Anti Racist Schools Conference

 

I was delighted to open the 2nd Anti Racist Schools conference, Shifting Cultures which was hosted by the Anti-Racist Education Strategy team. This year's theme was decolonising and diversifying the curriculum. The conference was held at the beautifully refurbished Corn Exchange which created a wonderfully atmospheric backdrop looking in large part at how we teach history and how to give a broader perspective on the complex stories of our shared humanity. With over 120 delegates including teachers, senior leaders, community activists and others working across all stages of teaching and learning, it was a day to share practice and renew a commitment to the city's pledge to develop its anti-racist approach and embed anti-racist education in all our schools.

Guest speaker David Olusoga was a highlight of the day giving an insightful talk on the part history plays in education and the creation of national identity. There was a variety of workshops and presentations on the theme of diversifying and decolonising the curriculum including talks on local Black history, global citizenship, using Personna dolls and an introduction to the beautiful, engaging and free resources of Cargo Classroom. Special thanks go to our talented young BRM pupils who performed at the conference. The equalities ambassadors of Cardinal Newman Secondary performed a specially commissioned dance piece and we were treated to an original rap from a Dorothy Stringer pupil. It was an inspiring day and a bold start for our newly appointed anti-racist education advisers Flo Sparham and Wafa Paton who organised the conference.

Youth Council School Transport Forum

On Thursday 18 April, the Youth Council Transport Campaign held the first ever Youth Council Bus School Transport Forum. Working in partnership with Brighton & Hove Citizens Alliance, they brought together bus company leaders, school leaders, council leaders and young people to discuss issues around bus transport impacting young people’s journeys to and from school and education. 

The first meeting was well received by all and allowed those present to outline current problems and successes, how they can support each other with sharing knowledge and information and how the meetings should run in the future. The hope is this will become a regular forum meeting several times throughout the year to enable learning from everyone involved around making bus transport better for young people. For more information on the Youth Council Transport Campaign or the Bus School Transport Forum please contact john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Portslade Poetry Festival

Schools in Portslade recently celebrated the finals of the Portslade Poetry Festival at Brackenbury Primary School. Children in Years 3-6, from seven local primary schools, represented their school by learning and reciting poems. The idea of a Portslade Poetry ‘Slam’ originated from Brackenbury Primary Assistant Headteacher, Charlie O’Hagan, who took pupils to a national poetry event last year and together with Headteacher, Lizzie Mullarky, decided that this was an experience that pupils in their partnership should have the opportunity to enjoy. It is hoped this will become an annual event with more schools from across the city taking part.

After much deliberation, the winners from each year group were announced as Habeeb from Hangleton Primary (Year 3); Ed from Hangleton Primary (Year 4); Soren from St Mary’s (Year 5) and Jo from Peter Gladwin (Year 6). The overall winner’s trophy went to Ed from Hangleton Primary for his breathtaking performance of Joseph Coelho’s Take a Deep Breath. Congratulations to everyone involved in this wonderful event.

Young Carers Festival 

A group of 20 young people from KS2 at City Academy Whitehawk, St Martin’s Primary, St Mark’s Primary and Fairlight Primary came together recently to take part in an action packed day involving climbing, tennis and squash at the Withdean Sports Complex. The students had a great time and all worked together as a group to encourage each other to take part. One of the students from St Mark’s commented that they had “really enjoyed climbing as it was a real challenge”. All of the students left with a goodie bag containing information about the activities and free swimming in the city. We hope to work with the Young Carers Project to make this into an annual event and also support the project with links and opportunities to local physical activity providers.  The day was funded by the School Games programme which is national programme working with schools to encourage young people to be active and create that active habit for life! 

Youth Council Mental Health Summit

Last month the Youth Council Health and Wellbeing Campaign Group delivered the Youth Council’s first Mental Health Summit to support young people to better access the right mental health support at the right time in Brighton & Hove.  Over 80 young people attended from 8 different schools and participated in workshops on Mental Health Pathways; Mental Health Services and Mental Health Self Awareness. 

92% left with an improved understanding of structures and pathways, 80% gained a better understanding of recognising signs and symptoms relating to their own mental health and how to respond to them and 98% left with more understanding of services that support mental health for young people in the city. The day included wonderful food from Gem’s Wholesome Kitchen and guest speakers from NHS Sussex, as well as special guest speaker Eve Silverstone - an ex-Youth Council member who came back to talk about her lived experience around mental health which was a powerful part of the day.  The event was delivered in collaboration and partnership with services and organisations across the city and a special thanks goes to those that made the event possible.

