It’s been a month at work of recovering and catching up from our Children’s Services Ofsted inspection and at the same time enjoying Brighton at its best as it hosts the Festival. The festival opened with the fabulous 'taking flight' themed children’s parade, a highlight of my year, an event that makes us think how special it is to be a child in one of our city schools, followed by a month of culture and entertainment across the city.
 |
| The ‘taking flight’ Children’s Parade |
Post Election
Post our local elections I’ve been busy with my DMT colleagues getting to know our new councillors, meeting them individually and presenting at induction sessions, helping bring them up to speed with our Education & Inclusion issues and wider priorities in Children’s Services. Our new lead member for Children, Young People and Skills Committee is councillor Tom Bewick. I know he is looking forward to meeting many of you and will I am sure want to visit schools to see some of your best practice.
Reading Recovery Awards 2015
Congratulations to two Brighton & Hove schools who are the winners of the Reading Recovery Awards 2015 which celebrate and honour practitioners who have made an outstanding contribution to children's literacy through Reading Recovery and are awarded by UCL Institute of Education.
Reading Recovery School of the Year Award went to Pippa Davis at St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School, for work supporting parental involvement. Inspirational Manager of the Year Award went to Jenny Aldridge, Rudyard Kipling Primary School, for work with community engagement and high aspiration for literacy learning for all.
I know what a difference this work and the Every Child a Reader programme is making to the outcomes for young people and I also want to thank all those who make this a reality in the city.
Downs View School & Link College Open House
It was very impressive to hear how well the Downs View School Samba band, 'Unified Rhythm', played together with the Balfour Primary and Varndean School Samba Bands at this year’s schools Open House. Visitors to the well-attended Open House event day were also able to sample treats from the work experience 'Fair Trade Cafe' and view a variety of art on display created by the students.
 |
| Downs View School, Balfour Primary and Varndean School Samba Bands |
We are all looking forward to the Rugby World Cup (RWC) in September and I’m urging all our schools to get involved in the lead up and the actual event. I was delighted to hear that Westdene Primary’s Choir will welcome Samoa as part of the event. See link http://www.youthsporttrust.org/news-media/news/2015/may/twenty-school-choirs-chosen-to-welcome-teams-to-rugby-world-cup-2015.aspx
In further RWC celebrations nearly 40 schools took part this month in two tag rugby tournaments. The competition was organised by Emma Greenough from our sports development team, in association with the Rugby Football Union community coaches and the Brighton & Hove Schools Rugby Association and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
I’m pleased to announce that we now have 83% of our schools judged to be good and outstanding, above the national average. Of course there can be no complacency and we will not be satisfied until we reach our goal of 100%. I look forward to continual work with schools and the wider learner partnership to achieve further improvement on this percentage.Patcham Junior has had a full inspection from Ofsted this month and we look forward to receiving the report in June.
Her Majesty’s Inspectors have also been busy visiting St Bartholomew’s CE Primary, BACA and Coombe Road Primary this month to carry out monitoring visits. I’m delighted to announce all have been judged to have taken effective action.
Tests and Exams
It’s that time of year when children and young people are sitting tests and exams. We must remember for some this can be an anxious and stressful time and the support parents and teachers give is so important. I do hope the Y6 SATs went as well as I know our headteachers hoped. I know from my team visiting a selection of schools to monitor the arrangements, and from my own visits to schools this month, just how well prepared the children were and how you have done so much to minimise the stress involved, whilst knowing the importance of them. Good luck also to all those little ones taking the phonics test and our young people taking GCSEs, A and AS Levels.
Improving Primary Writing and Looking Beyond Brighton & Hove
Improving standards in writing is a top priority for us so it’s very important that nine of our Primary Schools are leading and developing a two year Primary Writing Project. Pie Corbett and John Stannard provide professional development for school staff and leadership teams through a series of whole school training, focus leadership days and interim school partnership support. I am pleased that my team are co-ordinating this project to ensure within and between school professional development to improve writing outcomes for pupils in schools as part of a school supporting schools improvement model.
 |
| Improving primary writing |
This month 22 staff from our local project lead teams visited Penn Wood Primary Talk for Writing school of excellence and training centre in Slough. All were inspired by the school, the leadership and the positive learning environment for pupils and staff. I was pleased to hear from the team that the visit provided a cohesive picture of whole school commitment and long term vision to ensure all pupils could be successful and confident communicators, a goal that our own Primary Writing Partnership Project is actively working towards. I am looking forward to hearing much more as the project develops and would encourage other schools to find out more.
Alongside my LSCB board members and members of the wider Children’s Services partnerships in Brighton & Hove, I attended the LSCB Conference on Child Sexual Abuse and Harmful Sexual Behaviours last week. The conference aimed to improve multi-agency responses to end abuse and support victims. The day featured many speakers, including Sue Berelowitz from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and Ruth Marchant from Triangle. I personally found the day invaluable in raising my own awareness and learning with others, it was good to see representative headteachers and governors present.
Young People Participating in Safeguarding
I’m pleased to say that our Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) received over 40 entries to their competition and that the children’s consideration of these safeguarding concerns certainly gave them some food for thought and will be used to enhance the training offer and website in the near future. The winners were announced online http://brightonandhovelscb.org.uk/home/drawing-competition-2015/.
