Merry Christmas from Education & Skills

 

As we are approaching the end of term, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy festive period. Thank you for your ongoing commitment and dedication to the children, young people and communities of Brighton & Hove and for all of the work that you do to make a positive difference to the children and communities in your care every day. I would like to wish you all a very restful and well deserved break over the holiday season.

One Voice

                                               Photograph by Chloe Hashemi

I have really enjoyed hearing about the One Voice Festival of Singing which has been taking place across Brighton & Hove this month, involving schools from across the city. Organised by Create Music, the music hub for Brighton & Hove and East Sussex, the events have featured over 2,000 children performing on stage with the Glyndebourne Chorus and have been a lovely celebration to start the festive period. Congratulations to everyone who took part in these very special performances.

TeenTech Festival Sussex

Following the success of the first TeenTech Festival in Sussex last year, it has been wonderful to have the opportunity to host the festival again this year. Delivered in partnership with West Sussex and Brighton & Hove Careers Hub, the festival was enjoyed by over 1,500 students who participated in a virtual pre-event ‘Future Tech Innovation Day’ which took place in October, and also a live festival in November in Brighton. 24 different schools, including two Alternative Provisions, attended from across Sussex, bringing mixed ability students and those who would most benefit from exposure to the range of digital and technical careers showcased.  As a result of attending the event, 7 schools have already registered to enter the TeenTech Awards programme, further extending the reach of the festival. Feedback from teachers included “Thank you for this opportunity, your flexibility and communications. We certainly had some WOW moments with our students”. Well done to everyone involved in this event.

Three schools have had Ofsted inspections recently, of which two have received reports. 

 

Congratulations to everyone at West Hove Infant School, which was graded ‘Outstanding’ in all areas. Ofsted recognised the ‘exceptional’ provision, with pupils who have a ‘highly positive outlook on learning’. Many aspects were highlighted, including the focus on behaviour and attendance, and the support for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and disadvantaged pupils. It really is an impressive report to read and a great achievement!

 

St Andrew’s C of E Primary had an ungrade inspection, which confirmed the school has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection. Ofsted particularly recognised the high expectations for all pupils, including for those with SEND and for disadvantaged pupils, and the ‘warm and nurturing ethos’ in the school. They also highlighted the extensive extra-curricular opportunities and the focus on staff professional development. Well done to all at the school!

 

Bevendean Primary School has also been inspected and we await their report.

Thank you

We say thank you and goodbye this month to Lisa Hagon, Acting Co Headteacher at Westdene Primary School who is retiring from her role this month. We would like to thank Lisa for all of her hard work for the city’s children and families and wish her a very happy and well deserved retirement.

We would also like to say thank you to Jenny Stratton who is also stepping back from her role as Acting Co Headteacher at Westdene Primary School. Jenny will be returning to her role as Deputy Head at the school from January. We look forward to continuing to work with Jenny going forward.

Goodbye 

As many of you will be aware, after 37 incredibly rewarding years in education and public service, I made the heartfelt decision to retire from my position at the end of this term. My last day in the job is this week and has come around very quickly. It has been an absolute privilege to work in Brighton & Hove for the past 19 years and I am very proud of being part of the leadership that has seen our city schools, education and SEND provision grow from strength to strength as part of our outstanding children's services. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your kindness and partnership over the years and I wish you all the best for the future.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Hello Future 2024

 

                                              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

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Virtual School Art Competition

For the third year running, the Virtual School has run an art competition for children in care, children previously in care and care leavers up to age 25. This year’s theme was True Colours and the competition culminated in a wonderful exhibition at the Liberation Art Gallery in Brighton. A huge thank you to all the parents, carers, guardians, teachers and other professionals that helped facilitate the amazing art works received this year. Every piece of art tells the unique story of the person behind it, and we are honoured that our young people have shared their ‘true colours’ with us. The private launch packed the gallery to the brim and it was brilliant to see some new faces and so much happiness, celebration and pride in the room. Thank you to everyone for taking part or facilitating a young person to be involved in the exhibition. The art work has had much interest and many compliments from members of the public who visited the gallery. Well done to everyone involved.