Sussex School Games Finals 

                                                        

At the Primary Schools Cross Country Final which recently took place in Crawley, the Brighton & Hove year 5 and 6 primary team performed very well finishing 2nd and 3rd in both the year 5 and 6 team events boys and girls. We also had some great individual performances with Brighton & Hove runners finishing in the top 3 in the year 6 girls and year 5 boys event. 

The Spring Finals at the Triangle took place on Thursday 18 April with the following teams qualifying to represent Brighton & Hove at the School Games Sussex Finals; Cottesmore Year 3 multi skills; Downs Juniors Year 5/6 indoor athletics; Dorothy Stringer Year 7 boys indoor athletics; Blatchington Mill Year 8 boys indoor athletics; Blatchington Mill Year 7 girls indoor athletics; Cardinal Newman Year 8 Girls indoor athletics and Peter Gladwin Year 5/6 stinger netball. Congratulations to everyone who has taken part, you have all done so well! 

Make Your Mark – Results

Make Your Mark is the UK’s largest Youth Consultation, hearing the voices of over 8 million young people since it started. The Youth Council facilitate this consultation on a local level. The consultation ran between the beginning of February and 8 March and 3638 young people in Brighton & Hove took part. The results are now in and the top 3 issues are as follows: 1. Health and Wellbeing; 2. Education and Learning; 3. Jobs, the Economy and Benefits. You can see more information from the results in the images. If you’d like a copy of the report or to know what the next steps are please contact john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Reflecting on the success of our first industrial placements for T level students

      Holly, Education and Childcare T Level Student and Becky, Acorn Nursery Manager 

Following a successful pilot in our Early Years sector, we are looking for teams to host industrial placements for students on the T-Level Digital Business Services pathway from October 2024. T Levels, or Technical Levels, are new two-year qualifications which are equivalent to three A Levels. Developed as an alternative to A-Levels, they give real experience of the workplace by combining classroom study, practical learning and an industry placement in areas ranging from Accounting to Construction. 

Education and Childcare T Level Student Holly joined Acorn Nursery in September. Nursery Manager Becky says of the experience “Holly demonstrates her learning from her T Level course and brings this into the workplace. When Holly leaves, she will have gained knowledge and practical skills that will make her very sought after in the childcare field. She will have no problem finding a job and I hope she would consider joining one of the council’s nurseries”. An information session will take place on Wednesday 8 May. Places can be booked here. If you have any questions about this session or are unable to attend but would like to learn more, please contact nicola.gardner@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Youth Council Leadership Elections

On Friday 8 March the Youth Council hosted its inaugural Leadership elections. These are peer led elections where the whole youth council get to elect their peers to leadership positions, such as Chair, Deputy Chair, Members of Youth Parliament and committee reps. The election was held in two parts: a vote carrying 50% of the weight was based on anonymised written submissions, whilst a further 50% was weighted on public presentations. Youth Council members had agreed they’d like to make the elections formal, so members turned out in their smart attire and gave presentations to the room. In total there were 9 positions elected and this group will go on to take a more senior role in running and facilitating the Youth Council in the next two years. I look forward to hearing more about their work in the coming months.

 

Saltdean Primary School received an inspection this month and we await the result. Stanford Junior School and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School have recently been inspected and both have retained their ‘good’ rating by Ofsted. 

At Stanford Junior, the inspector highlighted the school’s broad, balanced and ‘vibrant’ curriculum, with sport, music and the arts having a high priority and the art curriculum being ‘exceptionally strong’. Reading is also particular strength, with high achievement in this area. There is also a strong sense of community in the school, with many interesting opportunities for the children.

 

At Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary, the inspector recognised that pupils have ‘excellent attitudes to learning’ and behave ‘exceptionally well’. Children with SEND are also well-supported and they achieve well. Teachers have strong subject knowledge and high expectations, with their expertise being evident in the well-sequenced learning and knowing what skills and knowledge children need. Congratulations to everyone in both school communities for their hard work.

Welcomes

Welcome to Jenny Stratton who has taken up the position of Acting Head at Westdene Primary this month.  We look forward to working with Jenny over the coming months and to supporting her in her new role.

