December 2015

Happy Christmas

Best wishes to you all for the festive season

Photo by Nicky Donaldson-Alldis

I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year. I hope you all enjoy the festive period, with time for yourself, friends and family. Thank you for your contribution to children, young people, education and skills this year. I look forward to continued partnership work with you all in the new year.

Early Help: How well are we doing and how do we move forward together?

I attended this month’s conference organised in partnership with the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), the Safeguarding Adults Board and Safe in the City, Brighton & Hove’s Community safety partnership was a real success. It was opened by Graham Bartlett, Independent Chair of the LSCB. There were excellent scene setting presentations highlighting our local priorities and challenges from Councillor Tom Bewick and Pinaki Ghoshal. These speakers highlighted the successes over time, from the launch of our Early Help strategy over two years ago to the setting up of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and the Early Help Hub. However there was a clear message that further integration and collective purpose is needed to meet the needs of our children and families and particularly during a time of scarce resources.

We were engaged and challenged by our key note speakers Emma Scowcroft from the national troubled families team, Donna Molloy from the Early Intervention foundation and Professor Robin Banerjee from the University of Sussex. As a psychologist, I was particularly interested in Donna's presentation outlining the importance of evidence based intervention and the work around the impact in later life of adverse childhood experiences. Also engaging was Robin’s focus on behaviours, identity and relationships and the need to explore this further to improve our approach to early help.

It was good to see representatives from the full range of agencies including a significant number of headteachers and leaders from our city’s schools.

Peer review

Diamond 9: What makes good teaching and learning?

An excellent peer review workshop was held on 4 December. This was attended by about 20 primary headteachers.

Clive Dunn, former headteacher who is now an Ofsted inspector and Head Reviewer for Challenge Partners, worked with us to see how headteachers might design and undertake peer reviews.

It began with a discussion of values, asking the question: ‘What do you think makes good teaching and learning?

The picture to the right shows the results of a ‘Diamond 9’ activity undertaken by headteachers which started the day.

Would you arrange the statements in the same way?

School to school challenge and support is one of our priorities and we will be offering this opportunity again in May. If you would like to know more please contact Hilary Ferries or Mary Ellinger.

Partnership and school to school support

Hilary and I had a productive meeting with the headteachers who chair the cluster partnerships. Each chair shared their partnership’s current issues and priorities. It was good to hear the enthusiasm for the different ways that partnerships are working together to provide school to school support: it promoted discussion and made us review our practice. We also talked about the importance of good communication and how we improve this in Brighton & Hove. This group is going to work with us, reviewing the way we provide headteacher care, support and guidance in the city. At the next meeting we are going to begin to look at how each partnership provides school improvement challenge.

Mental Health Pilots in Schools

I’m delighted that Brighton & Hove is to receive government funding to help children and teenagers improve their mental health and emotional wellbeing. We are one of 22 areas across the UK to receive up to £85,000 for this. The project is being piloted by three secondary and eight primary schools who are working with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CGG) and Brighton & Hove City Council. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said, “The development of character, resilience and good mental health is vital alongside academic success in equipping young people with the skills needed to fulfil their potential”. Alongside our other initiatives to improve support for children with Social, Emotional and/or Mental Health issues, this work will make a real difference and improve outcomes.

Ofsted’s Annual Report 2015

The Ofsted Annual Report was published at the beginning of December. This year’s state of the nation picture of educational performance welcomes the ongoing improvement in the standard of education offered in our primary and secondary schools. However it notes a gap between the performance of secondary schools in the North and Midlands and secondary schools in the rest of the country. It also recognises the difficulty some schools and areas have in recruiting good staff and the importance of increasing the number of good leaders and teachers in schools. The regional report positively highlights Brighton & Hove, with 89% of primary school pupils and 81% of secondary school pupils attending a school that is judged to be good or better. At post-16 the quality of provision remains in line with the national level. Access key points or the full report here.

Adoption Support

The Adoption Support Services Steering Group met again this month. I am continually impressed by how this group continues to develop services and raise awareness to support adopted children and young people. Postcards have now been sent out to schools to promote the Adoption Support Passport which explains this support. For further details click here.

