Eid Mubarak

Eid al-Fitr took place from 25-27 May this year.  I understand that this year’s Eid was a very different experience for Muslims, who could not be with family and friends to end the Ramadan fast because of COVID-19.  Muslims celebrated in their own households, but not being able to share the festivities together was a great loss.  It was lovely to hear how different schools celebrated virtually with their communities though and I would like to wish everyone who marked it ‘Eid Mubarak’. 

Young City Reads

Children across the city have been reading Malamander by Thomas Taylor as part of the Young City Reads BIG READ for school children across Sussex, promoting the joy of reading for pleasure and developing literacy. It has been great to hear that this has continued during distance learning and schools and pupils have been accessing the weekly resources on their website.  Thursday 21 May would have seen the celebration event at the Theatre Royal where pupils would have the chance to meet the author and have their questions answered. Thanks to technology, the event was still able to take place online with Thomas answering questions as they were tweeted and questions that were sent in by pupils. If you missed the event, you can still access it on the Collected Works website.

Keeping in Touch

Once again, it has been wonderful to see and hear about the different ways our schools are keeping in touch with their children at the moment.   I look forward to hearing more about how school communities are coming together at this time.  These are just a few examples of some of the great things which have been happening:-

The following video was created by Cardinal Newman Catholic High School to help their students feel Brave…. https://www.cncs.co.uk/from-all-of-us-to-all-of-you/

Benfield Primary School have created this video of their staff reading “Who Will Comfort Toffle” by Tove Jansson  https://benfield-brighton-hove.secure-dbprimary.com/brighton-hove/primary/benfield/site/pages/learning/homelearning/whowillcomforttoffle

And finally, City Academy Whitehawk have curated family and individual activity packs for their pupils and school community.  These have created a great buzz and the staff were thrilled to see so many families and pupils collecting packs.

Hospital Teaching Service – Access to Education

Year 6 pupil Henry, celebrating VE Day with the Winston Churchill ‘V’ for Victory sign

It’s good to hear that the Hospital Teaching Service at The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital has continued to function during the Covid-19 lockdown.  Families have been very grateful for a visit from the Hospital Teacher, who has been able to provide activities to aid recovery, make their stay more enjoyable and to help with ‘Home Schooling’ tasks.  

To mark VE Day earlier this month, the teacher, nurses and patients had a lot of fun making bunting to hang up around the hospital and in-patient rooms.  One patient, Henry, was an in-patient for over a week earlier this month.   He hung the VE Day bunting above his bed, but he had to replace it with birthday bunting three days later to celebrate his 11th birthday.

Adult Learning Courses  

I’m pleased to say that house our adult and community learning offer will be brought in house as of 1 August 2020.  Brighton & Hove Council is committed to ensuring inclusive and high quality learning is available for all adults in the city.  We will focus on supporting those with few or no qualifications, people on low incomes and unemployed or low or semi skilled people to develop the confidence, skills and qualifications to progress.  If you would like to know more about this big change in our service delivery, please see the Council’s website here.

The Youth Employability Service has quickly moved to adapt their working practices to deal with the challenges of lockdown. They are now providing video, telephone and messenger career appointments, alongside offering AQA Unit Awards so young people can gain accredited certificates whilst they are at home. This has proved popular and course offers have included gardening, safeguarding, youth work, well-being and more! The Service’s Facebook Fanpage has seen a huge increase in traffic and a named adviser takes over the page each weekday, with clients tuning in to watch their live videos and posts.

Every Friday the service has a live Employability Drop In hosted by two advisers and Elle’s most recent publication The Youth Employability Service Lockdown Guide to Life has been seen by over 11,000 people and has kept children and young people entertained during Lockdown.