We also welcome Amanda Meier (Senior Manager: SEND & AP Change Programme), Jacqui Parfitt (Head of Families, Children and Learning Services Commissioning) and Katie Rowe (SEN & Alternative Provision Commissioning Officer) who have all recently joined Health, SEND & Disabilities. Finally, I am delighted to announce that Jim Hynes has been appointed as our new Adult Learning Manager for the Council’s Adult Education Hub. We look forward to working with them and welcoming them to the Families, Children and Learning Services team.

                                                              Amanda Meier

Jacqui Parfitt

Jim Hynes

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Let’s Dance

It was wonderful to attend Let’s Dance last week when it returned to Brighton Dome in a week-long festival celebrating and showcasing dance from the children within our city. Let’s Dance, which is organised and managed by Dorothy Stringer School with the help of Varndean College dance leaders, is the largest celebration of school dance in the whole of the UK. With over 2000 performers involved each year, it plays a major role, not only in encouraging our young people to be active, but also in ensuring that dance and physical activity remains a high priority in educational establishments across the city.  Congratulations to all those who took part in Let’s Dance and to everyone involved who has worked so hard to create such a fabulous series of performances. For more information please follow this link. 

Women in Leadership Conference

The theme for this year’s conference for aspiring and existing deputy and assistant headteachers was Women in Leadership. The conference looked at what we can do to inspire girls to aim high and develop leadership skills and ask how we can remove the barriers for female leaders to move into senior positions. Keynote speaker Vivienne Porritt gave an engaging and thought-provoking talk on the gender pay gap for women working in education; flexible working; diversity of women in education, and representation of women leaders in education.  There was input from our anti-racist lead teachers and a wide choice of workshops including: handling difficult conversations; a panel of female senior leaders sharing their experiences, and workplace wellbeing given by Public Health.  We were also joined by an inspiring group of young female student leaders from BHASVIC who shared their experience of school openly and honestly. Feedback from the event has been really positive and some schools have already created groups for girls to share their voice. Well done to everyone involved.

National Careers Week

Our ‘Local Authority Careers at BHCC’ virtual work experience (VWEX) programme has been chosen to be spotlighted on the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) careers platform, following a new partnership with Springpod, our VWEX partner, bringing our VWEX programme to a national audience this spring. Over 1000 local students and residents have enrolled in the programmes with more than 200 digital badges awarded for completion. Offering a diverse range of activities, including interactive projects, case studies, and the opportunity to reach out to our staff working in those sectors, our programmes provide a unique glimpse into the inner workings of local government and social care. These programmes are free to use and open to anyone. They are also OnDemand, so you can choose when you want to learn. Please see below for online enrolment and take a look at our trailer video here for our local authority work experience programme. 

 

• Local Authority

• Social Care

Foster Carer Conference

The Virtual School held its annual Foster Carer Conference at Sussex University at the end of the spring term, and it was fantastic to see so many carers. Children from our “Care to Dance” club performed an amazing routine, and we also heard an inspiring talk from one of our own care leavers. Our keynote speaker Ashley John Baptise shared his inspiring story of growing up in care; his journey to Cambridge and his amazing resilience in the face of challenges, that no child should have to face. Sussex University shared practical support for applications to higher education and we had uplifting presentations from Happy Home Learning, Audio Active and Al Start. The day was a wonderful celebration of the work our carers do and an opportunity to share the high aspirations we all have for our children in care.

Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) in Brighton & Hove Schools

It is very exciting to hear that a number of schools in Brighton & Hove have engaged in the OPAL programme, including Fairlight Primary and Nursery School, who have achieved the Platinum Award on several occasions, which has resulted in them being invited to be part of the OPAL college and offering open days for schools interested in following this approach to great play for children. 

On a rainy lunchtime, Primary Teaching & Learning Consultant, Joyti Azad went to visit Brackenbury Primary, who were inspired by what they saw at Fairlight, to see what this looks like in action. On her visit, the school was sharing their work with colleagues from West Sussex who were also considering this approach. Joyti said “Whether the children were ‘cooking’ in the mud kitchen, scooting around the playground or dancing to the beats of the outside sound system, they were all enjoying the experiences of playing outside creatively with big smiles on their faces. Staff at the school report fewer behaviour incidents during playtime and pupils who had previously avoided outdoor play are now more prepared to embrace the experience.” If this sounds like something your school would be interested in, don’t just take Joyti’s word for it, why not arrange a visit to one of the schools to see it for yourself.

