Another Amazing Children’s Parade

Children’s Parade. Photo Xavier Clarke 

Jointly produced with award-winning community arts organisation Same Sky and sponsored by the University of Brighton, the 2019 Children’s Parade took place on Saturday the 4th of May. It was fabulous to watch with a spectacular view from above on the Balcony of the Theatre Royal. The theme of this year’s parade was ‘Folk Tales from Around the World’, focusing on tales from Africa, Europe, the Arctic the Americas, Asia and Oceania. This year, 58 schools and 3,473 children took part with the help of over 1,000 parents and carers. It was great to see so many of our Brighton & Hove headteachers leading their schools dressed up for the occasion, an example of the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership at its best.

Early Years Nursery Conference

It was a pleasure to open this year’s annual nursery conference held at Sussex University and meet the team. 110 nursery staff attended the event, which focused in the morning on supporting children’s early literacy and language skills with a focus on closing the word gap. The theme for the afternoon was safeguarding. Speakers included Darrel Clews, LADO for Brighton & Hove, Anna Wharf, who spoke about the PREVENT duty, and the final presentation of the day looked at parental conflict and the impact this can have on young children. Throughout the day staff were also able to book onto smaller workshops to develop their skills in Makaton, Music Making, Engaging Fathers in Early Years, and Child Led Play. The importance of the wellbeing of staff was a priority for the day, with information stands from Albion in The Community, My Staff Shop and a bespoke workshop to support staff with questions around the menopause. It was such an important day for our early years workforce who do such a fantastic job ensuring our youngest children make the best start in their education.

Young City Reads

Author of The Boy at the Back of the Class, Onjali Q.Raúf 

I was privileged to join over 1,400 school children for the Young City Reads project finale at Brighton Dome, to see the inspirational author Onjali Q. Raúf live on stage for this special celebration of her award winning book: The Boy at the Back of the Class. I am currently reading this book to my own daughter and it’s amazing. The book tells the story of a young Syrian refugee, Ahmet, and describes refugee crises through the eyes of a child. It is written with heart and humour and highlights the importance of friendship and kindness in a world that doesn’t always make sense. It was very emotional to see so many year 4 and 5 children engaged, listening and then cheering for Onjali. What a fabulous celebration of reading in our city.

In Brighton & Hove there are some incredible projects working to ease the plight of the refugees and to ensure that some of the most vulnerable people in society feel welcome and safe in our lovely city.

Primary children at the Young City Reads event at the Dome. Photographer credit: Sam Luck

Watch Onjali introduce the project and her book here.

Supporting Transition for Children and Young People in Care and Previously in Care

The Virtual School has recently published a transitions resource based on learning from parents and carers of children previously in care. Parents and carers spoke about what they have found helpful for their children in supporting them to deal with change, as well as suggesting what would be even better practice. This short resource is designed to add to the transition toolkit that schools already have in place. It covers why children in care and previously in care may benefit from an enhanced planning and transition process and includes whole school approaches and support for individuals. It includes ideas, suggestions and examples from local primary and secondary schools, as well as links to additional materials. I’d recommend all schools to take a look. Please contact virtualschool@brighton-hove.gov.uk for a copy, and if you have access to the wave and school bulletins, please click here .

Ramadan Mubarak

Ramadan this year began on Monday 6th May. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic. Fasting takes place from dawn to sunset during this period. It is a time in which Muslims dedicate to refocus on purifying their souls and conduct through self-reflection, self-sacrifice and prayer. It was good to hear that so many of our schools were learning about Ramadan and supporting and respecting colleagues and families who were observing Ramadan this month. We are now looking forward to Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Learn about this important religious holiday.

City Mathematics Strategy across the City

Maths poster

It was a real pleasure to attend the celebration event for the schools involved in the very successful maths (Strategic School Improvement Fund) project. There was so much enthusiasm in the room for maths and we could tell from the presentations just how far schools have progressed in their thinking. It was also good to hear about the times it didn’t go so well and the great learning that it brought.