Say Hello to Our New Apprentices

The Apprenticeship Team has been delighted to welcome new apprentices and staff to their induction recently. Apprenticeships are available for managers to recruit staff into new roles for the duration of the apprenticeship, or for existing staff to stay on their current terms and conditions and upskill themselves at no personal cost. A number of apprentices were welcomed last month from services across the Council. For further information or to book a chat in with your Apprenticeship Consultants, Lynne Rimmer and Gavin Graham, contact apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk

City Maths Strategy

Developing the ability to work flexibly and fluently with number is a key priority in pupils’ mathematical development. City wide data shows our disadvantaged pupils are consistently out-performed by their non-disadvantaged peers at every statutory assessment point. To help address this, teachers from both primary and secondary schools have embarked on training with Herts for Learning who have developed an innovative programme that will help ensure students know their base facts, have a range of mental calculation strategies, and can use and apply their knowledge to a wider fluency range. This programme has a proven impact on outcomes for students in KS2 and KS3. Teachers are currently undertaking a baseline diagnostic assessment prior to the programme commencing later this autumn. A training day took place last week which was very interesting and the group were thoroughly engaged. It was fascinating taking the time to consider how many ways – efficiently or otherwise – a student might approach a basic calculation.  

Healing Classroom Work

It has been great to hear more about the amazing Healing Classroom work that the EMAS team do with Afghan, Ukrainian and Syrian pupils in Brighton and Hove schools. Activities include self portrait work with backgrounds of pictures of things they are interested in; VIP pictures where they show who is their very important person and why; boxes decorated as Brighton to show where they have been since they moved here and also boxes decorated as their home country. The work is very much led by the children and their interests and although resources with ideas are prepared for the children, there is always the flexibility to change plans. For example, the Afghan children recently showed the team how to make kites as they do in Afghanistan. For more information please see this link where EMAS teacher Suzanne Fisher talks more about this work. 

Governance Development Update

The Governance Development Team delivers a Governor Induction Programme four times a year, and I was pleased to hear that this term the take-up has been greater than ever, with 60 new governors currently engaged in the programme. Also on offer for new governors are key sessions that are crucial to help them understand the challenges that schools are facing and their role in supporting these, such as SEND, Anti-Racist Education, Health and Safety, Safeguarding and Finance.

 

There is also a range of courses offered to leaders of governing boards. Over 20 new chairs of governors and vice chairs had an induction meeting with key council officers to learn about the services that support schools and governing boards, and there is also a full cohort undertaking the Governance Leadership Programme. This is run annually and is a big commitment of five modules but provides excellent networking opportunities and a safe space to have discussions and develop as leaders. Thank you to all governors for prioritising all this important development, supporting effective governance in the city’s schools.

Apprentices Join the Mayor to Tidy Our Beaches

Last month, some of our apprentices met up with the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Councillor Mohammed Asaduzzaman to carry out a volunteer beach clean in some unexpected sunshine. The clean up was organised by the Apprenticeship team in collaboration with Cityclean's Tidy Up team and the Mayor's office. It was a great opportunity for our apprentices to meet the Mayor and network with other apprentices while tidying up our beautiful beaches. One apprentice said: "The best thing was making a difference to our lovely beach and the positive response from so many members of the public. Definitely do it!" If you're interested in supporting a member of staff on a staff apprenticeship or applying for one yourself, the next deadline for apprenticeship funding is Thursday 31 October. For more information,  please email apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk or book a virtual staff drop-in.

From September 2024, Ofsted have made some changes to the way they inspect schools. They no longer provide an overall effectiveness grade, but there are still individual grades in Quality of education, Behaviour and attitudes, Personal development and Leadership and management. Where applicable, Early years and Sixth form provision are also judged.

 

Downs Infant School and St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School were the first schools in the city to be inspected this term, and the reports have now been published. Both schools were judged to be ‘Good’ in all areas.