Brighton Hope Hack

It has been great to hear more about the youth led Hope Hack workshop which took place this month at the i360, organised by Hope Collective. The aim was to involve younger residents around issues such as racism and division, education, housing, transport and employment and mental health and give them an opportunity to share experiences and look at solutions for their assigned topic. The Racism and Division group opted to develop a literary contribution in the form of a children's book named "Alex’s Amazing Adventures” about a non-binary child named Alex. The narrative explores the involvement of different family structures, including those with same-sex parents, adopted families, and families affected by disabilities. "Alex’s Amazing Adventures," is to be a mandatory reading material for children aged 7 to 13.

Aflo the Poet, an influential activist who protests via poetry, spoke about her work and encouraged the attendees to use their voices.  The question “Do you feel like a hero?” was asked to the audience at the beginning of the day, with very few people raising their hands in agreement. The reaction at the end of the day was a sharp contrast, with everyone raising their hands and cheering, proud of their achievements that day. 

Brighton & Hove Students Inspired By This Girl Can Be Event

 

The This Girl Can Be Inspired By event, which took place recently at the Sussex Cricket County Ground, was attended by over 60 pupils from 7 secondary schools across the city. The event aimed to inspire girls to participate in sport and physical activity and was also a chance for them to hear from inspirational women who have forged careers in the sport and leisure field and to think about a career in the sector. 

The day involved panel discussions from some brilliant women, including a rugby coach, about to support the women’s six nations competition, a sports nutritionist, a wellbeing coach and a cricket coach, now in charge of the BACA cricket academy. Students participated in small group sessions with two of the women and asked some insightful questions about their jobs, what drew them to the jobs, what sports they love and what they might have done if they hadn’t gone down their current path. Following a yoga and mindfulness session, the girls took part in workshops around being active and finding the right sports bra and period health, and a student voice session designed to find out more about why some girls are inactive. I look forward to hearing more about this important work.

The Local Employment Scheme for Construction

The Local Employment Scheme for Construction, funded by S106 contributions, recently hosted an event in collaboration with local construction colleges Brighton MET and Brighton Aldridge Community Academy to attract local tradespeople into a teaching career in further education. Participants had a tour of the MET Construction Campus and an informal discussion with teaching staff from both colleges. We had very positive feedback from the trades that attended and as a next step they will be invited to shadow a teaching session at the colleges. The Local Employment Scheme for Construction supports the upskilling of local construction workers. Find out how the Local Employment Scheme funded training and development on the Coldean Lane development in our video here.

Annual Conference For School Governors

Last weekend I was very pleased to open the annual conference for school governors, hosted by the School & Governance Development Team. This is always such a good opportunity for governors to have some thinking space and be challenged on an important aspect of school leadership and governance. The focus of the conference this year was ‘Exploring the Intersectionality between Race and SEND’, and we were very fortunate to hear from keynote speaker Frances Akinde, who really challenged our thinking and gave us lots of food for thought about how to support some of our most vulnerable children and young people. Also supporting the conference were officers from the council’s Anti-Racist Education Team and representatives from the Governors of Colour Network. I was really encouraged by all the work that council colleagues, governors and school staff are doing in this important area of work, and I look forward to hearing how the work develops.

The recent short Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) in Brighton & Hove came to a close on Friday 15 March, following a week of preparation and a week with the Inspection Team onsite to visit teams, interview staff and meet with our service users and partners in the city. The Inspection Team met with the Families Children & Learning Directorate Management Team, the Leader of the Council, Cllr Bella Sankey, our Lead Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Lucy Helliwell, and our new Chief Executive, Jess Gibbons, to give their verbal feedback on their inspection findings. The feedback is now subject to a QA and moderation process in Ofsted, so cannot be shared until we are in receipt of their formal outcome letter, expected in a few weeks. 

Longhill High School, Stanford Junior School and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School have all been inspected this month and we await the results.

Welcomes

                                                                 Jess Gibbons

We are delighted to welcome our new Chief Executive Jess Gibbons this month who has come to Brighton & Hove City Council from her role as Chief Operations Officer at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. We look forward to working with Jess over the coming months.

