A week since the staff meeting and we had all had time to sleep on it.

Trouble was we now seemed unhappy with the original list: too many things on it , and with so much still missing off it, we were in danger of just creating an even longer list. And the statements on the list itself now felt of unequal value. We sought hierarchy and priority; we sought apex statements.

Nodding was accompanied by a palpable sense of deflation at the realisation that what we thought was done was not done.

It was suggested that the vision for this new education imaginary should comprise only three things. You can probably imagine the impact this suggestion had, but conversation started to bubble up almost immediately. Pauly picked up a marker pen and walked towards the flipchart. “Okay. What do we think?”

A new education imaginary in three points

We started orally, riffing in triplets. It was important that the three statements sounded right when spoken out loud. The words mattered: the individual words that made up the statements and the three statements together. And so it was as we improvised our way forward.

(I love working like this - interrogating each statement, shuffling the words as we seek headline messages that are broad and ambitious and bold and beautiful enough to allow all others to sit comfortably below them. And there must be enough space for them to breathe: it is vital that there is room for us to step in and inhabit them without compromising fidelity.)

Something-centred learning

Crikely, this was really hard work! Everyone knows you don’t worry the seams of a knitted jumper, but we fiddled away anyway. Just ahead of total unravelment we agreed on three apex themes rather than statements as we now saw this meeting as a way point on a longer journey and not a job done:

• something-centred learning (child, student, person, community, purpose, interest?)

• something about new relationships

• something about wellness or wellbeing

On the bench

We had some talent on the bench: ecosystems was popular, as was hub, authentic and lifelong legacy of learning. We annotated the new list with a reminder to pick these up again next time. But it was all so tantalising, and there was a sense, as I closed the meeting, that we would be leaving surplus energy in the room.