Amongst the strengths identified at Downs Infant were the expectations for pupil behaviour, particularly that pupils ‘demonstrate high levels of self-control and motivation’ when directing their own learning. I was also pleased to read about the comprehensive PSHE curriculum and the high-quality play available across the year groups, which helps pupils develop in many areas. There is also a strong culture of reading, and communication and language development are a top priority.

 

At St John the Baptist, inspectors highlighted the ambitious curriculum, with pupils being ‘confident readers’ with ‘secure mathematical knowledge’. The school is also strong in identifying pupils’ need ‘precisely’, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Pupils are given many opportunities outside the classroom to contribute positively to the school and wider community, and I was particularly pleased to read about all Year 6 children having a leadership role, for example through leading environmental projects.

 

Well done to all at both schools. 

Goodbyes

                                                              Julie Radmall

Our colleague Julie Radmall at Roundabout Nursery is retiring this month after 43 years of working for the Council. I want to congratulate Julie on this amazing achievement and convey our heartfelt thanks to her. Julie has supported thousands of children and their families, including in some cases, three generations of the same family. She has made such a difference to these children and families through her caring, non-judgemental and gentle manner. We are sure her presence will be greatly missed and we wish her all the happiness for a long and relaxing retirement. Thank you, Julie, for your many years of dedicated service with some of the city’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable families.

 

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

A great start to the academic year

 

September has been a positive start to the autumn term, with children and young people starting back at nursery, school and college after their summer break. We have already seen some fabulous achievements and great work from our council teams to support the children, families in the city. We are looking forward to working in continued partnership with you to inspire and educate the children and young people of Brighton & Hove.

Another positive set of results for the city

We are very proud of the city’s summer results and have seen excellent outcomes in GCSEs, A-level, BTEC and T Level results this year. We had impressive reading SATs results, placing our local authority in the top quartile of outcomes nationally. I would also like to congratulate those with SEND for the excellent outcomes they have achieved. We are very pleased that outcomes for these learners are improving. Thank you for your leadership and congratulations to everyone involved in all of these positive achievements.

 

Visit to the new Jeanne Saunders Centre

         Anne Rhodda (Deputy Head of Service, Jeanne Saunders Centre) and Jo Templeman 

                                             (Head of Family Hubs) at the Centre

                                          The garden at the Jeanne Saunders Centre

I was very pleased to visit the new Jeanne Saunders Centre at Connaught Road earlier this month. The Centre provides intensive early learning and assessment to children with a range of complex needs, including severe language delay and autistic spectrum conditions. The team has created a fresh new environment with spacious, modern areas offering a wide range of opportunities for learning and the Centre now has a larger space to welcome parents, carers and partner professionals to build opportunities for support, information and training. The team has not only created a very special place for early learning for children who have places there, but also to welcome families of children with complex needs from across the city to their drop in groups. Well done to everyone who has worked extremely hard to get the Centre up and running.

Our City Our World

         Brighton & Hove teachers, hub leaders, Cllr Rowkins, Max Evans from Let’s Go Zero,           and Our City Our World leaders Katie Eberstein and Jonathan Cooper at the training

Sustainability education leads from across the country recently joined us for training in the Our City Our World approach to sustainability, climate change and environmental education, developed in Brighton & Hove schools. Thank you to the teachers who shared their experience of implementing the programme and gave valuable advice. By 2025, the DfE requires all schools to have a sustainability lead and produce a Climate Action Plan. Training has also taken place for sustainability leads and additional training will take place for school leaders and business managers in Climate Action Planning in early 2025. 

New Headteachers Induction 

On 16 September Deb Austin, Corporate Director - Families, Children and Learning Services, and I welcomed our city’s new headteachers to Hove Town Hall for their first induction session. This was a chance to meet with key officers and learn about the range of services and support on offer. This meeting is part of a package of support we offer to new headteachers that also includes support from an experienced headteacher ‘professional mentor’, additional time from the school partnership adviser and follow up opportunities to meet with key service leads. I look forward to visiting their schools in the near future.