The Virtual School promoted its revised offer. This now includes providing workshops for adopters, advice for schools on setting up networks for adopters, an advice line for parents and professionals and attachment training for schools. A personal education plan for these children has also been developed and we are encouraging all schools to use it. A self-evaluation for schools covering best practice working with adopted children is being piloted to be rolled out in the Spring term. For further details on any of these initiatives please email Mark Storey, headteacher of the Virtual School at virtualschool@brighton-hove.gov.uk or to visit us on the Brighton & Hove website click here.

The Schools Christmas Concert

The Schools Christmas Concert at the Brighton Centre

                                                                                                            
I was fortunate enough to attend the wonderful spectacle of the annual Brighton & Hove Schools Christmas Concert last week at the Brighton Centre.  Over 1200 children from 41 primary and special schools filled the Brighton Centre with wonderful voice, Makaton signing and high energy.  The Brighton & Hove Youth Big Band wowed the sell-out crowd with funk favourites. The Brighton Youth Orchestra String Ensemble played superbly and were joined by local composer and guitarist Richard Durrant. There were specially written works by Downs Park, Downs View, Hillside, Middle Street and Peter Gladwin schools in collaboration with composer James Redwood along with Traditional carols and festive favourites. The evening ended with performers and audience linking arms to sing  a rousing version of Auld Lang Syne.  A wonderful evening, which certainly put me in the Christmas spirit. Many thanks to all involved.

Post 16 update

There has been a second meeting of this month's Sussex Area Review of post 16 provision. As a result the Review team is meeting college principals and headteachers of schools with 6th forms. The aim is to gather data and information and to clarify any questions about the scope of the review. The discussions with colleges will involve thinking about what provision and courses are needed now and in the future.

Apprenticeships continue to be a priority for the city. There will be a number of events next year promoting existing apprenticeships and identifying new opportunities. The city’s employers will be encouraged to offer apprenticeships at all levels, including degree level. The Employer Skills Taskforce is working towards its pledge which is set to have apprenticeships at its heart.

Record numbers at Brighton & Hove primary schools’ cross country

Primary Schools Cross Country Event

It was great to see so many young people taking part and enjoying the recent Primary Schools Cross Country event. 989 year five and six pupils took part. The top ten finishers were then invited to the School Games Sussex Final on 13 February in Hickstead. Thank you to sports leaders who from Blatchington Mill, Varndean College, Dorothy Stringer, PACA and Cardinal Newman Secondary schools who volunteered their assistance. Thank you also to Phoenix Athletics Club for providing the venue.

A sporting chance for primary schools

Thanks to everyone who has already completed the Brighton & Hove Primary School PE and Sport Survey. The survey is being undertaken to better understand how schools are using PE and Sport Premium funding and to help ensure our schools are effectively supported to provide a strong and effective PE curriculum. The deadline for completion has been extended to the 15 January to help capture the views from further schools. Your feedback and participation in the survey is highly valued. If you do have an opportunity please click here to view and complete the survey.

Sad news

With great sadness we learnt that James Dougan passed away on 14 December.  As many of you will know James had been ill for a long period of time and had fought his illness very hard during this time.  He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

James started with Brighton & Hove as the Children’s Commissioning Manager which was a joint post with the NHS. He also set up the Children’s Commissioning Team in this authority. James then moved onto working within areas of Early Years, Schools and Community, Youth and Social Work as one of our Assistant Director. Our thoughts are with James’ loved ones, family and friends.

Welcome and Goodbye

Congratulations to Will Baldwin who has been appointed as Principal at Brighton Hove Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC). He is currently Assistant Principal at Godalming College and will start next September. The current Principal, Chris Thomson, will be retiring from his post at the end this academic year after 18 years as Principal at BHASVIC. We look forward to opportunities to say thank you and goodbye to Chris next year. 

Welcome to Mark Helstrip who will be starting as Headteacher of Homewood College in January. Thank you and goodbye to the current Headteacher, David Hulbert who is leaving us this month.

Thank you to an amazing team!

Left to right: Kathrin Brown, Andrea Weller, Sharon Murrell, Claire King, Tess Gill and Emma Jones

I’d like to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to our amazing administration team from me and the council’s Education and Inclusion Senior Leadership Team. They have supported all areas of improvement in the branch during 2015. The team have worked to review our systems which has led to greater efficiency, improved communication and a positive contribution to improved outcomes. They are continually positive and cheerful, almost 'swan like' in their approach. Thank you for the big difference you all make.

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons