A Citywide focus on inclusion

Dr Ioan Rees from Sycol speaking at the meeting

This month 119 headteachers, Inclusion leads and SEND colleagues came together at the University of Sussex representing 57 schools and colleges. We had a full morning of speakers, workshops and stalls to help us reflect on how we can balance the challenges of delivering high standards and embracing inclusion, whilst also maintaining the well-being of staff and students in our school communities. The event was a positive example of the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership coming together to debate and address city priorities. 

The highlight of the morning for me was when we heard from three young people from Varndean School, Jimmy, Soren and Samuel, about their experience and what works for them. Very impressive performance from all three to speak in front of such a large audience. We also heard what makes a good team around a child from Henrietta, a parent of a child at Patcham Infant School. Chris Pearson, Head at Goldstone Primary, shared words of wisdom from his years leading an inclusive school, and Ioan Rees from Sycol presented a model for leadership to encourage us to work together for all our schools and in all our schools. His input led to stimulating discussions about future challenges and partnership working. Workshops were also led by Hove Park School on their SEMH model; Downs Junior School on supporting children with autism; and Dorothy Stringer Secondary School on how they structure their support model. 

I was delighted to read the positive feedback from attendees: 

‘Dr Ioan Rees was an inspiring speaker and very thought provoking. Brilliant!’

‘Have taken away some fantastic practical ideas as well as more philosophical challenges of whole school development and successes in inclusion and achievement.’

‘Inspirational talks, great to have HTs and SENCos together.’

‘Very well organised and mixture of theory and practical’

‘Varndean students were amazing!’

We look forward to continuing the debates and working together to promote increased consistency in meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND across the city.

Lorna Cadwallader, BHISS Senior SEN Specialist Teacher Early Years and Jackie Vidler, BHISS Team administrator

Holocaust Memorial Day

It is really important that so many of our schools marked Holocaust Memorial Day again this year and remembered all those who lost their lives.

Lady Milner at Patcham High School with teacher Hannah Kinchin-Frost, Head of Life Skills and Headteacher John McKee

To commemorate the day, Lady Milner visited Patcham High School to deliver an assembly to year 10 pupils. She told the story of how she was rescued at the age of 9 and sent on a train to the UK. Her parents bravely sent her and her three and a half year old sister as they knew Prague was about to be occupied by the Germans. They also knew that this would put them as a family in massive danger. Her parents managed also to escape but for some time were separated from the children. Lady Milner said they were very lucky to have escaped and have lived. It was great to see a school mark such a key event and use someone else's experience to educate young people.  

Lady Milner speaking at Patcham High School

Our Lady of Lourdes marked the occasion by inviting Bryan Huberman into a Key Stage 2 assembly. Bryan spoke about his father’s life living in and surviving the Holocaust. Bryan showed powerful images depicting his father’s life. The pupils were so attentive, you could hear a pin drop. Bryan ended with a Q & A session in which the children were keen to learn more. Bryan then presented the school with a book on the memory quilt that the orphaned child survivors’ families designed to keep their parents’ memories alive. 

Congratulations Brighton & Hove primary schools

This month, we received a letter from the Schools’ Minister Nick Gibb, congratulating the local authority and it’s schools. It commends the excellent work that has taken place across our schools to support the development of understanding on phonics and more widely on reading. By helping more children to improve their reading skills we help them with their wider learning. Well done, I’m really proud of the work that takes place across our schools and the wider Brighton & Hove Education Partnership. 

Leadership by our young care leaders

YPBMF Horsham Chanel & Chloe

This month our care leavers, supported by the Youth Participation team, took part in the Young Person’s Benchmarking Forum in Horsham (YPBMF), hosted by West Sussex. The theme for the forum was ‘accommodation’ and ‘loneliness’. Care leavers from Southwark, Bristol, Walsall, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove were able to network and share their personal experiences through a poster sharing event. The event was coordinated by Catch 22 on behalf of the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF) and will feed into an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

Supporting Apprenticeships in schools

All maintained schools in Brighton & Hove pay into the apprenticeship levy, and funds have a limited shelf life of two years which means that from May this year any of the original payment not utilised will expire and will be no longer available, and this will continue each month thereafter. The Apprenticeship Team have produced materials to support schools to promote apprenticeships to your existing staff. Take a look at our school animation and video 

More on maths 

One of our top priorities championed by the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership is Maths. It was good to attend Coldean for a special visit by two maths teachers from Shanghai. The Mayor and Coldean Primary School welcomed  the teachers Ms Linyan Hou and Ms Minzhu Miao with an amazing display of British dances, poems and songs. Ms Hou and Ms Miao have been teaching groups of children, demonstrating the mastery approach. Last week, teachers from all over Sussex gathered for mornings of maths. They observed lessons and discussed the mastery approach, the teaching methods and the gains in understanding the children have made over the two weeks. 