I’m delighted with the winning entry by Scarlet, aged 10, from Stanford Junior School. Another good example of a young person’s positive engagement and what amazing artwork.
 |
| The winning entry by Scarlet |
A huge thank you to all the primary schools who have used the Vulnerability Index to transfer pupil data from Y6-Y7; 78% of primary schools with a Y6 have completed the transfer. The index has also been used for secondary schools, for Y11 referrals of young people who need transition support or at risk of disengagement. There is still time to make referrals if schools haven’t as yet, so I’d like to urge you to do so.
Children’s Services Ofsted
As a team in Children’s Services we were pleased to receive verbal feedback on our four week inspection. Unfortunately we are unable to say what the judgements are as Ofsted go through a strict regime of checking and quality assuring their judgements before the report is published in late June. However, what we can say is they have confirmed that there are some areas where we have real strengths and some really excellent practice. There were no surprises and it confirmed our self-evaluation and that we know ourselves well. There are also some areas that are not as good as they should be, but Ofsted have noted that the improvements we have made over the last couple of years have been appropriate and our plans for the future are right. It was good to hear them commending us on our “decisive but steady leadership.”
It was an exhausting experience and particularly for Pinaki and Helen leading the whole process and for those working on the front line with some of our most vulnerable children and families. I was so impressed with the commitment of the staff involved across Children’s Services and I personally learnt so much from others during the process. It was a good example of the whole team working together as one Children’s Service. We look forward to receiving the report and sharing it with you.
New Secondary School
I’ve been working closely this week with our University colleagues to further develop the bid for our new school and the writing of the bid is well underway. The collection of signatures from parents and carers is also going well. The work is a great example of positive collaboration between the University and our teams across the City Council to address our top priority of providing well needed school places. My thanks to primary school headteachers for welcoming John Smith and Sam Coates from the University of Brighton on site to get the signatures we need; and also to the secondary headteachers for their responses to the draft bid. I know you will all continue to provide your help and support.
Prize Win for Mile Oak School
On 21 May Mile Oak Primary School was presented with a cheque for £10,000 for winning the Randstad Primary Education Award 2014/15. The school was invited to the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham for the award ceremony.
The award was in recognition of the schools innovative idea to develop a Science Bus. The money will be used to transform the bus, which is presently located in PACA’s car park, into a state of the art science centre to be used by the whole community. The project has been supported by Brighton & Hove Bus Company which kindly supplied the bus. This is a great example of innovative practice and collaborative work between schools as Mile Oak Primary has been working in partnership with PACA to take the idea forward.
 |
| Deputy Head Mile Oak Primary, Samantha Heselden - Brighton & Hove Buses, Dr Caroline Oprandi - PACA Stem Centre Manager, Neil Fulcher - Mile Oak teacher |
I’m proud to inform you that Helen Beaumont (Early Years Advisor) from our Early Years team has just had a book published called ‘Reflective Teaching in Early Education’. It is the definitive textbook for reflective professionals in early education, drawing on the experience of the author team and the latest research, including the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) findings. Please have a look http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/reflective-teaching-in-early-education-9781441177988/#sthash.qHNfgt2x.dpuf
Well done to Helen and her team.
Hello and Goodbye
Congratulations to Rob Niedermaier-Reed newly recruited headteacher for Hove Park Secondary School who will join us from September. Rob has significant head and deputy headteacher experience and he has established a strong record and drive for improvement at his current school Chessington Community College.
Congratulations also to Karen Harrison who joins Peter Gladwin Primary School as their new headteacher from September. Karen will move from Balfour Primary School, where she is currently Director of Learning for Key Stage One.
Adam Sutton has been seconded to Moulsecoomb Primary School from Brackenbury Primary School until Easter as interim headteacher. Our thanks to Dawn Oliver for releasing him and of course to Adam for taking on this challenging yet exciting role. Another good example of school to school support.
Alex Wingham is currently deputy head at St Martin’s CE Primary and will be acting headteacher whilst the governors recruit a new headteacher; well done Alex. We wish Joanne Smith all the best as she takes up the headship of Rudyard Kipling Primary from September.
Governors have asked Maddy Southern to become acting headteacher at Hove Juniors for the coming year. Maddy is currently Head of School; well done Maddy.
Forthcoming Events
I look forward to seeing headteachers and key leads across Children’s Services on 9 June at the School and College Leaders Business Meeting (08:30 - 12:15 at the Conference Centre, Bramber House, University of Sussex). Our theme this term is Leading with Moral Purpose - Nothing about us without us. This will include: Introduction to the Faith in Schools Guidance with a focus on the Islam section, Supporting pupils and students during Ramadan, Nothing about us without us, and - Making a difference - being a trans inclusive school, as well as a presentation from Robin Banerjee (Professor of Developmental Psychology) and a chance to hear about good practice in schools from our own headteachers.
Keeping in Touch with our Valued Colleague
Hilary Ferries and Mary Ellinger went to visit Hugh Baldry, one of our School Partnership Advisors, at the Royal Marsden. He is now halfway through his treatment, is very positive and sends best wishes to everyone. He also says thank you for all the cards and messages of support that he has received. Hugh will be in the Marsden for at least two more months so please do keep passing on those good wishes.
Best wishes,
Jo
Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment