Occasionally my commitments take me beyond the boundaries of London where I live and mainly work to other parts of the UK and Ireland and this is where I was last week, making my first ever visit to Belfast.

I was there to visit the LILAC Team at Fleming Fulton School, who provide highly tailored support to schools across Northern Ireland to help them to meet the needs of children with various physical disabilities:  to enable access to the full experience of education, to support their achievement in school and to prepare them for life after school.  My visit was one of a series of visits to schools across Great Britain in my role as national judge on behalf of the Teaching Awards.

This was part of a process by which judges decide on the national winner for this year in the category of Outstanding School Team of the Year.  Following our visit we hole up in our hotel, the Park Avenue Hotel, to make our final decision.  I return to London to write a report on behalf of the team.  We will share this with our fellow judges at the end of next week.  After this, it will be under wraps until the national awards ceremony in October.

I am pleased to be able to make a flying visit to the City as a whole with one of my judging colleagues.  Following our arrival and on the way to dinner we ask our taxi driver to give us a quick guided tour of the City.  It is much changed since my colleague last visited some years ago.  “The Troubles” are mainly past and many of the old walls have come down.  Some remain and act as stark reminders of years gone by.

I am intrigued when our driver shows us a place where children still come to throw stones at each other across sectarian divides.  He tells us that he knows they text each other in advance to say that they are coming.  I wonder what needs are met by this strange ritual.  Perhaps they are honouring the past and in doing so honouring their parents.  Perhaps this is the way they have learnt to engage with each other.  Perhaps… perhaps…

I come away with a great curiosity about the city which clearly has a great deal to offer the visitor including and beyond its history of 20th century divide.  I also celebrate the LILAC team and all the other teams we have been able to observe at regional and national level on behalf of the Teaching Awards.