Eighteen years ago I took a job working in a school in Stockport. It was something of an educational backwater and together we underwent a journey of significant school improvement. I had some excellent colleagues and mentors in that school, made some friends for life and, as is the case with every job, I had experiences and made connections that shaped me as a leader and as a person.

At that school there was a Head of History called Steve. He was a great teacher, a friend to many, a magistrate and the school union rep. He was sharp, clever, funny, keen on healthy debate, passionate about education, and a deeply respected man. He was occasionally an irritant, often an advocate and always a man of conviction. I liked him.

He retired last summer, having seen many generations of students and younger teachers through into adulthood and maturity, having made a difference wherever he could, taking seriously his life of civic leadership and commitment to social justice. In December, without warning, he suffered a heart attack and died. It feels as shocking now as it did to me then. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in over a decade but the sudden loss of this principled, decent man continues to gut me.

In 2014 Steve had a book published: ‘The Book of Good’. It’s a call to arms and a personal and social challenge to undertake and record one daily act that makes a positive difference to the world around you. Some acts are extraordinarily easy and others hold more challenge: all are about making a positive choice every day to make the world a better place, to make a difference where you can and to do this not just for the world but for your own well-being.

I’ve been thinking about the Book of Good as we close out 2023. It does not escape me that the cover is black, but for bright yellow writing, nor that many of the actions are small and simple. It is significant, I think, that the path to greater personal fulfilment involves acts of service for others, and at a time characterised by such darkness I am drawn to the concept of taking every opportunity to make a joyous difference within my locus of control.

During the time that I worked at that school, I learned a hugely important leadership lesson that has shaped my thinking since: if you want to make a BIG DIFFERENCE, you don’t make it alone, and you don’t make it with one individual BIG effort. Big differences are made when a whole community chooses to do the same, often small, thing together. I have had the privilege to witness some enormous differences in my time working in the Cabot Learning Federation, and they have come through the work of a large number of people, working with a shared purpose and choosing to do the same things consistently well.

As we get ready for 2024, we have the opportunity to make a big difference to our students, and particularly to those experiencing the deepest and most distressing disadvantage. We came to work in our settings because we wanted to make a difference, and I am often struck by the small changes that make big differences, by the individual acts that change mindsets, affect choices and change lives.

I wonder what would happen if we chose to focus on these differences. I wonder what would happen if we chose each day to make the choices outlined in the Book of Good, intentionally, corporately, habitually.

I wonder what would happen if we then noted these acts, shared them and celebrated them. Would we experience better collective mental health? Would we notice the difference we are already making together? Would we make a bigger difference?

We have nothing to lose.