Wishing a very happy Diwali to everyone across Brighton and Hove!
Earlier this week, Pinaki Ghoshal and other members of our team came together to enjoy some treats and celebrate.
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| Pinaki Ghoshal and the Performance Improvement and Programmes Team |
Gold Arts Award Success
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| Jacob |
Jacob, a young trans person, has passed his Gold Arts Award, a national Level 3 qualification with UCAS points. He has been working on the award with a BHCC Youth Participation Team youth worker for almost two years, overcoming social anxieties to take part in, and lead on, creative projects. He learnt new skills, such as mask making; creating and photographing animal masks, and also took part in photography workshops.
For further parts of the award Jacob visited and reviewed arts events and researched the art of drag, writing to the BBC voicing his concerns that Ru Paul’s Drag Race was not trans inclusive. He also successfully took part in arts leadership opportunities, including ones at The Tate and Barbican! Jacob said, “leading these projects was daunting at first, since I am quite a shy person but I found that once I got there and got into the projects it was a lot easier to be able to lead and talk to the public. Overall, through doing the Arts Award I learnt a lot about being more confident, both in myself and my skills as a photographer and a leader. Working on these projects was a great experience that I enjoyed so much and would love to do again.”
Annual Education Leadership Conference
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| Viv Grant speaking to attendees at the conference |
We were delighted to welcome Viv Grant from Integrity Coaching as our keynote speaker for the Annual Education Leadership Conference this year. She spoke about the importance of keeping connected to our values and keeping connected to what matters most in school and college leadership. She shared some of her experiences of headship and ways to overcome the ‘sacrifice syndrome’. The powerpoint of her presentation can be found here http://www.beem.org.uk/Page/3121
After the keynote she facilitated a workshop in which she encouraged delegates to explore their different drivers and think about how they affect behaviours. Feedback from the day has been very positive and we are hoping to do some further work with Viv with our school governors and to support the development of our wellbeing strategy going forward – watch this space.
National Adoption Week
National Adoption Week took place between 14-20 October. The week reminds us to celebrate our families through adoption in Brighton and Hove and the good work schools can do to support them and promote the education of children and young people adopted from care.
We have excellent examples locally of schools carrying out termly Personal Education Plans for children adopted from care, schools that facilitate regular meetings of parents through adoption and who set up ‘Key Adults’ and ‘Teams Around the Child’. Our ‘Designated Teachers’ for children previously in care attend network events for information and advice which are organised by our Virtual School - which also provides a Helpline for parents, school staff and other professionals on education matters.
We have received some excellent feedback from Parent Adopters:
“The school groups are a great idea – we need as many ways as possible to share experiences and inform schools about the needs of our children and the support many of them need to negotiate their education”.
We provide workshops on education matters for parents to attend and clinics for parents and school staff to explore helpful tips and strategies – these Workshops and Clinics receive very positive feedback from parents:
“Thank you this was really helpful. Lots of ideas to use with my daughter” (Workshop)
“Really helps with joined up thinking” (Clinic)
Please see our helpful resources:-
and
and
https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/Behaviour%20Regulation%20Policy%20Guidance%20-%20Sep%2018_1.pdf
https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/Behaviour%20Regulation%20Policy%20Guidance%20-%20Sep%2018_1.pdf
Period Positive
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| Attendees at the twilight workshop |
The council has provided the Personal Social Health Education Service with funding to support work in schools to end period stigma and create #PeriodPositive schools in which pupils and students will feel confident to ask for menstrual products if they do not have them or cannot afford them. This funding has enabled the Personal Social Health Education Service to be trained by Chella Quint, founder of #PeriodPositive. Chella has also delivered a twilight workshop to interested schools and services from across the city. Those who attended enjoyed learning the menstrual products song and dance!
The council funding will also provide puberty packs to schools who attended and curriculum based resources to be used across the city and so funding for some pilot schools. This work complements our partnership with the Red Box Project and in preparation for the Department for Education beginning its programme of funded period products for schools.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/free-sanitary-products-in-all-primary-schools
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Red Box for the work they have done in ensuring that all secondary, primary and junior schools have a Red Box and to thank schools for ensuring pupils and students have access to the menstrual products they need. If you would like support in making your school #PeriodPositive please email pshe@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Post Graduate Teacher Apprentices
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| Michael Lowe |
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| Charlotte Gill |
We are proud to congratulate the first cohort of Post Graduate Teacher Apprentices (PGTA) who have recently completed their end point assessment with a grade of Outstanding!
