infrastructures and environments to create the best outcomes for young people and ultimately their families and communities. PGL has recently re-secured its position on the Department for Education’s Education and Project Management framework and has successfully established over 70 Academy and Free Schools including three of the first twenty-four free schools to have opened this month. PGL has worked with over 800 schools on everything from implementing leadership programmes and placing interim strategic leaders into highly challenged schools, to developing student and parent engagement strategies.

For the year ended 31 December 2010, PGL reported turnover of £5.65 million, a gross profit of £1.99 million and a loss after tax of £0.80 million. The published net assets of PGL at 31 December 2010 were £0.72 million. During that year, as a result of a change in government policy, a number of PGL staff were made redundant at a cost of £0.56 million. Other measures have also been undertaken to return the underlying PGL business to profitability.

The directors of Wey believe that PGL has taken the necessary steps to re-focus the business which Wey believes has a number of complementary synergies with its own strategy.

Following the Acquisition, Simon Rule and Claire Delaney, the CEO and Managing Director of PGL, will join the Wey Board as joint Managing Directors.

Consideration payable and other conditions of the MoU

Pursuant to the MoU, the entire issued share capital of PGL will be acquired for a consideration of £1,650,000 to be satisfied by the issue of 11,000,000 Ordinary Shares in the Company.

The Acquisition is conditional upon the completion of satisfactory due diligence and entering into a definitive Sale and Purchase Agreement. The MoU contains a long stop date of 15 October 2011 (or such later date as agreed between the parties).

The acquisition of PGL would mark an important milestone in Wey’s strategy to build a global education business. PGL and Wey share the same vision and passion for education and how it can create life chances for young people. Together they have the expertise to establish, run and operate outstanding schools across a broad spectrum of educational approaches and curricula in a diverse range of settings.

Simon Rule, Chief Executive of PGL commented:

“The potential acquisition of PGL by Wey is an exciting one for us. As the education landscape in the UK changes and evolves, PGL will be able to accelerate its development in outsourced services for schools and help drive efficiency through the system to ensure maximum funding reaches the learner. PGL has built a reputation in being first to market and successfully implementing policy into practice. With Wey we will innovate, create, and deliver new services to drive excellence throughout the education sector.”

Zenna Atkins, Chief Executive of Wey, commented:

“I am delighted that following a period of constructive negotiations our first significant acquisition is close to being substantially completed. We and the owners and management of PGL share a common education vision. We both recognise that PGL brings significant benefits to Wey and that Wey brings significant benefits to PGL.

We will continue our strategy to grow our business both organically and through acquisitions and believe that this acquisition will be invaluable in the creation of shareholder value as our strategies are implemented in the future.”

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Private firm sniffs a profit in coalition schools policy

Company run by ex-Ofsted head in pitch to investors as Michael Gove says changes will offer genuine alternative

A private education company run by a former head of Ofsted has told investors that the coalition's expansion of academies and creation of free schools will create more opportunities for private firms to make money.

Wey Education's statement to potential investors says the government plans will "create increased opportunities for private sector companies to manage and run state-funded schools at all levels".

It also says it can deliver better teaching at lower cost in failing schools, as it has identified "significant savings" in secondary schools' existing financial models.

Wey Education, which is led by the former chair of Ofsted Zenna Atkins, intends to "play a major role as an outsource provider of management services to schools providing state education … taking control of all aspects of the day-to-day running of such schools".

While free schools may not be run for profit, they can contract out school management to private for-profit companies.

The government has received 281 applications to open free schools from September 2012. These included a proposal from Everton FC to open a school that would use sport to engage children at risk of exclusion.

Speaking at the Policy Exchange thinktank in London on Monday, the education secretary, Michael Gove, said: "Even when there are places at local schools, they're not necessarily the type of school places parents are happy with. A choice between two things you don't want is hardly a choice at all. Free schools offer a genuine alternative – and they have the freedom to be different."

Like academies, free schools can set aside the national curriculum and vary teachers' pay and conditions. Many propose to extend teachers' hours to give children a longer school day.

