In the current educational climate it would be the easiest thing in the world to dwell upon the negatives - policy overload, continued inadequacies in funding, and testing of young people at every turn.

The Government is properly unrelenting in its demand that standards of pupil attainment continue to rise, but testing can only be justified within this process if it is viewed in its proper place as a measurement of progress to inform future teaching and learning.

Having worked in Worcestershire schools for almost 24 years now, it is no great surprise that the county remains one of the most poorly funded authorities in England and Wales.

However unjust this is, it is a burden that we have become used to having to cope with.

The only disappointment is that in spite of new national funding arrangements, schools in this county remain disadvantaged.

Cutting through the verbiage of deprivation factors and area cost adjustments, the stark fact remains that if we were in Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire, our funding would be £89.64 and £279.78 per pupil higher, giving us an extra £86,951 and £271,387 respectively in our school budget.

Little account has been taken of the fact that National Insurance increases alone have added in excess of £134,000 to our annual salary bill - we are well aware that we are not alone in this.

It is not my intention, however, to dwell overlong on such issues.

I much prefer to celebrate the successes of the educational process in Worcestershire and to consider ways in which we can build upon the pleasing progress made in recent years in order to move things on to another level.

In an essay entitled, The Republic, the Greek philosopher Plato wrote: 'Society exists so far as I can see because the individual is not self-sufficient, but has many needs that he cannot supply himself.'

He appreciated that society needs people with a whole range of skills and abilities, something that should be a reminder to those of us working in education.

Over the next five years we must seek to overcome the current contradictions of government policy to open up curriculum choice for our youngsters, ensuring that courses on offer are more suited to their individual needs.

Remember the lessons of Plato: 'No two of us are born exactly alike. We have natural abilities which fit us for different jobs. We do better to exercise one skill and not to practise several.'

While there will be some of you who would argue that Plato was espousing social control, we could do worse than to be guided by a philosophy that emphasise what youngsters can do well rather than imbuing them with a sense of failure when they fall below a particular level of achievement.

If genuine progress is to be made then central government must give schools the confidence to shake off the competitive attitudes that have bedevilled education since the mid-1980s and to develop their particular strengths for the benefit of their local communities.

The future for schools surely therefore lies in closer involvement with its local community - something that is a key aim for the future of Pershore High School.

Our Technology College status has allowed us to work much more closely with our colleagues in feeder first and middle schools, and we are currently exploring how we can work more effectively together with colleagues at Pershore College on 14-19 provision.

Our intention is to provide ICT, technology, sporting and other facilities that will attract local people to regard the Station Road site as a centre of lifelong and out of hours learning, whilst preserving the many good things developed over the last decade have made Pershore High School such a vibrant place.