Michael Lowe and Charlotte Gill both embarked last year on the PGTA with University of Brighton, the first group of apprentices and schools to take part in Sussex.
Chris Pearson, Head Teacher of Goldstone Primary School said “Michael worked with us as a TA and an INA but always showed that he had the strengths needed to become a fine teacher. The scheme gave him the chance to develop these skills in a way which gave us positives as a school and him an opportunity which otherwise would have been impossible. We employed Michael to work as a teacher in one of our year five classes”.
Lis Bundock from The University of Brighton added “both Charlotte and Michael have been extremely gifted and talented apprentice teachers and it has been a pleasure to see them grow. It is amazing that there is this fantastic route to NQT”.
I am delighted to see that this scheme has been so successful and has provided such a positive outcome for both Michael and Charlotte. The 2019 cohort started in July this year, and we look forward to welcoming a new group of talented apprentices to the world of teaching very soon.
For more info about apprenticeships, please contact Gavin Graham on gavin.graham@brighton-hove.gov.uk or 01273 293320.
Black History Month
To coincide with Black History Month the Council encouraged staff to wear specially commissioned badges remembering the lives of historical Black and Minority Ethnic people with connections to Brighton & Hove. Schools in Brighton & Hove have also been marking Black History Month in a range of ways and using a range of resources including these materials about Thomas Highflyer: http://thomashighflyer.co.uk/resources/
Rudyard Kipling Primary School celebrated their 60th birthday this month. Prior to the big day, the whole school assembled on the field in a RKPS 60 formation which was photographed with a drone. Then on Friday 4 October staff and pupils celebrated in style by wearing their party clothes to school and decorating the school with banners and balloons. A special assembly was attended by old students from the school who answered questions from current pupils. The rain held off for all the school community to enjoy a traditional conga round the school field. After school, pupils were invited to a party hosted in the school hall by the parents. The atmosphere throughout the day was upbeat and fun - certainly a day to remember for pupils and staff alike.
Childminder Conference
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| Attendees at the Childminder Conference |
Early years and childcare were delighted to welcome more than 50 of the city’s childminders to Inspiring Minds on Saturday 19 October at Hove Park School.
There are around 120 childminders in the city, providing high quality care and education for up to 360 children under five, as well as for many older children, before and after school and in the holidays. The event brought together many of these skilled professionals as well as those new to childminding to hear from a range of speakers, who reinforced their excellent practice with young children and made suggestions for new things to do.
Inspirational speakers included the legendary Dave Benson Phillips who invigorated our minds with his music and Makaton session to support early communication skills; education consultant Neil Griffiths who re-ignited our passion for storytelling and shared the importance of books and reading for our youngest children; and Vasilis Gkogkidis and Tosin Adebisi from LEGO Serious Play who inspired us to talk about our challenges and plan for success in a fun practical session.
Delegates had the chance to develop and build their networks and to hear from Jacqui Burke, early years specialist about marketing their business using social media, and from the award winning Pebbles Childcare about working together, building relations and developing a sustainable business.
Fantastic feedback from childminders included:
“Inspiring and refreshing”
“A great opportunity to network”
“Very informative, interesting and inspiring”
“Fantastic speakers”
And from the speakers:
“I loved every minute of it!” Neil Griffiths
“Congratulations on a very successful event. I was pleased to be a part of it” Jacqui Burke
“Wow! What a wonderful day of inspiring speakers, networking and information. It was an honour to be part of such a wonderful event” Pebbles Childcare
Many thanks to Annette Barnard and Zoe Cox and their colleagues in the early years team for putting on this brilliant event.
There are around 120 childminders in the city, providing high quality care and education for up to 360 children under five, as well as for many older children, before and after school and in the holidays. The event brought together many of these skilled professionals as well as those new to childminding to hear from a range of speakers, who reinforced their excellent practice with young children and made suggestions for new things to do.