Gove was accompanied at the speech by Michael Wilshaw, headteacher of Mossbourne academy in Hackney, east London, who is proposing an overflow free school to cope with demand from parents. Wilshaw said: "We turn away over 1,000 children every year. It will be a Mossbourne two, in the south of the borough, where provision is not that good, offering a balanced and broad curriculum. Our aim is that 70% will do the English baccalaureate."

Free schools were the most prominent part of Cameron's "big society" idea, encouraging parents and teachers to create their own schools. But earlier this year application rules were tightened up in a way that made it more challenging for community groups.

Detailed financial proposals now have to be presented in the initial application, before groups are eligible for grants to help with planning.

Critics seized on details of Wey Education's statement as an indication that rather than empowering parents, free schools will allow state schooling to be privatised. Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "This is about the private sector coming in and raking off profits and assets from schools, taking taxpayers' money away from state education."

Atkins, chief executive of Wey Education, said that companies brought in to run academies or free schools would be held to account for pupils' results, meaning they could not simply cut costs without risking losing business. She said: "Half of children are failing to get five good GCSEs including English and maths. When you have a state sector in this country which has failed to do that, I really think the profit motive is a red herring."

However, Gove's speech on Monday was attended by a number of parent and teacher-led free school groups.

Kerstyn Comley, one of thea parent involved in a free school proposal for Wapping, east London, said: "There's a huge shortage of places borough-wide. By 2014 we will be 240 places short. We decided that we had to do something about this as a parents' group."

The Wapping group advocates an extended school day with compulsory afterschool activities, including setting up a newspaper, playing football and polo classes. Comley said: "It will be quite a small school, with 81 students per year. The schools in Tower Hamlets are all pretty large."

She added: "We're not political. We just want a school that's good for our kids."

Like many free school backers, the Wapping group faces a challenge in finding a suitable venue. Comley said: "Where we are is next to the City of London, and if you're looking at private property it's City of London prices."

Tom Shinner, a history teacher working on a free school proposal for Greenwich, south London, said: "Like Mossbourne we'll have high expectations, a 'no excuses' approach. There will be an extended day, from 8am to 5.30pm, and a broad range of extra-curricular activities which every single one of our kids will have to take part in: debating, competitive sport, a model United Nations. We'll have more teachers and fewer non-teaching adults in school, fewer teaching assistants and fewer admin staff."

Rachel Wolf, director of the New Schools Network, said that her group had been "inundated" with applications. A hundred free schools could be created by 2012, and several hundred by 2015, she said

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I recently went on my first visit to Leicester. I went to give a talk at the Young, Gifted and Equal Awards for Schools and to the de Montford University distinguished speakers series.  
The young, gifted and equal scheme was pioneered by Leicester and has been rolled out nationally. It aims to promote equality, inclusion and the celebration of diversity in schools. Across the city, schools use tools provided by the scheme and there is an awards event to celebrate schools that have won in different categories. Every school that won put on a performance. It was lovely seeing how the children had embraced the themes. They had all found ways to explore cultural, religious and class difference and found ways to bring fun and enjoyment to often weighty and challenging issues. They calibrated different foods, types of dance, religious practices and put on performances to reflect their learning. Seeing this interfacing and celebration made me reflect again on the agenda of single faith schools, whilst I accept that many religious people want their children to understand and follow their faith, does it help create an integrated society that is accepting and tolerant of difference? Would we in fact be better off with multi faith schools for the religiously minded parent?
Certainly the children’s performance that I watched convinced me that investing in programmes to help children undertake and enjoy each other is very worthwhile indeed.

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I was asked to talk about why I had listed on the Plus market www.plusmarketsgroup.com and what the listing experience was like.

Having to do the talk helped me to consolidate why I had been so keen to be the boss of a public listed company and why I felt it was good for education.

I started by talking about who I am, the usual stuff; mother, dog owner, school failure, I then went on to talk about the companies I had founded and worked for, the executive roles in Government and charities and the non executive roles I have held, and how the theme running through all of them, was my passion for improving outcomes through common sense business practice. This lead to me revealing, I have never worked in a listed environment and I am always keen to do something new!