Roots Project at St Mark’s Primary

It has been lovely to hear more about the fantastic ROOTS Project, a Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) project St Mark’s Primary School has initiated for its refugee children. The project offers Refugee and Asylum Seeking pupils an opportunity to take part in an art project that celebrates their culture and heritage. It was designed by PSHE and Mental Health Lead and Y6 teacher - Nina Xerri, who crowd funded to be able to deliver the project and provide resources. Over 6 weeks, children worked 1:1 with Miss Xerri to produce a piece of work which reflected their identity, their background and their culture. The pupils explored their home countries, listened to music, tried foods from their home countries and celebrated their ROOTS!

2023/2024 National School Games Mark 

I’m delighted to announce that 35 primary/secondary schools from across Brighton & Hove have achieved the School Games Mark award for 2023/24. The School Games Mark is a government-led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. Participating in this process allows schools to evaluate their PE provision and assists them in developing an action plan for future progress. Of these, 8 schools: Elm Grove Primary, Coldean Primary, Downs Juniors, Brunswick Primary, Cottesmore Primary, Balfour Primary, Hertford Juniors and City Academy Whitehawk – have achieved the Platinum School Games Mark – which means they have achieved 5 years of the Gold School Games Mark. A huge congratulations to all of the schools involved!

Anti Racist Strategy news

Now in its fourth year, the anti-racist strategy has already delivered training to all but four of the city’s primary phase schools. During the September INSET days, Hove Park, Longhill and Kings took the opportunity to benefit from the excellent in-house training on offer to further their anti-racist education journeys. A program of training on diversifying the curriculum has now been set out. The Widen the View training was introduced at the April anti-racist conference and is available to book on BEEM from October. Other training planned includes creating pupil support groups and guiding schools in the process of responding and reporting incidents of racial harm. The team has also been working closely with Brighton Museum. Anoushka Visvalingham of St. Luke's Primary is on the teacher ambassador team for developing diversified resources for schools, Dulani Kulasinghe is working to develop World War 2 resources for schools and the secondary history group has been creating close links through Shareen Hone of Cardinal Newman School.

Oracy Project for Disadvantaged Pupils

                                                   Attendees at the launch event

An exciting partnership project is underway between the local authority, the Durrington Research School, the Education Endowment Foundation and several Brighton & Hove schools to develop literacy skills for disadvantaged pupils, focusing specifically on spoken language, communication and vocabulary. Following a launch event earlier this month, colleagues will come together to engage in a programme of professional development with agreed implementation strategies and ongoing support given. Detailed and thorough monitoring and evaluation templates will result in a Brighton & Hove literacy project that will be shared more widely across the city of schools. Further information will be shared through School Partnerships and Headteacher meetings.

Bucking the trend on school exclusions

Mary Reid, Assistant Headteacher at Patcham High School, recently spoke on Radio 5 Live about the stance the school has taken on school exclusions. She discussed the school’s commitment to finding a more suitable provision, avoiding the use of the exclusion pathway, for children for whom the school setting is not appropriate. I am sure you would all like the opportunity to listen to the interview which can be played here (from 1:25mins - 1:31mins). 

St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School, Downs Infant School, Westdene Primary and Moulescoomb Primary have all received inspections this term and we await their reports. Ofsted has now published updates to its school inspection handbooks and provided explanation around the interim arrangements this year while they consult on a new framework for 2025. The removal of the one word overall judgement is welcomed by all of us. If your school is expecting an inspection this year, we will be sharing further information through our network events and there are a number of online resources such as this video briefing.

Welcomes 

This month, we welcome a number of new Heads to our schools as well as new colleagues to the local authority. We look forward to working with them all over the coming months.