Goodbyes

We say goodbye and good luck to Debbie Crossingham at the end of this term, who is retiring as headteacher of Westdene Primary School. Debbie is one of the city’s longest serving headteachers, and will be hugely missed. Under Debbie’s leadership, Westdene was the first primary school in the city to be awarded Teaching School status and the school continues to focus on collaboration and sharing practice across the city. Ofsted recently gave the school a glowing report in all areas, showing Debbie’s inspirational and strong leadership. We wish you all the best for a healthy and happy retirement Debbie!

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

#Let Girls Play Day

 

It’s been great to hear more about #Let Girls Play Day, the Biggest Ever Football Session taking place on Friday 8 March, which is International Women’s Day.

In Brighton & Hove there are events being organised at over 29 different schools. Sports leaders from Patcham High, Dorothy Stringer, Cardinal Newman, Varndean, Blatchington Mill and Longhill are all running events both for their own students as well as local primary schools. The aim is to get as many girls as possible all playing football on the same day in schools across England. Last year, a total of 285,000 took part in this amazing event. There are lots of free resources available to help bring sessions to life, but the important part is about having loads of fun! To sign up, please follow this link.

Youth Council Leadership Elections

As part of the Youth Council’s two year programme there are several lead roles where young people take on additional responsibilities in specific areas, including Members of Youth Parliament, Committee Members for the Children Families and Schools Committee, Youth Council Chair, Deputy Chair and Secretary. On Friday 8 March, the Youth Council Lead Role Election Night will be taking place with Youth Council members having an opportunity to elect their peers to leadership roles. Candidates will submit an anonymous written response, alongside an in person presentation to express to their peers why they think they would be the right person for each role. Youth Council members will then take an anonymous vote to elect the relevant roles. Young people have agreed they would like to dress up for the event, so we look forward to Youth Council members turning out in style for an evening of fun, youth led democracy.  If you would like to know more about the Youth Council Lead Roles, please contact John Lewry at john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Tackling Educational Disadvantage Annual Conference

Matthew Easterbrook and Ian Hadden from University of Sussex sharing their research on the psychology of social class inequalities in the classroom with delegates

Brighton & Hove’s Strategy for Tackling Educational Disadvantage Annual Conference took place on Friday 2 February at the University of Sussex. The event was well attended by school leaders from across the phases and proved to be an enlightening and thought-provoking event, addressing critical issues faced in our schools and providing valuable insights into strategies to overcome educational differences. The conference brought together educators and experts to explore the multifaceted challenges faced by schools in addressing educational disadvantages. One of the conference's standout features was its diverse range of speakers, each bringing a unique perspective and expertise to the table. From researchers to experienced educators working in our city, the lineup offered a comprehensive overview of the issues at hand. For more information on the Strategy for Tackling Educational Disadvantage, please follow this link.

Indoor Athletics

Over the past two months over 450 year 5 and year 6 children from 37 different schools have taken part in Indoor Athletics events at BACA and BHASVIC.  It’s been great to see so many children taking part, representing their schools and enjoying indoor athletics. The Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, BACA and BHASVIC have also been outstanding in helping to run the events. Well done to everyone involved.

Youth Mental Health Summit

The Youth Council Health and Wellbeing Campaign has been working hard over the last 18 months to formulate their listening around Health and Wellbeing into action. This piece of work will culminate in their Mental Health Summit taking place on Friday 22 March. The summit will bring together young people from secondary schools across Brighton & Hove to take part in a day of educational workshops to help them better understand the way Mental Health services work in our city with the aim of sharing and disseminating this learning back in their schools. 

The workshops have been co-produced by Youth Council members along with Mental Health experts in the city from the Schools Wellbeing Service, Public Health, CAHMS and YMCA Downslink Group. The day will have young people sharing some of their lived experience, guest speakers talking about navigating complex systems and food provided by Gem Ogston and the Wholesome Kitchen, a project that aims to create food that’s good for your Mental Health. If you are part of a secondary school that isn’t currently attending, please get in touch as we still have spaces available. If you would like to know more about the Mental Health Summit, please contact John Lewry at john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Cross Phase Writing Project

Earlier this term, local authority Lead Writing moderators, Joyti Azad and Natasha Marris ran a productive day with Year 6 teachers and Key Stage 3 English leads. The aim of the session was to ensure that KS3 colleagues experienced how the statutory Teacher Assessment Framework is used to make teacher assessments in Year 6 and how this can then be used as a baseline for expectations in writing for Year 7 pupils. Teachers who attended the day appreciated the opportunity to work alongside a colleague from another phase and have already planned follow up work to support consistency in the teaching and learning of writing approaches across the schools. The group will be meeting again in the summer term to develop this further. I look forward to hearing how this goes. 

