City joins secondary school Ofsted ‘elite’

Longhill pupils and headteacher Kate Williams celebrating their good Ofsted judgement

I’m delighted to announce that 100% of our Secondary Schools now hold ‘Good’ Ofsted judgments. What a wonderful achievement for our headteachers, teachers, support staff, governors and the students. Well done everyone! We’re now one of only 26 local authorities out of 150 nationally where all children can attend a Good secondary school. This is about more than academic achievements, it shows that pupils across our city are able to thrive and reach their potential in our schools. It’s a tribute to the work of the city’s Education Partnership, which encourages schools to work even more closely with each other to raise standards and make Brighton & Hove the best place in the country to grow up in.

Black History Month

This month our schools have been learning about and celebrating Black History Month. There have been assemblies and lessons, learning about history and reading stories on the subject, such as the book above: Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins, aimed at KS2 & KS3 pupils. Roundabout Nursery in Whitehawk did lots of activities for Black History Month, and this is what the children and staff said:

‘At Roundabout Nursery we are really enjoying celebrating Black History Month, learning about our similarities and differences. We have explored tasting different foods, these include; plantains, cassava, jolloff rice, banana dumplings (akara), African meat pie and banana cake. We have tried different customs and worn head ties and we have learnt words like ‘Kushe’ meaning ‘hello’ in Creole.’

Roundabout Nursery children trying African food

‘We have also enjoyed listening to and dancing with scarves to African music. We feel special and privileged that Massa, a member of our team, was able to help us achieve this celebration.’

Massa Konneh, Early Years Practitioner

Congratulations Carden Primary School

Carden Primary pupils celebrating their schools being awarded the Platinum School Games Mark award

Congratulations to Carden Primary for the fantastic work they do around PE and sport. This video shows a brief insight into how the school utilizes its PE and School Sport Premium to give all of its pupils the opportunity to get involved with PE, School Sport and Physical Activity. In 2017/18 they were the only school in Sussex and one of 312 schools across the country to get their Platinum School Games Mark award. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2MsJQv9fGA  

Poverty Proofing the School Day

Book swap at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary

We are now in the final two terms of the Poverty Proofing audits. This term researchers have been in St Bernadette’s Primary, Stanford Infant and Stanford Junior, Aldrington Primary, St Andrew’s Primary and Varndean Secondary. There is so much positive practice in schools and the recent review visit by Children North East in some of the schools where there were audits last year found that schools are taking on board the feedback and improving further. 

The team is looking at the emerging themes and what the council can improve to support families experiencing poverty. They are also developing materials for schools that can be used in PSHE to help children and young people explore poverty. I am delighted that the researchers will be working with the Pavilion and Downs Teaching School Alliance (PDTSA) to offer further training for staff in this area. 

Stanford Infants poster

National Adoption Week: 15^th – 21^st October 2018

It’s that time of year when we nationally support and celebrate adoption. Thanks to all our Brighton & Hove schools who are working in partnership with parents to support children and young people adopted from care during their education journey. For example, some of our schools have established regular group meetings for parents in school. These meetings can lead to a greater understanding of common challenges for children and young people adopted from care and have led to changes in school practice, such as restructuring the start of the school day to decrease stress and aid settling to learn. They have also led to changes in provision such as the recruitment of an Attachment Lead / Teacher-Therapist / Inclusion Mentor and introduction of key adult systems. For more information, contact sarah.lindfield@brighton-hove.gov.uk at the Virtual School for Children in Care and Previously in Care.

Hove Park Film

We are proud of the work of Hove Park student Oscar Clitheroe, who has made an inspiring film with Star Wars actor Warwick Davis and a number of other celebrities, to spread his message that ‘it’s alright to be different’.

Oscar Clitheroe, 11, and his friends making the film 'It's Alright to be Different'

Read more at: https://www.brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk/news/hove-boy-makes-inspiring-film-with-star-wars-actor-and-a-galaxy-of-celebrities-1-8669459

Virtual School working in partnership

Sam Wilson, Head of the Virtual School, speaking at the Universities Conference

The Virtual School for children in care and those previously in care joined the Universities of Brighton and Sussex to highlight the role of foster carers in raising aspirations for their young people. The conference aimed to raise awareness of the low progression to university for care leavers. Sam Wilson, Head of the Virtual School, offered insight into how foster carers can support their young people through education, and potentially into university. We cannot underestimate how important it is to share high aspirations and higher education opportunities with our children in care and those previously in care early on in their education. The better children can achieve at KS4, the greater their chances of progressing to university.

