Happy Christmas

Wishing you a Happy Christmas

and good wishes

for the New Year

 from

 Jo Lyons

and the

Education & Skills team

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy Christmas and new year.  Thank you for your contribution to education and skills and wider families, children and learning agendas in 2019.   Although there have been challenges, I have been extremely proud of the continued excellent practice and good outcomes for our schools and wider education providers, children, young people and families this year.  I hope you all enjoy your well-deserved break and I look forward to working with you in the new year.

Youth Employment Service (YES) Service Achieve Matrix Award

The Matrix Standard is a unique quality standard for organisations to assess and measure their advice and support services, which ultimately supports individuals in their choice of career, learning, work and life goals.

There was a two day assessment where the assessor met with 15 clients, parents and carers and partner organisations for 360 feedback and spoke to managers and advisers about their roles and the impact on local families’ lives.

 

The national assessor was impressed with the level of tailored support for young people and commented  “Each client is receiving bespoke support that is customised to take into account the whole person and their individual circumstances, with action plans frequently reviewed to help achieve an EET (Education, Employment or Training) outcome…The City of Brighton and Hove has every right to be very proud of YES and how it is fulfilling the key role of ensuring no one is left behind.”

Congratulations to the YES Service on these excellent outcomes.

Congratulations to Michael Lowe who won Apprentice of The Year at the Sussex Business Awards on 5 December, beating three other finalists to the title.  Michael, who successfully completed his Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship at the University of Brighton, undertook the programme while at Goldstone Primary School and is now a fully qualified teacher at the school.

Lis Bundock, Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, said: “Michael’s amazing – a little bit of magic happens in his classroom.  We are truly delighted that Michael’s well-earned success has been recognised with this prestigious award.”

Goldstone’s Head Teacher, Chris Pearson, added: “Michael is a great example of what degree apprenticeships are all about. They are a great way of bringing on the talent that you can see standing in front of you.”

Michael said “Winning the Apprentice of the Year award was a genuine surprise but the reaction I have had from colleagues and friends has been lovely. I have worked for Goldstone Primary for ten years now, firstly as an INA, then as a TA and having completed my ITT at the school I am now a teacher. The course was definitely challenging, but I was surrounded by a wonderful group of people who supported me and it was a very worthwhile experience.”

I am delighted to hear that Michael has been rewarded for all of his hard work and I look forward to hearing more success stories from other apprentices on the scheme.  For more information about apprenticeships, please contact Gavin Graham on 01273 293320 or apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Michael Lowe with Chris Pearson, Headteacher of Goldstone Primary School

Bike It Wild

Presentation at the Bike It Wild event

Blatchington Mill held a celebration of their Girls’ Cycling Club last week.  The school noticed that the majority of pupils cycling to school were boys and started up a cycling club just for girls. This was hugely successful and a trip was planned in the summer.  It turned out to be the hottest day of the year when they cycled up to the South Downs and slept under the stars.  At the event last week, the girls gave a presentation about the club and the trip, the fun they had and the positive difference it had made to their confidence and self-esteem.  There are plans to reconvene in the summer term.

The school also showed a film about climate change and how pupils at Blatchington Mill are leading the way in their school, questioning practice and making suggestions.  Even the school ties are now made from recycled materials.

Well done to Blatchington for such running two such successful and engaging projects.  I look forward to hearing more in the future about both the Girls’ Cycling Club and the pupils’ endeavours to fight climate change.

It All Adds Up

Our Local Authority maths project, ‘It all adds up’ has been receiving very positive evaluations from teachers in the city.  The teachers have said they have found many things helpful, including: 

‘Discussion of strategies and games to help children learn well’, ‘fluency games’, ‘subject knowledge’,’ the opportunity to work through examples of how to teach and see the progression of strategies’ and ‘having time to really think through the different strategies to consider effectiveness and misconceptions and the opportunity for open discussion’.

The twilight planning session was attended by staff from across the year groups and gave the opportunity for joint planning and discussion.

Many thanks to the Sussex Coast Teaching School Alliance and the Sussex Maths Hub for working in partnership with us on this important project and for organising such a valuable development opportunity.

City Wide School Writing Strategy





Several schools are getting ready to take part in the Power of Reading (for inspirational writing) which starts in January,   The programme is led by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, at Rudyard Kipling Primary School, who are an associate school.  My thanks to Joanne Smith for her hospitality and for taking this forward.

It is good to see so many schools engaging with the English Hub at Springhill Catholic Primary School in Southampton.  If you are interested in finding out more, their website is https://www.springhillcatholic.co.uk/information-1/ .  They have an offer of courses, visits and audits.

Our third strand to the writing focus, Improving Writing Outcomes, is based on the successful methodology of the recent DfE funded maths project.  It  is also receiving positive evaluations from teachers.  These include:  ‘time to reflect on how to use texts linked to writing and the value of this’, lots of useful and practical ideas we can use’, ‘sharing ideas/experiences with lots of other schools’, ‘time to talk’ and ‘getting ideas from organisers as well as attendees and useful tips for books to read and activities’. 

We hope to see the impact of these programmes in the pupils’ enjoyment of and engagement in writing, as well as in the end of key stage outcomes.

We are keen to work with schools to plan and devise city wide programmes on areas for improvement.  If you have ideas and suggestions, please contact Hilary Ferries at hilary.ferries@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Healthy Schools Celebration Event

Cllr Dee Simson presenting the Awards to the winners

On Thursday 28 November 33 infant, primary and secondary schools attended a celebration event at the Sussex County Cricket ground to celebrate their schools achieving one of the following awards:

School Games Mark – Sport and Physical Activity
A Smile or I am Whole Award – Mental Health
Healthy Choice Breakfast Club Award  - Healthy Eating

54 schools in the city have achieved one of these awards in 2018/19.

It was a great afternoon celebrating and showcasing all of the great work these schools are doing around physical activity, emotional social wellbeing and healthy eating.  Cllr Dee Simson presented the pupils and teachers from these schools with their awards.   Inspired by each other’s work around these 3 main themes, schools were also encouraged to make pledges to go back to school and change / do something different for next year.

Well done to all of the schools involved and I look forward to hearing about the pledges which have been made following the event.

Cllr Dee Simson and the winners

A Jolly Festive Sing-Song

I was delighted to attend a wonderfully festive evening at the Brighton Centre on Monday 2 December – The Schools Christmas Concert. This annual event is a great example of the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership working at its best.

The children and young people, parents, carers and audience guests enjoyed the carefully rehearsed and enthusiastically presented Christmas sing along with swing band and orchestral numbers, Santa hats, tinsel and reindeer antlers in abundance.

The evening was a fantastic success.  Well done to everyone involved!

Ofsted inspectors have been busy in the city over the last month. 

 

St Mary Magdalen was the first school to receive a Good outcome under the new Inspection Framework within the city. The inspector said: “This is a highly inclusive, multicultural school, where pupils mix well together. Leaders have created a culture of care where all children are welcomed and embraced.” 

Leaders promote high academic and pastoral ambitions for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They believe there are no limits or ceiling on what any pupil can achieve and actively seek out the best support for pupils to enable them to succeed.”

Homewood College and Bevendean Primary School received inspections in the first week in December.  We are still waiting for the final reports for Benfield, Woodingdean and Bevendean Primary Schools and Homewood College and will update you about these in the January blog.

We are looking at organising a conference / workshop about the new framework, which is likely to take place on 28 February.  Please look out for more information in the new year.

Best wishes,
Jo

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