Congratulations to our Children in Care

Children in Care and Care Leavers Trophies

It was amazing to attend the Children in Care and Care Leavers Awards ceremony on Friday 23rd November at the Amex Stadium. It was a positive, uplifting and glitzy event to mark the achievements of young people, with GOAT (Greatest of All Time) certificates and trophies being presented by the Mayor of Brighton, Cllr. Dee Simson, and Pinaki Ghoshal, Executive Director of Families, Children & Learning. Congratulations to all the proud award winners and everyone involved in arranging this feel good celebration of their tremendous efforts. 

Anti-Bullying Week

This month we had anti-bullying week. The Equality and Anti-Bullying Service sent materials under the ‘Choose Respect’ theme to primary and secondary schools that buy into the service and has promoted to all schools the anti-bullying alliance resources. https://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/anti-bullying-week Schools got involved with this theme and engaged children and young people in activities to promote respect and kindness. For example: PACA held an anti-bullying t-shirt competition. 

PACA Anti-bullying display

Anabel Carrington from the Community Safety Team organised an Odd Socks Day for us here in Hove Town Hall to raise money for the anti-bullying alliance and the excellent work it does.


Patcham Infant school enjoyed a week of friendship and respect during Anti-Bullying week this year. The children were wowed by a film clip with a personal message from Andy from the Odd Socks Gang and CBeebies, while joining him in wearing odd socks to celebrate difference. The children learnt about what respect means and how to show respect in school. They were reminded about what bullying behaviours are and what to do to get help if they see it or experience it. The children were reminded about the importance of including others and how to be welcoming.  

Odd socks at Patcham

Youth Led Grants

Some of the young people involved in the funding project

Young people in Brighton & Hove took the lead on agreeing funding for £88,000 of council grants to fund community-based projects for young people aged 11-19 (or up to 25 with special educational needs).

Brighton & Hove City Council’s youth-led grants programme offers funding of between £500 and £5,000. The grants support projects and activities for young people in four key areas: improving mental health support, helping reduce alcohol and substance misuse, providing activities for young people, and creating volunteering and work experience opportunities.

Young people have been at the centre of both the bidding process and in deciding how the funding should be allocated. A group of young people made a presentation about their involvement in the funding scheme at the council’s Children, Young People and Skills committee this month.

Primary Schools go cross country running  

The start of the 2018 Brighton & Hove Primary Schools Cross Country races at Waterhall

After a wintery start over 1,000 children took part in the annual Brighton & Hove Primary Schools Cross Country races at Waterhall on Wednesday 21 November. Children from 41 Brighton & Hove Primary schools took part – all racing over the 2k course. Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer and PACA helped at the event by marshalling out on the course and co-ordinating the race results. Phoenix Athletics club also supported the event by running the finish funnel. The event is organised by the School Games Organiser who is part of the Active for Life team at Brighton & Hove City Council. Emma Greenough – School Games Organiser for Brighton & Hove said ‘It was great to have so many children taking part and representing their school. As we all know being active is so important in keeping a healthy lifestyle and it’s fantastic to see so many children enjoying running today. So many schools now have Daily Mile type challenges at school which encourages so many more children to get outside and run and I think that’s why we are seeing so many children taking part and having ago at the Cross Country today.’

Congratulations to the Supported Employment Team 

Lewis with his cricket team

Lewis is a client of the Brighton & Hove Supported Employment Team (SET). His service from SET is part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) funded Local Supported Employment programme. Prior to being a SET client, Lewis attended a local day centre part-time. Through his involvement in volunteer work at the Sussex Cricket Club, Lewis started travelling independently on the bus, stopped attending the day service, started running a session for the day service he used to attend, and working towards gaining a coaching qualification – which could lead to paid work in the future. Lewis is justifiably proud of what he has achieved and the Sussex Cricket Club has been wonderfully supportive of Lewis and his aspirations. He was nominated for Cricket volunteer of the year award and went to a swanky dinner at Lords cricket ground in London. I am very pleased that our SET team has played a part in supporting Lewis and the Sussex Cricket Club in these achievements.

Lewis receiving an Young Volunteer of the year award

Supported Employment (SET) client celebrates 25 years in job 

Robert and Lea Pulling, the store manager

This month Robert Brown, one of our learning disabled Supported Employment Clients, was given recognition by his employer, Sainsbury’s, for 25 years of service. He received chocolates and gift cards. Robert started at Sainsbury’s London Road store in 1993. That store is no longer there and Robert now works at the New England Quarter Sainsbury’s store.