Inspirational speakers included the legendary Dave Benson Phillips who invigorated our minds with his music and Makaton session to support early communication skills; education consultant Neil Griffiths who re-ignited our passion for storytelling and shared the importance of books and reading for our youngest children; and Vasilis Gkogkidis and Tosin Adebisi from LEGO Serious Play who inspired us to talk about our challenges and plan for success in a fun practical session.
Delegates had the chance to develop and build their networks and to hear from Jacqui Burke, early years specialist about marketing their business using social media, and from the award winning Pebbles Childcare about working together, building relations and developing a sustainable business.
Fantastic feedback from childminders included:
“Inspiring and refreshing”
“A great opportunity to network”
“Very informative, interesting and inspiring”
“Fantastic speakers”
And from the speakers:
“I loved every minute of it!” Neil Griffiths
“Congratulations on a very successful event. I was pleased to be a part of it” Jacqui Burke
“Wow! What a wonderful day of inspiring speakers, networking and information. It was an honour to be part of such a wonderful event” Pebbles Childcare
Many thanks to Annette Barnard and Zoe Cox and their colleagues in the early years team for putting on this brilliant event.
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| Neil Griffiths, Education Consultant |
The Power of Reading for Inspirational Writing
I am delighted that we are able to support schools with their development of writing. Ten schools are taking part in ‘The Power of Reading for Inspirational Writing’, led by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education through their associate school, Rudyard Kipling. Two members of the Power of reading team talked through the evidence base and potential impact of the programme and the structure of the training development days. Members of staff from Rudyard Kipling School shared some of their experiences of the programme. Some of the texts that could be used were shared and there was a time for questions.
A second strand of the project, ‘Improving Writing Outcomes’, which has been commissioned from the Sussex Coast Teaching School Alliance, is due to start on 7 November.
A second strand of the project, ‘Improving Writing Outcomes’, which has been commissioned from the Sussex Coast Teaching School Alliance, is due to start on 7 November.
There have been no school Ofsted inspections so far this term but I’m sure we will hear from them again shortly so watch this space!
Welcomes and Goodbyes
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| Rhian Hughes |
We are delighted to welcome Rhian Hughes to Brighton & Hove City Council at the end of this month. Rhian joins us as Head of SEN Statutory Service. She has many years of experience working in special educational needs and is committed to supporting children and young people achieve their outcomes.
Rhian says “I look forward to working together with families, schools and services across education, health and social care to develop and shape the service. I hope to meet many of you in person as I settle in and learn more about the area.”
At Christmas we say goodbye to Jacqui Lance, who has been Headteacher of St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School for ten years and is now retiring. On behalf of everyone here in Families, Children and Learning, I would like to thank Jacqui for all she has done for the children at her school and across the city.
The school motto is ‘Reaching Up, Reaching Out’ and reflects Jacqui’s commitment to excellence in all areas. Her determination to nurture the whole child, spiritually, academically, socially, emotionally, physically and aesthetically has led to a happy and high achieving school. Jacqui has led on different initiatives across the city, including the recent curriculum conference and I know she has been a huge support to her Deanery colleagues as headteacher representative. We will miss her very much and wish her all the best for future.
My thanks also to Sarah Clayton who is working as interim Headteacher at the school this term.
Best wishes,
Jo
Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.
Rhian says “I look forward to working together with families, schools and services across education, health and social care to develop and shape the service. I hope to meet many of you in person as I settle in and learn more about the area.”
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| Jacqui Lance |
At Christmas we say goodbye to Jacqui Lance, who has been Headteacher of St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School for ten years and is now retiring. On behalf of everyone here in Families, Children and Learning, I would like to thank Jacqui for all she has done for the children at her school and across the city.
The school motto is ‘Reaching Up, Reaching Out’ and reflects Jacqui’s commitment to excellence in all areas. Her determination to nurture the whole child, spiritually, academically, socially, emotionally, physically and aesthetically has led to a happy and high achieving school. Jacqui has led on different initiatives across the city, including the recent curriculum conference and I know she has been a huge support to her Deanery colleagues as headteacher representative. We will miss her very much and wish her all the best for future.
My thanks also to Sarah Clayton who is working as interim Headteacher at the school this term.
Best wishes,
Jo
Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.
