Awards for our Children in Care
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| Cllr Tom Bewick speaking at the Children in Care Awards Ceremony |
I joined Pinaki Ghoshal, Councillor Tom Bewick and Assistant Director Helen Gulvin for our annual Children in Care Awards ceremony last week at the Sussex Cricket Ground. Over 40 children in care received awards and had made significant school or personal achievements that include: achievements in GCSEs; progress in academic studies; learning mandarin Chinese; excelling at cross country running; tall ship sailing (learning how to sail one); getting nominated for head girl; being particularly supportive of friends. All of these children and Young People have shown hard work, determination and persistence.
There were impressive performances from our own Children in Care young peoples’ band ‘Purple Haze’ and dance group ‘imove’ and an inspirational speech by one of our 19 year old care leavers. Thank you to Mark Storey and the Virtual School team for organising the event. A fantastic afternoon and well done to all the children and young people.
Congratulations to St Peter’s Primary School and the Bilingual Primary School for being awarded judgements of Good following their previous Ofsted assessment of Requires Improvement. Both schools used the time since their previous inspections to reflect and positively improve aspects of their practice to ensure that children within the city receive a high quality education.
This means that coming up to the end of the year, 90.3% of schools in the city are judged to be good or outstanding which is above the national average.
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| City College students celebrating their Ofsted result |
St. Bernadette’s Primary, Aldrington CE Primary, Carden Primary and PACA have been inspected this month and we are awaiting their results. BACA are being inspected this week. I look forward to reporting back on the outcomes of these inspections in my next blog.
City College has also recently been inspected and they have received high praise for maintaining their Good rating. The Ofsted report highlighted the high standard of teaching at City College and the progression that students make into higher education and employment. Congratulations to the staff and students.
Brighton & Hove Educational Partnership
The engagement phase for the development of a Brighton & Hove Education Partnership finishes at the end of this term. My thanks to all those heads and governors who have engaged with the process. Hilary Ferries, Senior Advisor Education Partnerships, has held a range of discussions with heads and wider education partners across the city. As a result of all this feedback and from nation-wide research, she is now designing a proposed model that can be discussed further with heads and wider partners in the spring.
We will be holding a range of focus groups and engaging in further consultation with school leaders before taking a report to the Children, Young People and Skills Committee in March. Please do not hesitate to contact her if you would like to know more (hilary.ferries@brighton-hove.gov.uk). If you haven’t had a chance to do so, please provide your comments in the portal
here.
Fabulous Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) Results
I’m delighted to share with you our NEET figure for Brighton & Hove for this month which is 4.8%. This year the data recorded includes both those young people that aren’t in education or training and also those that are unknown. The national figure is 14.3%, Southeast is 12.2%, our statistical neighbour is 11.4%. This shows Brighton & Hove and our partnership working at its best. I’m reassured that, as a city, we clearly know where our young people are and are providing appropriate support. Well done to our Youth Employability Service and the wider education partnership for their work to achieve this.
Budget Pressures
As many of you will know we are in the budget-making season in the city council, and thinking not just about next year (2017-18) but for 3-4 years ahead. Over the next two years the big chunk of grant funding we have traditionally received from central government – ‘Revenue Support Grant’ – will virtually disappear. Unless government changes the financial goal posts, we will in theory be self-sufficient on revenues from Council Tax, Business Rates, our service fees and charges and any income we can make from property and other capital investment. I’m also aware of the challenges and pressures our schools are facing and I am working closely with a number of heads and governing bodies to provide maximum Local Authority (LA) support to address these challenges. We are also working with our headteacher School Forum representatives, and will be planning a session for headteachers and bursars in the spring term so we can share the cities challenges and budget pressures and work together as an education partnership to look strategically at how we might address these challenges creatively together.
Training for Learning Mentors
This year, the Public Health Schools Programme is working in partnership with Dr Pooky Knightsmith from the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust to provide workshops for learning mentors and those with a similar role. The workshop programme is based on feedback from learning mentors and will cover a range of topics including emotion coaching, supporting pupils with eating difficulties, attachment and those labelled as ‘badly behaved’. The workshop uses storytelling, art, puppets and play to explore difficult feelings. The first session ‘Recognising and responding to warning signs of common mental health issues’ was very well attended with 38 participants from 26 schools and received excellent feedback. All sessions will be held at the Friends Meeting House and the full schedule of workshops will be released after half term. The slides and video recording from the first session can be found here:
slides https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz3oWYk5TIg
Good News for Music and Arts
I am pleased to announce the Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed that funding for Music Education Hubs will continue for the next three years from April 2017. The annual funding allocation for Music Education Hubs will be £75 million. In response to the announcement, Darren Henley, Chief Executive of Arts Council England said:
‘Every child and young person should experience the richness of the arts, no matter what their background. Cultural education helps children develop their knowledge, understanding and skills, and improves their attainment across the school curriculum. This ongoing commitment to invest in high quality cultural education inside and outside of school is good news for children.’