If you’d like to know more, applications are now open for teachers who would like to be part of the Teacher research group. For more details, visit www.ncetm.org.uk/masteryrecruitment 

Linyan and Minzu with Mayor Dee Simson

Big Difference Awards 

Council Chief Executive Geoff Raw presenting the awards

So pleased that staff from the Integrated Team for Families in the Education and Skills service were nominated for the Team and Collaboration Award.  It was an excellent demonstration of how colleagues can collaborate across services, rise beyond silo working and solve issues within communities. Congratulations to Melanie Pollard (Family Coach) and Stephen Woodward, (Parental Relationship Coordinator). 

Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) also received an award for Team Work. Christine Booth (Teacher), Meeta Johnson (Teacher) and Nada Gamaan (Home to School Liaison Officer) attended the ceremony and council Chief Executive Geoff Raw said he would like to meet the bilingual assistant team to share the award with them. Well done to all! 

City celebrates GCSE success

This month’s DfE statistical release confirmed that the overall GCSE results in schools across Brighton & Hove continue to outstrip the national average. The city is four percentage points ahead of the national average in both the government’s key measures for English and Maths combined. 68% of Brighton & Hove students achieved grades 9-4 compared to the national average of 64% and 47% of Brighton & Hove achieved grades 9-5 against a national average of 43%. This has also included an improvement city-wide in Progress 8, another key government measure. This year-on-year improvement comes on the back of improved results city-wide at both A-level and primary level. Well done to our young people and their teachers, who have worked really hard to achieve this. With all of our secondary schools now rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, parents can be confident that their children will get an excellent education whichever school they go to.

A focus on Science at Westdene

Richard Robertson, Scientist in Residence, giving a talk on gravity

Westdene Primary School kicked off the spring term with an action-packed Science Week that resulted in a week of wonder that created a great buzz all around the school. This special event was launched with an assembly titled ‘Are We Nearly Here Yet?’ which was the story of the whole Universe, told in 45 minutes. During the week children were captivated by awe-inspiring activities that included workshops, visitors and whole school challenges. Children produced creative posters and models on the theme of a ‘Journey in Science’ which were displayed for everyone to enjoy in the entrance hall. One of the highlights of the week was when over 200 children and parents attended an interactive talk on gravity one evening presented by ‘Scientist in Residence’ Richard Robertson. Parents and carers also gave up their time to inspire the children with talks and workshops about their jobs and careers in science. ‘It was lovely to see so much passion and enthusiasm displayed by our children and we hope the children’s thirst for knowledge will lead them to read and explore more widely.’ (Mel Stone – co-lead for science).

This month has been slightly quieter on the Ofsted front. 

Congratulations to Hertford Junior School, Middle Street Primary School, Fairlight Primary School and King’s School on retaining their Good judgements from Ofsted.

Hertford Juniors: ‘The school is held in high regard by parents, carers, pupils, staff and the local community.’

Middle Street Primary: ‘You [Julie Aldous, Headteacher] have created a culture of strong partnership between staff, pupils and parents and carers that allows everyone to contribute to the success of the school.’

Fairlight Primary: ‘You [Damien Jordan, Headteacher] lead a dedicated and enthusiastic team that works hard for the benefit of all pupils. The school’s inclusive ethos is a great strength.’ 

King’s School: ‘Pupils from a range of backgrounds thrive in this highly successful and inclusive school. Leaders are dedicated, determined and ambitious.’

West Blatchington Primary were inspected this month and we are awaiting the results. I look forward to reporting back next time. 

Welcome

Sophie Thomas, St Andrew’s new Headteacher

Welcome to Sophie Thomas, who is now in post as the new substantive Headteacher for St Andrew’s. Sophie came to us from Newick Church of England Primary School in East Sussex and we are delighted to have her with us in the city as an experienced school leader.  

We all wish her well and are looking forward to working with her.
Best wishes,
Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

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