Amanda Easton - Brunswick Primary School (Acting Co-Headteacher)

                       Sarah Sipula - Brunswick Primary School (Acting Co-Headteacher)

                                       Ben Massey – Elm Grove Primary School – Headteacher

                   Carly Carden – St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School - Headteacher

Natalie Burley – Outdoor Education Adviser 

Kathryn Mitchell – Administrative Officer - Access to Education Team

Goodbyes

After 18 years of working with the council, Rob Caddick, Education Adviser at the Virtual School, is moving into retirement. Rob has worked in various roles with Children in Care over the course of his career and many of you will have worked alongside him to support our most vulnerable children. So many children, teachers, social workers and foster carers will have benefitted from Rob’s wealth of experience and relational approach, he will be very much missed by the Virtual School and across the authority and the city. 

                              Rob Caddick, Education Adviser at the Virtual School

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

End of another academic year

As we approach the end of another academic year I want to thank you for your commitment. Education remains an extremely challenging sector to be working in, however, I am incredibly proud of the resilience and vision of the education leaders in our city. Challenges around finance and the increase in the numbers and complexity of our vulnerable learners have presented all settings with significant challenges. However, the quality of provision in Brighton and Hove remains strong and the education partnership is collectively working towards a shared vision, tackling our main priorities such as improving outcomes for disadvantaged learners. I hope you manage to find time to relax over the summer break and I look forward to working with you all going forward.

Team Domenica's Employer Partner Celebration

                                                    The Team Domenica event 

It’s been great to hear more about the Team Domenica event on Friday 12 July which was held to celebrate the commitment made by employers, candidates, staff and volunteers to making a difference in the city. Team Domenica’s Founder, Baroness Rosa Monckton MBE, spoke of the journey the organisation has made in the last 8 years. Employer partners such as the i360 and Pizza Pilgrims shared the benefits of supporting candidates with additional needs into paid work and the positive impact it has had on recruitment, business, and wellbeing in their staff. Candidates articulated their own individual journeys and successes. It was a wonderful opportunity to value the work done by Team Domenica and their candidates and to be reminded of the inclusive and progressive business community in Brighton and Hove. 

Interschool Poetry Competition

    Pupils from Coldean, Coombe Road, Moulsecoomb, St Bernadette's, St John the Baptist 

                                         and St Joseph's celebrate their successes!

                        Winners Connie and Kayden being presented with their prizes

Last month, pupils from schools across the Aspirational Partners in Learning & Leadership (APLL) Partnership came together at St Joseph’s Catholic School to participate in the inaugural APLL Cluster Inter-school Poetry Competition. The event was a celebration of poetry and of creativity, with participants either performing their own work or bringing to life the poems of well-known poets. 

Connie from St John the Baptist Catholic Primary was awarded first place for performing a moving poem that she had created, ‘The Wishes of the World’ and Kayden from Coldean Primary gave an enthusiastic performance of the poem 'I Wish I Was Our Sammy' monologue from Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. St Joseph’s Headteacher, Gill Foan, congratulated all poets for participating in this event, and having the courage to share their thoughts and emotions through poetry, with a reminder that, “Your voices matter, and your words have the power to change the world.” Well done to everyone who took part.

Meaningful Features

                                                       Students at the event

Well done to all of the post 16 students from BACA, Varndean College, BHASVIC and Newman College who attended an inspirational week of work experiences and workshops at Plus X Innovation centre as part of skills week. The event, led by Celine Mckeown from Do What Matters and Paris Palmano from Citizens Brighton & Hove, helped students to learn about purpose, meaning, power and impact through two simple but powerful frameworks - The Map of Meaning and the 10 One Planet Living Principles. 

The students visited a range of organisations from a commercial business, social enterprise, charity with a commercial arm and a charity doing outreach work. On the final day, a panel of stakeholders from the world of education, business and sustainability were presented with a manifesto written by the young people based on their learning from the week. Feedback included: ‘Meaningful work can come in many forms and doesn’t have to be one type of job’ and ‘You can combine having a successful career with meaningful work.’