In addition to the novelty factor, listing Wey Education had the obvious attraction of being able to raise money, and as well as the obvious I like the transparency and rigor of the regulated environment. Standards that have to be met, reporting requirements, if you are using public money in big conglomerates, privately owned companies or even charities it is very easy to be opaque. It is hard to see what is happening to the tax payers’ pound, however in a single issue listed company like my education company, listing gives the public a very clear view of what is going on. There is far greater accountability which is important to me.

Of course by listing, anyone with a few pounds can buy shares and actually “own” a stake in the company, again an appealing concept to me.

From day one a significant part of Wey’s growth strategy has been to acquire existing businesses working in education, and listing offered the opportunity not only to raise money for acquisitions but to be able to aquire for paper, in an other words buying the target company for shares in Wey.

Being able to offer staff a stake in the business through shares or options is also a real bonus, as of course is having shares myself so I can actual accrue some capital, this is great for me as any money that comes into the bank goes straight out! I have no savings, no pension and a mortgage till I am 73! So having shares in Wey might be my old age saving grace!

Giving the talk brought home to me the daftness of the stereotype of the private sector world, as seen by the public sector. It is not about whether you make a profit, it’s about whether you made a difference for the same cost to the tax payer and whether children are getting a better education, better results and better life chances. As long as it doesn’t cost the tax payer more and the tax payer can see what is going on, the focus must be on getting better outcomes.

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“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

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MPs' advice to split Ofsted 'absolute baloney', says ex-chair

The TES on 22 April, 2011 | By: Stephen Exley

The recommendation from an influential committee of MPs to split Ofsted's responsibilities for education and children's care has been described as "absolute baloney" by the watchdog's former chair.

Zenna Atkins, who oversaw the expansion of Ofsted between 2006 and 2010, said the education select committee members had "completely missed the point".

Following an investigation into Ofsted's role and performance, the committee called for it to be divided into two distinct inspectorates, covering education and children's care.

"An organisation doesn't become too big to manage," she told The TES. "The things we introduced had never happened before. It's completely false to say one organisation can't do these things.

"There has been noticeably, markedly and without question an improvement. We saved £80 million, year on year. In the current fiscal climate it would be financially ridiculous to separate (Ofsted)."

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I must be up front and say I have not read the full select committee report but if the BBC and the papers are to be believed the select committee has made several recommendations.  The one that inflames me the most is the suggestion that Ofsted is too big and it should separate its functions into different organisations, in particular Children's Social Services should be split from Ofsted which should focus on schools only.

In part they sight the tragic case of baby Peter Connelly, as a reason to split the organisation, saying Ofsted gave a “ good” rating to Haringey in 2007.  This "good" rating was given under a system called Area Performance Assessment (APA), this truly poor grading system was not introduced by the new merged body of Ofsted, but by its single scope focused predecessor.   In fact on merger in April 2007 the board of the new Ofsted asked the then Department for Children, School and Families, to instantly scrap the system, as it was based on a very flawed process.  Each local authority submitted a statistical return to the department, the department then considered this information and passed it to Ofsted.  Ofsted then graded the Authority based on that information.  Ofsted was told it could not scrap the APA until after a full consultation on any new proposed system, which would take at least a year.  So in short the newly merged Ofsted bore the blame for the sins of its father.

That aside the basic assumption that the Schools and Children’s Social Services should be split is flawed for several other reasons:-

1. The merged organisation saved the tax payer 80 million quid, year on year, in these tough times can we really afford two needless sets of heads?

2. The merged Ofsted introduced a new schools inspection framework, which doubled the amount of time inspectors spend in the class room, focused on school leadership and on pupil engagement. This inspection framework is huge improvement on its tick box based predecessor introduced under the single focussed Ofsted.

3. The merged Ofsted introduced inspections of front line children’s social services.  Not just one but two; for the first time ever unannounced inspections of children’s social service were introduced. Allowing inspectors to see what was really going on.  This never happened under the social services focused predecessor, the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

4. The brand of Ofsted meant that for the first time ever failings in local authority Children’s Social Services were taken seriously by the media.  This in turn meant that elected members had to take failings, identified by inspection, seriously and act on them.

5. Within Local Authorities  schools and Children’s social services departments are run as one, so having a single inspectorate makes sense as one department commissions or provides both services. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the most vulnerable children are much safer as a result of the merged Ofsted.  In my view it would be very unwise of Michael Gove the secretary of state for education to take note of the select committee and unpick the success that the merged Ofsted has been.