Sector Star Award Winner
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| Sector Star Awards |
Last week Community Works held their annual
Sector Star Awards. Vic Borrill nominated Brighton & Hove City Council departments involved in the food poverty action plan for the category of Most Innovative Commission or Public Sector Service Collaboration Award – and congratulations, they won! The judges said
‘The winner was an example of a truly cross-sector collaboration with multiple partners across the city. Congratulations to Brighton & Hove Food Action Plan (FPAP) which has made action to tackle food poverty happen.’
In the nomination, Vic paid particular praise to the work of the School Meals team with Chomp to address holiday hunger, to the welfare reform and benefits teams for their outreach work with food bank users, to Public Health for their work at both ends of the age spectrum (older people and early years) and to Sheltered Housing for their enthusiasm around meal sharing projects.
Our Future City
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| Photo credit: Lauren Kane-Simmons |
I was pleased to attend the Brighton & Hove premiere of ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ hosted by Our Future City, as part of Cinecity on Monday 14 November. The film was a thought-provoking documentary about new education models being developed in the USA. The audience included school leaders, governors, teachers, arts and cultural organisations and local businesses. It was a privilege to take part in a lively debate after the screening and listen to the wide range of views with so many local people speaking passionately about the importance of creativity in education. It was also good to hear about Our Future City’s important work that is focused on growing creativity and enhancing well-being for children and young people, through creative and cultural experiences.
Apprentice of the Year
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| Hannah Cyndie |
Apprentice Hannah Cydnie, from the Registrations Team, went through to the finals in this year’s Public Service People Managers' Association's Apprentice of the Year 2016. Hannah was recruited as a level 2 apprentice in 2015 and has successfully moved onto a second apprenticeship at level 3. As well as learning how to legally register marriages and supporting citizenship ceremonies, Hannah has been a mentor to a Supported Internship previously featured on wave. Hannah said:
‘I had an amazing time and it was great to see the other achievements people have made in the local authorities across England. It was a great experience and I am glad I made it to be a finalist for such a great award.’ If you want to know more about recruiting an apprentice contact Carla Butler on 01273 29 1281.
Parent Carers Council Champion Award for Education 2016
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| Natalie Stone with her award |
The Parent Carers Council award is presented to outstanding people that have made a difference to their family. Natalie was presented the award by Caroline Lucas on Friday the 25th of November at the Parent Carers Council Champion event. Here is a quote from one of the families who attends the group that Natalie supports:
‘Natalie supports my twin boys at the Sweet Peas group. She has such a kind, generous nature and is amazing with my boys. She is always happy and patient and she is very engaging with the children and does great activities and play with them. She is a real champion in my eyes!’ Well done Natalie for making such a difference.
New teaching school alliance
A groundbreaking alliance of five of our secondary schools has been granted ‘teaching school’ status by the Department for Education (DfE). The Pavilion and Downs Teaching School Alliance includes Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer, Hove Park and Varndean School. The fifth school in this partnership is Steyning Grammar, in West Sussex, is headed by former Blatchington Mill deputy head Nick Wergan.
The alliance said:
‘The Pavilion and Downs Teaching School Alliance will make a significant contribution to raising standards and improving life chances for all young people in the West Sussex and Brighton & Hove area. The alliance will be based on partnership and collaboration.'
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Head teachers Richard Bradford, Ashley Harrold, Rob Reed, William Deighan and Nick Wergan |
We are excited by the opportunity this will bring these schools and the benefits for the wider Brighton & Hove Education Partnership. I look forward to hearing more from the heads involved as to how it will help to improve professional development across the schools, facilitate sharing of best practice and school to school support, which will benefit all our students.
Anti-Bullying Week 2016
Anti-Bullying Week was coordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and this year it took place from 14-18 November. It shined a spotlight on bullying and encouraged all children, teachers and parents to take action against bullying throughout the year.
The theme this year was 'Power for Good'. Schools across Brighton & Hove did some fantastic work for anti-bullying week with many using it as another opportunity to promote pro-social behaviours such as kindness. Here are some examples of the great practice that went on:
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Hertford Infants collected ‘buckets full of kindness’.
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Year 2 pupils at St Luke’s Primary School made their own
kindness film
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Downs Park School did a 'decorate your classroom door' and individual poster competition
around the theme 'Power for Good'.
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Hillside School developed a PowerPoint in Communicate In Print that was used to support being
positive to our friends. This was shared across the city and received positive feedback.
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Patcham High School Year 11 students planned and delivered a lesson based on the theme Power
for Good to Year 8 students.
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Young people from the Hangleton & Knoll Project, Hove Park and Cardinal Newman Schools
developed a student anti-bullying leaflet in partnership with the Council and we hope schools
will share this on their websites and disseminate hard copies.
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At 6 out of the 113 national winners of the Anti-Bullying Alliance ‘Power for Good’ awards
were won by staff at Blatchington Mill.
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| Kindness Box at St John the Baptist |
Staff in Families, Children and Learning also showed appreciation to colleagues by recording random acts of kindness.