Brighton & Hove City Council are currently reviewing youth services for young people in the city and are working closely with youth organisations across the city to make sure as many young people as possible participate and give their views.  We are very keen for to hear from young people living in Brighton & Hove aged 11 to 19, or up to 25 years with special educational needs via an on line survey. Please do encourage any young people you know to complete the survey. The survey only takes about 10 minutes to complete and ends on 28 June. The link to the survey is here To give your views via the survey please visit brighton-hove.gov.uk/youth-survey. The feedback from the survey will inform recommendations for future services.

The Virtual School

The Virtual School is continuing to offer a range of services to support children in care & previously in care and really appreciate all the support being provided to them by our colleagues in schools.  This support is so vital during this unsettling time and especially for our children who have already experienced such great challenges in their lives.   In this context, the Virtual School are prioritising supporting the statutory PEP process for children in care and also promote the provision of PEPs for children and young people previously in care.  They have shared widely a School Transitions resource to assist school staff with examples and ideas for transition planning, delivery and review and have a range of other useful resources on their website for school staff, parents and carers.

Staying Active at Home

I was delighted to hear that so many students and families have taken part in the Specsavers Virtual School Games.  A big well done to Blatchington Mill and Saltdean for topping the Brighton & Hove participation leader boards for three weeks in a row!   There is still time to get involved -  head to www.sussexschoolgames.co.uk to learn more.

National School Sport Week at Home 2020 takes place from 20 - 26 June. Register through the following link to gain access to resources to use https://www.youthsporttrust.org/national-school-sport-week-home.  Finally, a YouTube channel has been set up by the Healthy Lifestyles Team to help the whole family to keep healthy during this time.  Please see https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3UDPP981RoXR5_EUUhmSRQ
for more information.

Supported Employment Team

There is some excellent work being undertaken by the Supported Employment Team who support residents of Brighton & Hove over the age of 18 with disabilities into work.   One of the SET Officers, Iain, worked with Evan to identify his goals and preferences, evaluate his skills and explore possible roles that would match his experience.  Following a successful meeting with Sue Weight at Design Print & Sign (DP&S), a trial was arranged.  Iain worked closely with Evan to prepare him.  With the support of Sue, and the DP&S Team’s mentoring and guidance, Evan has grown in confidence and developed new skills, now undertaking most aspects of the role of Design Print & Sign Technician.

Evan says, “I have worked for two different teams within BHCC and have very much enjoyed my three years or so at both teams and feel proud to work for the Council where I have grown up. Iain has been incredible in supporting me in many different ways”.

If you would like to learn more about the service contact SET@brighton-hove.gov.uk

The Ofsted inspections are now on hold due to Covid 19 (official link to information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ofsted-coronavirus-covid-19-rolling-update).  Although all routine inspections are suspended at this time, the inspection reports for Downs View and the Jeanne Saunders Centre have now been published. 

Huge congratulations to Downs View on retaining their Outstanding Ofsted grading.  The inspector said:  “The curriculum starts highly effectively in the early years, where pupils begin to learn essential life skills. This exemplary start continues through all other key stages of the school.  Pupils are exceptionally well prepared for their next stage of education, employment or training” and …“pupils are incredibly well supported by highly skilled and knowledgeable staff.”  Congratulations to the school leaders, staff, pupils and governors.

Congratulations also go to the Jeanne Saunders Centre who have received an Outstanding Ofsted grading.  This exceptionally positive Ofsted report describes the leadership and staff as “inspirational” and as going “above and beyond for all children and families”.   The report continues that staff “use their wealth of knowledge to provide a meticulously organised curriculum, where every child thrives”.   Very well done to all of the staff and everyone involved in achieving this result.

Goodbyes

We said goodbye this month to Pinaki Ghoshal, Interim Executive Director for Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities and substantive post holder as Executive Director for Families, Children & Learning.  Pinaki is moving on to Lewisham Council where he is due to take up the position of Director for Children and Young People.  We would like to thank Pinaki for all his hard work and commitment during his time with us and wish him the best of luck in his new post.

Pinaki Ghoshal

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
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