Attendees at the Hello Future event
It was fantastic to hear that over one thousand students, including those aged 16-19 from colleges and schools across the region, had the opportunity to meet employers earlier this month at Hello Future 2024 at the Brighton Centre. The event was delivered by West Sussex, Brighton and Hove Careers Hub and Brighton Chamber, and partnered with American Express and RWE-operated Rampion Offshore Wind Farm, with support from Shoreham Port.
Opened by the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Cllr Mohammed Asaduzzaman, the skills fair brought together businesses from a wide range of sectors including construction, financial services, hospitality, leisure, retail, public services and renewable energy. Students were able to visit 44 stands and learn about the variety of jobs within companies, explore what career pathways they could take, and find out what skills they will need for different types of work and roles. The event also included a programme of films and short talks from people at the start of their careers about their chosen paths and entrepreneurial journeys and discussed topics including the importance of diversity in the workplace and neurodivergence and work.
Empowering Workforce Conference
Attendees at the Empowering Workforce Conference
I was very pleased to attend the Empowering Your Workforce Conference at the Cricket Ground in Hove earlier this month which focused on our city priorities around anti-racist practice and raising attainment for disadvantaged pupils. School and college leaders came together to listen to Vivienne Porritt’s keynote speech “Be Part of Disruptive Women” which challenged leaders to think around four themes: diversity; gender pay gap; flexible working and representation. Two local leaders of education shared their lived experiences. Natalie McKenzie, Deputy Head Teacher at St Mark’s CofE Primary, shared her reflections of moving from teaching in London to working in Brighton & Hove. Natasha Paling, Early Years Foundation Stage teacher and Pupil Premium Lead at Balfour Primary, told the conference about her journey from volunteer through to Teaching Assistant, student and finally teacher and her recent Teacher of the Year accolade. Thank you to everyone involved in this thought provoking and insightful session.
Governance Briefing
An example of Our City Our World work by Stanford Infant School
on the community field near BHASVIC
It has been great to hear that so many governors have been attending training events this term, organised by the Governance Development Team. Almost 70 new governors have completed the Governor Induction Programme since September, and we had good numbers turn out for the termly Governance Briefing. The briefings are an opportunity for all governors to hear from council officers about key topics affecting schools. At this session, Katie Eberstein, Our City Our World Programme Manager, reminded governors that all schools must have a Climate Action Plan and Sustainability Lead by 2025, and with almost 90% of our schools involved with the Our City Our World (OCOW) Programme, they are well placed to achieve this. Ashley Seymour-Williams, Senior Education Adviser (Partnerships), then gave updates about the financial challenges in schools and the support being provided with this, school organisation updates including school place planning, and engagement and development about the Education Strategy, which will have a formal consultation in the new year.
Brighton & Hove Primary Schools Cross Country
The cross country participants
A huge congratulations to 1,114 children from year 5 and 6 from 43 of the city’s primary schools who took part in a sunny Brighton & Hove Primary Schools Cross Country earlier this month at Waterhall.
It was great to see so many children participating and having fun representing their schools. Information was given to all schools about the community opportunities to get involved in running from the local clubs, to the three Junior Parkruns in the city, right through to the Brighton Half Marathon Junior races taking place in March. A big thank you to the Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer and Varndean College. Without them this event just couldn’t happen! Well done to all of the teams who took part and particularly to Balfour Primary who won the Year 6 Girls competition; Goldstone Primary who won the Year 6 Boys and Year 5 Girls competitions and Westdene Primary who won the Year 5 Boys competition.
Let’s Get Moving
The Let’s Get Moving Conference
The Let’s Get Moving Conference took place in November in Hove and was attended by existing and aspiring deputy and assistant headteachers. The afternoon focused on how schools and colleges can contribute to the vision for Brighton & Hove to be a city where everyone has the opportunity, encouragement, and environment to move more, live well and be healthy. Delegates heard from Verena Quin, Healthy Lifestyles Manager and Dr Katie Cuming from Public Health. Manjinder Nagra, former International Rugby player shared her lived experience and Paul Collin from Bohunt School in Worthing discussed the strategies used in his schools to increase activity within the school day. A range of workshops ran in the afternoon covering early years; empowering girls in being active throughout puberty; outdoor play and learning, and ethnicity and the relationship with sport and physical activity. All the slides from the two events can be found on BEEM. Thank you to everyone involved in organising such a successful event.
New apprentices impress with project presentations at Amex
The apprentices at the event
I have been really interested to learn more about the day of development activities held by the Apprenticeship team to support early career apprentices last month. The event was held at the American Express Community Stadium in Falmer and apprentices enjoyed a full day of exciting challenges and activities delivered by the Brighton & Hove Albion (BHA) Foundation, the football club’s official charity.
The event included a mix of individual and group work designed to support and stretch apprentices in their day-to-day roles and their apprenticeships and culminated in the apprentices giving presentations to senior members of the Apprenticeships team and the BHA Foundation. The day was rounded off by the Community Hub Challenge where our teams of apprentices considered a real life upcoming strategy development for a new Foundation Hub in Brighton. Some fantastic ideas were put forward. Attendees gave very positive feedback on the event, including “I gained team work skills and developed my confidence and presentation skills” and “I enjoyed the project as it allowed us to come together and utilise all the team building exercises into one”.
Bevendean Primary, West Hove Infants and St Andrew’s CofE Primary have all received Ofsted inspections this month and we await their reports. Meanwhile, reports have been published for five schools that were inspected by Ofsted recently, all with positive outcomes.
I was delighted to hear that Cardinal Newman Catholic School and Westdene Primary School were both judged to be ‘Outstanding’ in all areas. Cardinal Newman has been going from strength to strength, with highly skilled staff who have high ambitions for pupils and motivate them to achieve well. Exemplary pupil behaviour was highlighted, as well as the range of opportunities available in the wider community for the students. Westdene Primary School’s report was also an impressive read, which highlighted the positive impact that a focus on reading and an inspiring curriculum are having on pupil progress and achievement. Pupil attendance and PSHE activities were also a key strength.
Moulsecoomb Primary was graded ‘Good’ in all areas, with inspectors impressed by the compassionate and inclusive learning environment. They also recognised the good pupil behaviour and improved achievement across the subjects. Patcham Junior School and Peter Gladwin Primary School both had ungraded inspections, which confirmed they had maintained the standards from the previous inspection. At Patcham Junior, Ofsted highlighted the positive behaviour and attendance, good pupil achievement and strong support for the wellbeing of pupils and staff. At Peter Gladwin, inspectors recognised the inclusive nature of the school as a strength, along with the high expectations in behaviour, and the effectiveness of the approach to reading and writing.
Congratulations and well done to all staff, governors, pupils and families.
Welcomes
Michelle Hunt
This month, we welcome Michelle Hunt to a new role within Families, Children & Learning Services. Michelle has moved into the role of Senior School Organisation Officer from her previous position as Programme Manager. Congratulations to Michelle and we look forward to continuing to work with her in this new role.
Best wishes,
Jo
Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
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