Officer time will he wasted on creating new organisations, money and resource wasted. Worse if we go back to either the old schools inspection regime or the old children’s social services inspection regime as a result of the de merger children will be the losers.

If his select committee wants a smaller Ofsted perhaps it should look to stop altogether the inspection of work based learning, which in today’s tough economic climate is probably a luxury we can no longer afford….

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Ofsted boss ready to float

THE former chairman of Ofsted, Zenna Atkins, is bringing to

the stock market an education business she created after

leaving the schools watchdog last autumn.

Wey Education has applied to join Plus, the junior stock

exchange, and dealing is expected to start next month. It will

have an initial market value of about £1m but may look to raise

further funds once listed.

Atkins, left, the chief executive, hopes to develop a system

of education that can be introduced to improve primary and

secondary schools. She said she hoped to create a schools

equivalent of Montessori nurseries.

“My first priority is to concentrate on working with the best

minds in the business to develop a school operating model,”

said Atkins. “If we can get that right, it will be easier to go out

and raise money.”

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I gave a talk to a group of great people in the Saïd Business School Oxford who were attending the common purpose programme “What next”, many have recently or are due to leave full time employment or are looking to change their career direction.

In preparing my speech I reflected on my own “what next “moment. In 2010 I made the conscious choice to go back into a full time executive role as opposed to the portfolio working I had been doing for the previous ten years, in November. After only six weeks in my new CEO role, I unexpectedly and abruptly found myself out of work.

So my “what next” had me weighing up going back to portfolio or sticking to my guns and trying to get a senior executive role again. The one thing I did know was that I could not spend long contemplating, even a day of watching day time TV and napping on the sofa might tempt me to never do anything else again! I choose to set up a new company and build a new business and so far so good.

In the talk I gave, I talked about tips for planning what next.  Everything I said is very obvious stuff, but sometimes change and choice can be overwhelming and it can be useful to go back to basics.

Really think about what you want to do. Take time to reflect, Ask your self;

• What am I good at?
• What do I want to do?
• Do I want to one thing or a portfolio of different things?
• Do I want to work for my self or someone else?
• Do I want to start a business
• Do I want to work on my own or with others?            
• How much do I need to earn?
• How far am I willing to travel?
• Is my CV any good?

These sort questions will help you make a rough plan, identify your limitations, begin to think about how you sell yourself. It’s easy to get swayed and jump at the first thing that comes along or to just drift, give yourself targets and tasks and don’t be afraid to focus on what you really want.

Get your mind set right, it’s important to stay positive and give your self the time to find new opportunities.

• Be persistent, when I had a “portfolio” career I applied for an NED position every month.
• Be resilient, I struck out nine out of ten times.  There is a lot of competition out there. Don’t let your head go down, move on to the next opportunity  
• Get feedback on why you failed, but be discerning, take on board the stuff that is helpful, ignore the rest.   
• Create a brand for your self, who are you and why are you different. Let, who you are, shine through your application forms and interviews.  
• Try and create a phrase that describes who you are, I came up with “modern powerful woman”, it’s not perfect but it gives a sense of what you get if you appointment me. Obviously I don’t write that in application forms but I hope the essence of what that statement means comes through.
• Create your own narrative, why are you doing what you are doing, how did you get where you are and where do you want to go.
• Only you can create the positive spin on what has happened to you, only you can put yourself on the front foot, if you find yourself in an unwanted or unexpected work change, create a positive story. When I parted company with GEMS, I went straight on to talk about what I was doing next and how excited I was about the opportunities my new company would give me.  Find the positive; if you feel negative you will sound negative.
• Say yes. Always say yes to exploring opportunities, don’t turn your self down before you even go for the position. It’s too easy to presume you can’t do it, you don’t have the skills, and they won’t want you. Say yes until you really know what’s on offer, then make an informed choice.
• Use contacts network and friends, don’t be afraid to put your self out there and ask for advise, guidance and introductions. It’s true if you don’t ask you won’t get!

Finally don’t be afraid to make mistakes and believe in yourself, don’t let excuses or a lack of confidence stand in your way.

