Reflecting on Leadership and creativity: NEPI Meeting 6 – 2nd year

Our final NEPI gathering of the year, on Thursday 25th June, brought a fitting blend of reflection, inspiration and forward momentum. Led by Becky Jackson, the session invited us to pause, look back on our leadership journeys and consider how they continue to shape the work we do across our schools and communities to promote and enhance the creative habits.

Leadership, Presence, and “The Way It Is”

Becky shared William Stafford’s poem The Way It Is, using its quiet insistence on holding onto a guiding thread as a prompt for thinking about the values and commitments that anchor our leadership. It reminded us that leadership isn’t only about action; it’s also about noticing, attending, and staying connected to what matters. We then took time to reflect on the leadership paths that have brought us to this point before sharing our reflections with others in the group.

To close the morning, Abi D’Amore led an evaluation activity designed to support the final written evaluation of the Creativity Collaboratives programme. Her session helped us articulate what has shifted in our practice, how it looks now, and what has been most impactful. Each school also offered advice to those beginning their Creativity journeys, which will directly inform the Roadmap she is developing. This will ensure that the work undertaken so far continues to shape and support the creativity journey for other schools.

In the afternoon we walked along the Quayside to the Baltic art gallery—an opportunity to shift perspective, breathe and let the creative energy of the space open up new thinking. We were encouraged to consider how creativity, curiosity and playfulness can inform our leadership practice and the creative experiences in our schools.

Our final meeting of this school year really captured the essence of NEPI: thoughtful reflection, shared experience, creative inspiration and purposeful planning.