LesleyPain

All things family and education. Views are my own.

[michael pain @mikip555]

It’s coming home this Summer @LewisHamilton @ScuderiaFerrari #TeamLH44

[michael pain @mikip555]

Huge congratulations to Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, Mike Conway, and Toyota for winning @24hoursoflemans 2026. What a race!

[michael pain @mikip555]

Generation Games #F1

[ℙ𝕒𝕦𝕝 𝕂. 𝔸𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝔽ℂℂ𝕋 𝕃𝕃𝔼 @pkainsworth]

Really fascinating words by @jonjalex the author of ‘Citizen’ - particularly intrigued by this two loop theory of change and letting a system die with dignity @ForumStrategyUK #trustleaders #pureaccountability

[michael pain @mikip555]

Had @HillF1 finished 1st, it is likely Michael Schumacher would have won the 1997 world championship. The extra 4 points here were critical to JV.

[LesleyPain @PainLesley]

@mikip555 @HillF1 Donington 93 what a fantastic 1st lap of the Grand Prix by Ayrton Senna.

[LesleyPain @PainLesley]

@F1HardWalls4K Senna

[michael pain @mikip555]

‘Regard complexity as fun, crisis as the norm.’

Great CEOs don’t wait for sunny days to do strategy or to be strategic leaders.

#BeingTheCEO

[michael pain @mikip555]

Porthgain. 25th May 2026. #Pembrokeshire

[BirthTrauma @BirthTrauma]

So many women tell us that they arrive on the postnatal ward ill and weak from surgery or haemorrhage, unable to lift or feed their baby, and are given no help at all. New mothers deserve to be looked after properly - it doesn't feel like a lot to ask.

[michael pain @mikip555]

A stunning evening to be back on the race track at Donington Park. #Lotus 🏁

[michael pain @mikip555]

Do not waste time on things outside your circle of control or influence. It’s lost energy and opportunity. #BeingTheCEO

[LesleyPain @PainLesley]

@Sajhawkins1 My son would have been 39 this year. A full term healthy baby;3years later a letter mistakes had been made. I will always think, what would he look like now. Would he have his own family. This is a thing you will do forever.
❤️to you and Harriet

You are forever their mummy💕

[michael pain @mikip555]

Good governance is always the foundation in our education system. Wasn’t the RISE model meant to be fundamentally about ‘serving’ trust and school leaders supporting others? In a model that should be modelling the very best in robust governance and system leadership, I really don’t think consultants providing commercial leadership development offers to trust leaders should also be RISE advisers. The potential for risk or a conflict of interest is huge.

Perception matters in governance and system leadership, and RISE should be modelling the very highest standards of good governance and robust system leadership through and through. At the very least, as of yesterday (10th April 2026) where are the published declarations of interest on the RISE advisers’ list for those who are also consultants? When the list is updated, as it was in February, why are some roles not being updated where individuals have left trust leadership, possibly to consultancy work? Can we be assured people have not marketed a service to an audience whilst also using their RISE advisor title in their online bio?

Trusts are expected (quite rightly) to demonstrate the highest standards of transparency. The implications for them of not doing are enormous.

This is the gov’s main avenue for system-wide improvement. I’ve had my doubts all along. But, in my opinion, it must do much better on modelling good governance and system leadership here. Having helped develop the transformational National Leaders of Education model all those years ago, this would have been basic stuff and all anticipated back then. Must do better!

@LauraTrottMP @cerysturner7

[michael pain @mikip555]

Businesses overtaxed, schools under funded, community cornerstones such as pubs & farms facing hardship. The foundations of our economy and society neglected by a party that promised us otherwise. The things you highlight depend on those foundations of a strong economy & society.

[michael pain @mikip555]

I am enormously concerned about the strain on trust and school leaders right now. It’s time for the Secretary of State to make a speech recognising this, setting out some quick win policies that will support trusts and schools through this period (especially on setting strict criteria on parental complaints), and being crystal clear on the responsibilities of parents & communities in securing school readiness. Ofsted feels like is has lost some nuance; trust freedoms feel increasingly curtailed; finances are stretched; responsibilities on schools feel like they’re stacking up - including in areas they have little control over such as attendance and rising complex needs; and a complaints culture - driven by a ‘customer’ rather than ‘partnership’ mindset amongst too many parents - is growing, causing anguish and sapping time and energy. This is increasingly becoming a retention issue. Every trust and school leader I talk to wants to do their very best, and believes like this is such a critical time to lead and make a difference. But…. There needs to be a narrative of shared endeavour, recognition of the scale of the task, and pragmatism about where various responsibilities lie. A clear message on all of this from @bphillipsonMP would go a long, long way right now.

[michael pain @mikip555]

One has to give @michaelgove and @NickGibbUK significant credit for the enormous improvements in literacy amongst young adults since 2012. The emphasis on phonics, raising the education leaving age, and empowering and mobilising excellent school leaders & teachers through the (now increasingly curtailed) freedoms of the academy trust model, were all key reforms: https://t.co/wIMv2Jl2OA

[michael pain @mikip555]

Her fundamental failure here was to reform Ofsted before reviewing the purpose of accountability more widely. That began with DfE. Alas, the Labour Party has consolidated more power and direction at the centre, undermining school trusts’ and school leaders’ freedom to innovate.

[michael pain @mikip555]

Local governance in academy trusts has long had an identity crisis; it's now discovering its real potential.

What makes an effective local governing body (LGB)?

My brand new article: https://t.co/AYbIY3GNwz

[michael pain @mikip555]

These Ofsted reforms haven’t met the mark because the words ‘Ofsted’ and ‘accountability’ have been used - and continue to be used - interchangeably in our sector. Rather than reviewing accountability from first principles they ‘reformed’ Ofsted. There was no fundamental review or vision for what meaningful accountability looks like in mid 2020s & beyond, including the emergence of #pureaccountability which cutting edge trusts and schools are shaping right now. We no longer live in the 1990s, but the education system’s accountability architecture still does. We @ForumStrategyUK made this very point when the reforms were first announced.