  

Miss School Miss Out

One of the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership’s top priorities is improving school attendance. It has launched a new campaign across the city to address this which we hope the whole partnership will support. School attendance is crucial in enabling our children to achieve well in their future lives. With school attendance in Brighton & Hove overall lower than the national average, the Miss School Miss Out campaign has been was well received by headteachers and by school staff. We will be working with schools on an ongoing campaign over the next few weeks. There will be bespoke case studies for schools to send out to their parents and graphics from the posters available for schools to email or Tweet to their parents and carers.

Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit

The Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit has been the centre of recent press and social media interest, and Brighton & Hove City Council are supportive of it and the work schools are doing to promote gender equality and promote trans inclusion. The Toolkit has been widely used across the country and is referenced by some national organisations and supported by teacher unions. We are very proud that The Key for School Leaders has recently requested that they reference the Toolkit to support schools across the country.


This Toolkit can be downloaded from the Allsorts Youth Project website http://www.allsortsyouth.org.uk/resources or from www.BEEM.org.uk

If any schools have any questions or concerns related to the Toolkit please email pshe@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Attachment Aware Behaviour Regulations

I’m proud to draw your attention to this newly published work. The Attachment Aware local Guidance was developed in consultation with a range of stakeholders, by colleagues within the Brighton & Hove Inclusion Support Service (BHISS) and Virtual School. It is intended to offer Brighton & Hove schools a helpful resource and framework to develop their behaviour policies in line with Attachment Aware principles and national / local drivers around SEMH Inclusion. https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/Behaviour%20Regulation%20Policy%20Guidance%20-%20Sep%2018_1.pdf 

The policy development and review will be supported by whole school training (led by the Educational Psychology Team) so that all staff are encouraged to take ownership and are able to support translating their policy into practice, thus leading to improved outcomes around SEMH Inclusion. BHISS, Virtual School and Schools Public Health colleagues will be supporting the whole school approach and citywide implementation plans, including wider rollout across various teams in Education, Health and Social Care.

Central training will continue to be offered to non-school staff, via the Children’s Workforce Development Team on Attachment Aware Approaches (Secure Base Model training) and from this academic year, on Emotion Coaching. Please see the Learning Gateway for further details: https://learning.brighton-hove.gov.uk/cpd/portal.asp

  

It’s been a busy Ofsted time for us. St Bartholomew’s CE Primary was inspected last month and I’m very pleased that they have been judged as Good. What a fantastic result for them which shows the great progress from the last inspection that was Requires Improvement. 

‘Since starting at the school in 2017, the headteacher has shown strong, inspiring leadership. Together with the deputy headteacher, she has united the staff team in a drive to provide the best possible education for the pupils at the school.’

‘Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school and the way that staff enable pupils to enjoy learning and stay safe. One parent said, “My child literally skips to school and doesn’t want to miss a day.”’

Longhill High School was also inspected last month and I’m very pleased to announce that they too have been judged as Good.

‘The local community has renewed its confidence in the school since the last inspection. Pupils, parents and carers, leaders of other schools and the local authority all agree that the school has improved significantly.’

‘Pupils’ behaviour has been transformed since the last inspection and they are now proud of their school. They are smart, polite and tolerant of the views and differences of others. They recognise the many improvements and are appreciative of their teachers and the leaders of the school.’

Well done to the headteachers Katie Blood (St Barts) and Kate Williams (Longhill), teachers, support staff, parents and of course the children!

Saltdean Primary and Stanford Junior School had one day inspections this month. I look forward to reporting back next time. Best of luck to everyone at the schools!

Apprenticeship Fair

Carla Butler, Apprenticeship Programme Manager and Gavin Graham, School Apprenticeship Adviser, at the Apprenticeship Fair

Our apprenticeship team and colleagues from HR represented the council at the Fuller Working Lives Careers Fair, held at the Brighton Centre last month. The fair was held in collaboration with the council, Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the National Careers Service (NCS). Local residents were provided with an opportunity to meet employers, training providers and volunteer organisations, as well as to attend workshops on working in the Health & Social Care Sector, to find out about job opportunities available in the local labour market and to recognise and utilise transferable skills. The event supported the ‘no one left behind’ strand, a priority identified in the City Employment and Skills Plan (CESP) - residents and workers suffering disadvantage in the labour market either through unemployment, low pay or lack of aspiration are supported effectively to make the most of the economic opportunity that the city and its wider partnerships can offer. The CESP is supported by the Employment and Skills Team.

  

Welcome to New Apprentice

New Apprentice Elmira Baker with Jackie Paulton

We are pleased to welcome Elmira Baker, new apprentice Nursery Assistant at Tarnerland Nursery.  Almira will be following an apprenticeship in Early Years Educator level 3 with GBMET College. For more information on how you can use your levy to support your school contact gavin.graham@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Take care everyone and warmest best wishes,

Jo

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