Make Your Mark 2024 Is Live!

Make Your Mark is a National Youth Consultation headed up by the British Youth Council. It is the largest consultation of young people in the UK and has heard the voices of over 7 million young people since it began. The consultation sets out 10 key themes and asks young people to identify the one that matters most to them. Brighton & Hove Youth Council deliver the consultation on a local level and are aiming to reach more young people than ever before.

Nationally, the results will inform the UK Youth Parliament Campaign for two years. Locally, the top three issues will make up the focus of Youth Council Campaigns for the next two years. The consultation closes on Friday 8 March and results will be announced by Thursday 21 March. The Youth Council will then plan focus groups across the city to better understand the details of the key themes identified by young people. If you work with young people, please encourage them to take part here. If you would like to know more about the youth council’s representation on council committee’s please contact John Lewry on john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

A huge congratulations to Acorn Nursery in Portslade which has been rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted. The nursery, run by Brighton & Hove City Council, was called an exemplary nursery, which allows children to blossom and thrive. Ofsted inspected the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management and gave an Outstanding grade in each category. Inspectors highlighted that “staff are dedicated to delivering tailored care and learning, recognising the uniqueness of every child” and “staff are fantastic role models to children and actively strive to teach children the importance of being inclusive”. Congratulations to everyone involved in this fantastic achievement. 

Carlton Hill Primary School's Ofsted report has recently been published, with the school retaining its 'Good' grading. Ofsted recognised many areas of strength and I was pleased to read such a positive report. Inspectors were particularly impressed with how inclusive the school is, with a “relentless determination to provide the best support for all”.  Amongst other highlights in the report were the strong early years provision, positive outcomes by the end of Year 6, effective support for the mental health and wellbeing of pupils and staff, positive pupil behaviour and strong leadership and governance. Congratulations to everyone in the school community for their hard work.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Youth Parliament House of Commons Debate

Georgia and Deneb, the Members of Youth Parliament for Brighton & Hove, recently joined over 200 other young people from across the UK and British Overseas Territories at the House of Commons to discuss prominent issues facing young people and debate key areas of focus for their National Campaign around Free School Meals. This is the only group outside of Parliament permitted to sit in the House of Commons, so it is a prestigious occasion with young people able to sit on the famous green benches of Parliament. 

The day was chaired by the speaker for the House of Commons in the morning and the Deputy Speaker for the House of Commons in the afternoon and included a letter from the Prime Minister. Deneb was fortunate enough to be selected to speak and delivered a powerful argument for extending the current school holiday provision to ensure no child was left hungry in the holidays. The campaign will finish nationally by March, with new Members of Youth Parliament then elected. We thank Georgia and Deneb for their hard work and commitment over the last two years and look forward to welcoming new members in the coming months.  If you would like to know more about the work of the UK Youth Parliament or our MYPs locally, please contact John Lewry at john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Play at Fairlight Primary and Nursery School

It has been wonderful to hear more about the great work going on at Fairlight Primary and Nursery School using Opal to focus on play as a way to support well being, mental health and physical health and to develop resilience, collaboration and inclusion. Opal is a nationally recognised and award winning, mentor supported school improvement programme addressing all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to strategically and sustainably improve the quality of their play opportunities. Currently 32,770 schools in the UK participate, as well as schools from other parts of the world including Canada, America, Malaysia, Spain and many more.

 

Fairlight  is one of just a handful of schools who have achieved the Platinum Award on several occasions and as a result of this has been invited to be part of the OPAL College. This is a prestigious honour and makes Fairlight one of the best schools in the world for play. In March this year, Fairlight  will accept their most recent Award at the Houses of Parliament and will speak to a group of assembled Ministers, Lords and advisors around the importance and the need for play to be given a higher profile in schools. I look forward to hearing more about this fantastic work.