Robert was supported into employment by the Supported Employment Team in 1993. Over the 25 years the Supported Employment Team has kept in touch with Robert and his employer and on many occasions our team has been called upon to provide short-term support to ensure that Robert successfully maintains his employment.

Providing Access to Childcare and Employment 

PACE project with service users at a children’s centre

PACE (Providing Access to Childcare and Employment)  is a European funded project delivered locally by the  Family Information Service (FIS) and children’s centres. This video gives a brief overview of the project by Eleanor Stewart, Project Co-ordinator, and some of the parents who  are signed up to PACE.  The video was shown at a national conference earlier this month by Fiona Ricci, FIS Manager, and it will also be included in the paper that is going to committee in March. For more information see the website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/pace

National award for one of our Apprentices 

Chris Bubloz at the British Computer Society IT Industry Awards

Well done to Chris Bubloz, Technician in the IT & Digital Customer Delivery team, Customer & Partnerships, who won the Highly Commended Award in the IT Apprentice of the Year category at the prestigious British Computer Society IT Industry Awards 2018.

The Art of Good Health

In the latest annual report of the Director of Public Health, director Alistair Hill explains how the arts can be beneficial to good health at all stages of life. It’s got local statistics and some interesting case studies from the past year that show how arts and culture are making a difference across Brighton & Hove. Follow the link to take a look. 

Congratulations to Hove Park for ICT

Congratulations to Headteacher Jim Roberts and everyone at Hove Park School. They have been acknowledged as an Apple Distinguished School for the third time, for their continuous innovation in learning, teaching and the school environment.

Congratulations to Josh Cliff 

Josh Cliff representing B&H at the House of Commons

On 9th November, over 300 members of the Youth Parliament - including Josh Cliff representing Brighton & Hove - joined the 10th annual UKYP debate in the House of Commons. 

Following a record 1.1 million votes from young people in this year's ‘Make Your Mark’ ballot, debates were held on 5 topics that young people cared about, chaired by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon John Bercow MP. 

At the end, the members of Youth Parliament voted and decided on two campaigns to work on over the next year. These are 'Votes at 16' and 'Put an end to Knife crime'

Drove Road is Outstanding 

A service run by Brighton & Hove City Council for young people aged 8-18 who have learning disabilities and challenging behaviour has been judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. The Drove Road residential short breaks service in Portslade provides a mixture of short breaks and full-time accommodation. 

Albion in the Community update

Congratulations to all schools who competed in the Albion Cup football competitions recently. Primary Schools Goldstone, Hangleton, St Mary’s Catholic and Balfour (under 11 mixed) and Balfour, Cottesmore, Goldstone and St Mary’s Catholic (under 11 girls) have now qualified for the county-wide finals which will take place Brighton & Hove Albion’s Training Ground in Lancing later this month. The winning teams of this event will go on to represent Albion in the Community (AITC)/ Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (BHAFC) at the national finals and get to play at a (yet unknown) Premier League stadium! AITC are also running ‘Albion Cup’ inter-school competitions in enterprise, literacy and numeracy at the Amex stadium this year.
AITC have produced a new guide as an overview of all the support they can provide. You can view a copy here.

It continues to be a busy Ofsted time for us all. Saltdean Primary and Stanford Junior were inspected last month and I’m very pleased that they both continue to be Good. Congratulations and well done to acting headteacher Natalie Burley (Saltdean); headteacher Paul Davis (Stanford) and all teachers, support staff, parents and of course the children!

The Ofsted inspector said the following about Saltdean: 
‘Parents and pupils […] said that the school is friendly and welcoming. Pupils told [the Ofsted inspector] that all the adults are caring and that they like their school.’

The Ofsted inspector said the following about Stanford Junior:

‘Pupils in the school are happy and successful. They settle quickly when they arrive in Year 3 because staff invest in helping them to move successfully from their infant school. They relish the opportunities to learn beyond their formal curriculum, through rich experiences in and out of school, supported by carefully planned trips and activities.’

City Academy Whitehawk, Royal Spa Nursery and Our Lady of Lourdes School had inspections this month. I look forward to reporting back next time. Best of luck to everyone at the schools!
Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
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