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A few weeks ago I was on the BBC 1 programme the Big Question. I enjoyed it and managed to rise to the challenge my godson (who was in the audience) set me, to say Bunkum, Preposterous and to get in my love of Portsmouth FC.

One of the questions was about the big society being a cover for cuts. The debated focused on what was being cut and the importance and value of being a volunteer.

For me this  missed the most important element of the “cuts” debate. My main concern with the shrinking pot of public money is not that it is shrinking but that we don’t know how to manage to downsize or how to strip cost properly in the public sector.

Many well intentioned, Quangos, government departments and councils tend to start with the budget and say right we need to loose 10, 20 or what ever % it is and they then decide if every area of their business is going to take the same amount of pain and allocate the % reductions. Departments are then told to loose that cost. Well intentioned section heads look at their old financial allocation and the new one and do they same process to each of the services within it. This results in a salami slicing of services, often expected to do what they have always done with the same money. Or sometimes they pick the service or activity that has the least amount of statutory requirement attached to it and axe it or significantly reduce it.

Many government bodies do not understand how to extract value, they don’t know what things cost and they don’t know how the resources match the outcomes they want. The coalition has said it knows there is massive waste and this is what it wants to drive out. Yet every central government initiative to do this requires such unbelievable staffing and bureaucracy that the very roles in government that are wasteful become the essential posts of the new cost cutting!

When frustration at pointless and often woefully misguided cuts hit boiling point the private sector constancy forms are wheeled in to help drive efficiency. They apply their tried and tested formula, Lean, continual professional development, Business process improvement (BPI),  Total quality management or their own in-house form of brilliance. So why don’t these initiatives work. Its simple they don’t understand the services that are being offered, the customer often does not pay for the service and the desired outcomes are so ill defined that it is hard to strip cost because few know what is trying to be achieved. The private sector also underestimates the complexity of the public sector.

What is so frustrating is that there are brilliant public sector leaders who have driven out costs. Who have looked at over head and cut it to the bone, who have a clear understanding of what they want to achieve and have matched the resources to do It. This ranges from well performing schools who make significant annual surpluses, NHS bodies who improve services and the health of the population and make money to invest in new services, local authorities who have such efficient shared services they can sell to others and compete on all fronts with the private sector, housing departments who manage their repairs hitting 90% plus customer satisfaction levels for 20% less.

Instead of these people become the champions of change for others, their surpluses are often taken from their or their next years budgets cut, the organisations and individuals are often distrusted, their public sector competitors either suggest they are covering up failure or believe that they have had some secret leg up!

Where a culture across a whole sector exists that accepts failure and refuses to acknowledge or celebrate it’s truly successful people, it is little wonder we pay 20 to 40 % more than we need to for our services.

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Last week I had the privilege of speaking at the Worshipful Company of Distillers luncheon. I had high expectations of the liquid refreshments and was not disappointed. On arrival I was offered Champaign, Gin or Whisky, the wine with the meal was superb and to my delight the food was also delicious.

I had been invited because the Master of The Company is an old family friend, David Sills, his guidance to me on what to talk about was as follows;

 “you get about 5 minutes, 7 max – (otherwise cuts into valuable drinking time) tone light and gently deprecating, even of the Master, long acquaintance allowing gentle mocking, though clearly masking enormous respect; refer to me as "your Master" – if you can manage to without giggling; make some amusing personal remarks about me/you/HMS Montrose/whatever takes your fancy, tell us something riveting, and maybe serious and important, about anything that takes your fancy, then tell us something amusing, and maybe silly, about anything that takes your fancy”

Not unsurprisingly I had no idea what to say, the saving grace was what ever I said it would be short and most people would be so well oiled they wouldn’t care.  I decided on a format of 1) the importance of alcohol 2) surviving the recession 3) the importance of alcohol!

Stories of my family and alcohol were not hard to find, with a father who’s last words on this planet were “can I have a whisky and soda” and mother who wrote into her will that at her funeral, there would be no black worn only colours, uplifting hymns, and “one hell of a party”. I think I delivered her wish. At about midnight on the day of her funeral I came across a man in the kitchen who I did not recognise, I approached and asked how he knew my mother he replied “I have not yet had the privilege of meeting the birthday girl!” hers must have been one of the few funerals to attract gate crashers, I am sure the cases of alcohol consumed had a bit to do with the great atmosphere.