Primary PSHE Network
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| Bereavement Training |
I’m delighted that our city’s PSHE offer and practice is still incredibly strong in Brighton & Hove. The LA continue to support and facilitate leading this work. This month, PSHE Co-ordinators’ Primary Network were joined by local authors Shanni Collins and Liza Stevens to discuss effective use of fiction and non-fiction books in PSHE. These types of books provide helpful introductions to sensitive issues and provide a way for a range of children and their experiences to be reflected within school. Schools who attended received free copies of the books thanks to Dr Pooky Knightsmith and the
Charlie Memorial Trust Book Club.
Thirty schools also attended Bereavement Training with Winston’s Wish and the Council’s PSHE Team this term which supported these settings to develop whole school approaches to loss and bereavement and to support children’s understanding of this through PSHE. The
Example Bereavement Policy that was disseminated at the training has received some positive feedback from schools already.
Developing a Community of Learners: Universal Offer to schools
The LA Every Child a Reader (ECaR) service have been working in Partnership with Time to Read (formally Book Trust) to offer free books to all reception pupils.
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/programmes/primary/time-to-read
The distribution of Time to Read Booktrust books for all Reception pupils in Brighton & Hove is being used effectively to encourage families and carers to support reading at home with fun and enjoyment. The book, ‘Kitchen Disco’ is great, fun and includes healthy eating! We had more parents attending the event than ever before. ECaR schools ensure the distribution of the Time to Read books is a high profile and enjoyable event for staff, pupils and families. Extra efforts are made to ensure vulnerable pupil groups have equality of access to rich reading experiences based on the text before they take the book home to enjoy. Schools have organised Kitchen Discos, fruit tasting and bedtime reads.
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| Reception children reading ‘Kitchen Disco’ at West Blatchington Primary |
During summer term 2016, LA moderation teams and school staff identified Spelling, Grammar and Reading Comprehension as areas of the curriculum where pupils were underperforming. This was resulting in gaps in attainment, highlighted by assessing progress as a secure fit. Martin Kaliszewski reinforced these observations with trends in LA data shared at the September Headteachers’ meeting. In response to this, the ECaR service organised high quality Continuing Professional Development for Primary English Leads, Teachers and Support staff in Spelling, Grammar, Inference Training and Write Away Together Training. Around 80 local teachers have attended courses to develop subject knowledge and expertise. The courses were promoted to share good practice within and between schools. Lead trainer Rebecca Cosgrave who developed the award-winning ‘No Nonsense Spelling and No Nonsense Grammar’ materials was excellent in providing a straightforward, progressive and context driven approach to the teaching and learning of spelling and grammar.
Adoption Support
Last week I chaired our termly adoption support strategy group, attended by school staff, adopters and wider partners. The strategy group have highlighted children and young people’s voice as a priority for work this year to help improve outcomes for this group. Leonie Offley, attachment lead teacher at Varndean Secondary and Downs Junior Schools has been commissioned by our Virtual School to carry out some fascinating research to better understand the voice of the children and young people who have previously been in care and been adopted. As I’m sure you will know, these children have often suffered trauma earlier in their lives and can too often struggle with attachment difficulties.
Below are some of the comments that are being made by children in Brighton:
‘I don't want there to be a big fuss about me being adopted but I really like it when you help my teacher to understand me more’
‘If you see someone just sitting there, then do something about it. Don't just do nothing’
‘Teachers don't understand. It's hard when you don't live with your birth parents or can't see your birth siblings’
‘Wait. Is there anyone else in school who's adopted?’
Leonie will be feeding back more on this at next terms primary and secondary designated teacher networks.
Welcome and Goodbye
We are saying goodbye to two headteachers at the end of this term. Tracey Jarrett, head at Downs Infant, is leaving to take up a headship in Croydon. Our thanks and best wishes to her.
Halden Eady is stepping down as head of St Mary Magdalen Primary Catholic School after a long career in the city. Our thanks to her for her contribution to her school, partnership, deanery and citywide development and best wishes for the future. Our congratulations to Andie Wilson, who will be the new headteacher at St Mary Magdalen Primary from January.
Ian Lowrie and Julie Nerney, as Joint Chairs of the Designate Board, are delighted to announce that Nick Juba has been appointed as CEO Designate for Northbrook College and City College. They said:
‘The new College is very lucky to have appointed such a talented and visionary leader who is committed to bringing to life the ambitious strategy set out in the case for merger. We look forward to working with Nick Juba in this transitional period in order to put in place strong foundations for the new Metropolitan College.’ Well done, Nick.
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| Chris Parfitt |
After more than 30 years serving the council and its predecessors in the Youth Service Chris Parfitt, our service manager for Youth & Communities has decided to retire early and left us on 25th November 2016. Chris has worked tirelessly for young people over his many years with us and we will miss his huge contribution to public service. I’d like to thank him for this significant contribution to the city and to meeting the needs of our young people and their families over these years. We wish him well into the future.
Best wishes,
Jo
Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