The schools presented their maths projects

Brighton & Hove City Council is pleased to be able to support the further development of maths through a new project ‘it all adds up’. We are delighted that together with the Sussex Coast Teaching School Alliance, Stuart Mcconnachie, Headteacher and National Leader of Education from Coldean Primary, the fantastic SLE (Specialist Leaders Education) from the maths hub, and our local schools, we can use the learning from the project to further develop our approach to maths across the city. If any other schools would like to take part, please contact Hilary Ferries by e-mail: hilary.ferries@brighton-hove.gov.uk or telephone: 01273 293738.

Foster Care Fortnight

Foster Care Fortnight took place this month – the UK’s biggest annual fostering awareness campaign, developed and delivered by The Fostering Network. The campaign this year highlights the power of fostering to change futures and celebrates the transformational effect of foster care and the achievements of everyone involved. We are continuing to work hard to increase our number of in-house Foster Carers. We have a growing Foster Carer community who are changing the futures of fostered children and young people every day. They do what they do because of the significant, positive impact the children and young people in their care can have on them as a fostering family. If you or someone you know could become a Foster Carer and can make a difference to the lives of children who need support, then the Recruitment Team would love to hear from you. To find out more call 01273 295444, visit the website, complete the enquiry link or e-mail fosteringrecruitment@brighton-hove.gov.uk

A New Special Educational Needs and Disability Strategy

Work is underway across the city partnerships to develop a new SEND Strategy 2020-2025. A wide range of partners including health and social care colleagues, parents and carers and school staff are working together on agreeing a new set of priorities for the city around SEND. They are identifying what actions will need to take place across the next 5 years and looking at how progress can be meaningfully measured. The SEND Partnership Board will oversee this work and will be monitoring progress in the future. If you are not yet involved and would like to have your say please contact sen.team@brighton-hove.gov.uk .

Welcome to our Newly Elected Members

Following the local elections, the city council held an event on Tuesday the 7th May to welcome newly elected Members and give them a flavour of the range of services provided by the council directorates. The event was set out as a market place, each directorate having a stall to display information about the services they provide. The event was well attended by new councillors who were very interested to hear about the range of services delivered by Families, Children and Learning and work with schools and our wider Brighton & Hove Education Partnership and our plans for the year ahead. Our new lead member for FCL is Nick Childs and he will be the chair of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee.

Patcham Junior School was inspected this month. Congratulations to Patcham Junior School for retaining their Good judgement from Ofsted.

‘Pupils’ attitudes to school are very positive. They [..] enjoy coming to school because teachers plan exciting things to do and make learning fun.’ 

Moulsecoomb Primary School received an inadequate judgement from Ofsted. They will continue to receive support from the Local Authority and the wider Brighton & Hove Education Partnership on their improvement journey. There were many positive elements in the report and it was good to read the many strengths of the school being recognised.

St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School and St Mark’s CE Primary School have also had an Ofsted Inspections and I look forward to sharing the results in the next blog.

After extensive consultation, Ofsted have now released the new Ofsted Inspection Framework for September 2019. Please look at the link through to this framework and the inspection handbook on the Ofsted website. 

Work of Youth Employability Service and the Supported Employment Team 

Dean Coussens, Employability Adviser providing advice to a young person

The Youth Employability Service and Supported Employment Team have been busy working in partnership on the Think Futures programme, supporting young people 19 -25 years not in education, employment and training. Since October 2018, 88 young people have received bespoke packages of support to access meaningful employment and education opportunities including the achievement of AQA unit awards and a range of vocational qualifications. We are delighted that participant feedback so far has been really positive.

Curriculum: Intent, Implementation and Impact

We are looking forward to seeing all headteachers or senior education leaders from across the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership on Friday 14 June at Brighton Racecourse for our termly cross phase event to share experiences and ideas on Curriculum. There will be opportunities to join in workshops and hear from a range of speakers. If you have not already booked your place, please sign up via BEEM (login required) or email schools.training@brighton-hove.gov.uk If you are unable to attend yourself, then please send another member of your leadership team. There is plenty of on-site parking at Brighton Racecourse and parking permits are not required.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
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