I talked about my recession busting tips, resilience, leadership, visibility, making the most of talent, backing good people, taking risks, being opportunistic, being positive, and embracing change.  Telling stories to illustrate the points and at one point even managing  some “gentle mocking, though clearly masking enormous respect” of the Master!

Of course I ended by proposing at toast, “ I give you the health of the Worshipful Company of Distillers, root and branch. May it continue to flourish for ever and good health to the Master” and we all had another drink. What a great lunch

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This week I gave a speech to people from the voluntary sector working with children in Norfolk. With all the cuts, folks were naturally worried that their work and services might be cut. They feared things will be downsized and vulnerable children will suffer. I am ever the optimist and talked about the opportunities and the history of change within the sector.

It seems every decade the voluntary sectors relationship with state and the way it is funded changes. With the  80’s being about fundraising, national organisations, spot purchasing and tin rattling, the 90’s being about central government funding streams, and the growth of grants from charitable trusts, and 2000 being about commissioning , SLA’s and contracts .

I think the next decade is the decade of “just do it”, pretty much every public service is up for grabs, from schools to the health service, children’s centre to libraries. If you can do it better, just do it. I think those that wait for permission will be the loser, if you are running great services for kids who are excluded from school, turn your self into a free school, stop worrying about the grants and start taking the pupil fee plus premium.

There is no doubt that opportunities are there to make “big society” work for the voluntary sector if you are up for it.

Organisations that have a clear focus on their customers, are flexible, opportunistic, responsive, honest, understand their money and how what they spend impacts on customers. They are well run and are in a great position to do more. There will be mergers, acquisitions and consolidation, with any luck some organisations will go by the way side to allow room for new growth! But the sector as a whole will survive and thrive.

Of course there are many criteria for success over failure, but in my view the true secret to making an impact and grabbing the new opportunities is great people, no matter how good the plan, unless you have good people you won’t deliver really exciting things in the next ten years.

So here’s to flexible, dynamic organisations gearing up to grab “big society” by the horns and make this their decade.

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I have just come back from a week in Mauritius, I was out there talking to the developers of Haute Rive. They are building a new village of 2000 homes over the next ten years, with leisure retail and community facilities. They are trying to create an integrated community offering homes to Mauritian’s and ex pats. It reminded me very much of the place making work of Places for People. It was great fun and a privilege to chair Places for People, I loved planning new villages and towns where the aim was to offer homes to people from all walks of life and to offer a range of ways they could access that home from mortgages, to try before you buy. to reasonable rents, creating places of mixed economy.

Thinking about what makes a great lace to live, how you create diversity, how you provide services, how you a create a place you would want to live in was stretching and rewarding. I particularly loved the development Places for People are doing at Brooklands in Milton Keynes. Haute Rive has many similarities to that development, from the desire, to reflect the place, to create a community that locals and new comers want to live in, to be environmentally sensitive and my driving interest to offer world class education.

I went to Mauritius to look at the proposed school and tertiary site and to start conversations about what would be of benefit to the new village of Haute Rive and would be of benefit to Mauritius as a whole in terms of a school and learning centre.  I loved looking at how education can be the driver for increased value in property, for economic development and a central part of creating a destination and a community. It was great working IORC the developers as they not only want to build houses they really do want to create a legacy and to be a part of long term development, looking after the place they create and the people that choose to live there for years to come.

The Mauritian government  has a desire to position Mauritius as an economic centre for the region, offering commerce, regional head office facilities, and accommodation to people and companies working in South and East Africa and India. Naturally I am very excited about the possibility of being a part of the team that will create safe, brilliant and world class education to support that offering.  Of course it would be no hardship to have to travel to paradise a few times a year either!

With best wishes

Zenna

Zenna Atkins

MD, Zail

Board Member; Royal Navy, WFM, Treasury Audit

Trustee, PSEF

E mail, zenna@zail.co

Phone, 07792696551

Address; First Base
22 Ganton Street
London
W1F 7BY

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