Virtual School Education Conference

                                          

This year’s Virtual School Education Conference was a huge success. Working to a theme of ‘Creative Solutions’ there were excellent keynote presentations from education expert Marc Roland on “Supporting Disadvantaged Children in our Schools” and from “Representation Matters” founder Aisha Thomas. Shelley Baker, Headteacher of Varndean School, shared the fantastic work they have been doing to support the attendance of vulnerable children and we were delighted to hear from Cardinal Newman, Patcham Juniors and Carden Primary who have been working with Kit Messenger to develop their whole school relationship-based approach to supporting behaviour in school. 

Withdean Athletics 

The sun shone at Withdean Stadium last month as 1,495 children took part in the Brighton and Hove School Games Athletics event. Children from years 4, 5 and 6 from 42 primary schools were represented at the event. 78 Sports Leaders from Varndean College, Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer and Patcham High all supported the event. It’s been another brilliant year for the School Games programme in the city with over 6,000 students taking part in 42 different events, competitions and festivals. Well done to everyone involved in these fantastic events.

Careers Hub Summer Conference

                                                Attendees at the conference

Brighton & Hove City Council’s Skills and Employment team attended the West Sussex, Brighton & Hove Careers Hub Summer Conference on Wednesday 3 July. There were some useful presentations supporting schools and colleges to plan for the next academic year including helping young people understand apprenticeships, working with parents and carers, and some LinkedIn training to help connect our school and college careers leaders with local employers. Many of our school and college careers teams in Brighton and Hove were recognised for their outstanding contributions to the Careers Hub. Congratulations to all those who were awarded “Careers Champions 2024 certificates of recognition”.

Four schools in the city have recently been inspected by Ofsted.  

 

Fairlight Primary School received a ‘Section 8’ ungraded inspection, where Ofsted visit a school to check it is still ‘Good’. I was really pleased to hear that if this had been a fuller, ‘Section 5’ graded inspection, it may have improved from ‘Good’ to ‘Outstanding’, so a graded inspection will be carried out next time. Inspectors were particularly impressed with pupil progress and behaviour, commenting that pupils ‘focus intently on their learning, determined to succeed’. Other highlights in the report included the ‘exceptional’ teaching of reading, skilful teacher assessment, committed governors and the range of wider opportunities available to enhance pupils’ learning and give them a ‘healthy appetite for outdoor interests’. 

 

St Martin’s CE Primary School retained its ‘Good’ judgement overall, with ‘Behaviour and attitudes and personal development’ judged as ‘Outstanding’. Inspectors praised the ‘reflective’ and ‘inspirational’ leadership in the school, with staff who are consistent and ambitious in their approach to teaching and learning. Other strengths include the early years curriculum, ‘impeccable’ pupil behaviour, the support for pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and the range of cultural experiences the school offers. 

 

Middle Street Primary School also retained its ‘Good’ judgement overall, with ‘Personal development’ judged as ‘Outstanding’. Inspectors particularly recognised the ‘ambitious, carefully sequenced curriculum’, the effective support for children with SEND and the priority given to develop children’s reading. The extensive range of opportunities available in the wider curriculum benefits the pupils’ personal development, and the ‘cohesive community’ is inclusive of everyone. 

 

Brunswick Primary School’s inspection report recognises there are now rapid improvements in teaching and learning, which had previously been affected by a period of leadership changes. Although the school’s overall judgement is ‘Requires Improvement’, there are many strengths highlighted, such as strong school governance, a ‘rich and stimulating’ early years environment, ‘expert’ support for children with SEND, a ‘highly effective’ approach to pupils’ personal development, and good behaviour and attendance. We will continue to support the school in its journey of improvement. 

Well done to all staff, governors and pupils for their hard work. 

Goodbye and Thank You

We have reached the time of year again where we say goodbye and thank you to colleagues across the partnership for the fantastic contribution they have made to children and families in the city. We would like to wish them all the best for the future and hope they will keep in touch.   

                                             Louise Willard, Elm Grove Primary 

                                        Tina Davidson, St John the Baptist Primary

Best wishes,

Jo

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