 

TeenTech Sussex 2023

Described by one teacher as "the best trip I’ve been on in ten years of teaching", the inaugural TeenTech Festival, delivered in partnership with West Sussex and Brighton & Hove Careers Hub, really packed a punch! Over 1,600 students participated in the ‘Future Tech Innovation Day’ virtual pre-event in October and the live festival in November at the Amex Stadium in Brighton. 

21 different schools, including two SEN schools, attended from across Brighton, Hove and West Sussex with students taking part in interactive activities at Insight Zone Exhibition stands and Challenge Zone activities. The one hour Innovation Zone activity enabled students to build on ideas inspired by the virtual event and to consider how they might use data and/or AI within their projects. Students can now work on ideas with support from TeenTech mentors and submit them to the TeenTech Award programme. As a result of attending the TeenTech Sussex festival, 12 schools have already registered to enter the TeenTech Awards programme, further extending the reach of the festival. 

Think Futures

January 2024 is a time of new beginnings, but saw the close of a joint partnership contract between West Sussex County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council’s Employability Service, as funding through the European Social Fund has ended. The project began in 2018 and was meant to run for a year, but with success came extensions meaning the project ran until 2024! The DWP have stated it has been an “exemplar project”. Congratulations to the Employability Service who exceeded all targets. Over the five years, the project supported 2625 young people across Sussex with 1403 entering sustainable employment or education outcomes.

Youth Council Representatives at Children, Families and Schools Committee

Two members of Brighton & Hove Youth Council recently sat as young people’s representatives on the Council’s Children, Families and Schools committee, a role which they recurringly hold. In a very busy agenda, one of the key areas of discussion impacting young people was around a proposal to introduce Free School Meals eligibility as a prominent criterion in secondary school admissions. 

Our youth council representatives raised some interesting points on how this would be implemented and also flagged concern about the cost of travel. One representative spoke of her own experience of being on free school meals and the excellent education she had received through BACA where she attended. Our other representative asked a relevant question around the involvement of the voice of SEND young people in the design and plans for the SEND short breaks and holiday activities offer by the local authority. You can watch the webcast of the meeting through the Brighton & Hove City Council website here. Additionally, the youth council representatives’ comments were also featured on episode 8 of the Class Divide Podcast.  If you would like to know more about the youth council’s representation on council committees, please contact John Lewry on  john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Governance Briefing

School governors from across the city came together this week for this term's Governance Briefing in Hove Town Hall Council Chamber. We were pleased to welcome Cllr Lucy Helliwell, Co-Chair of Children, Families and Schools Committee, to the event. She talked about the council's priorities and their plans for tackling the issues with pupil admissions numbers, SEND, budgets and equalities, and answered questions from governors.

 

Two council officers also gave updates about important work that is being carried out to support schools. Helen Emerson, Education Adviser for PSHE, Anti-bullying and Equalities, talked about her team's current work in this area and what governors can do to support their school colleagues in delivering this crucial area of work.  Linsey McGill, Schools' Mental Health Service Lead, also gave an update on her team's service offer and links with other mental health provision in the city for children and young people.  It was good to be able to catch up with colleagues face to face and discuss some of the key challenges for schools, and I look forward to seeing governors again at their annual Governance Conference on 23 March.

Downs Junior School and Balfour Primary School reports have recently been published. Downs Junior’s previous inspection took place in 2011, the longest wait in the city! Ofsted graded the school as ‘Good’, recognising the school’s inclusive community, with parents, pupils and staff ‘extremely enthusiastic’ about the opportunities available. There was praise for the many extra-curricular activities that benefit pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with SEND. The school also has effective safeguarding procedures, well-supported staff and high pupil attendance. Well done to all involved.

Balfour Primary has been upgraded to ‘Good’, with positive comments across the whole report. This is well-deserved and we congratulate all staff, governors and pupils. Ofsted acknowledged the inclusive community and the ambitious and exciting curriculum. The school places a particularly high priority on reading, with inspectors recognising that ‘pupils are inspired to read and have well-informed opinions about the books and authors that they enjoy’. Congratulations to everyone in both school communities for all their hard work. 

Carlton Hill Primary School and Hangleton Primary School have both received inspections this month and we await the results.

Welcomes

I am very pleased to welcome Lisa Walker as Interim Headteacher at Downs Infant School. We look forward to supporting Lisa in her new role.

I am also delighted to welcome Anita Philbrook as Interim Headteacher at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School and look forward to working with her over the coming months.

Best wishes,

Jo

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