Thanks to funding from the DfE 557 children and young people from low-income families in Brighton and Hove benefitted from the Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme this summer. HAF is a national programme for children aged 4 to 16 who are in full-time education and receive benefits-related free school meals. Activity providers delivered enriching activities throughout the summer school holiday at 33 venues across the city.
In addition to the fantastic array of activities on offer, including skateboarding, drama, cooking, gymnastics and forest school, each child received a nutritious meal each day. The Black Minority Ethnic Young People’s Project (BMEYPP) also used their World Kitchen theme to engage and support young people of colour. Vannessa Crawford, Project Development Manager explained “Young people were introduced to some foods they had not tried before, but also when the food was familiar to them, it made the young people (and their culture) feel more included and represented".
The next programme will take place during the school Christmas holidays. To see what’s on offer, visit www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/HAF-events or email HAF@brighton-hove.gov.uk for more information.
YouthWise Meeting
This month young people in Brighton and Hove have given their views on climate change direct to councillors and other decision makers in the city at a meeting hosted by young people from the Hangleton & Knoll Project. 23 young people attended a pre meeting to discuss the issues of climate change and prepare questions and proposals for councillors at the event, which was jointly organised by Brighton & Hove City Council’s Youth Participation Team and the city’s key youth-led policy group YouthWise.
YouthWise was set up to enable young people in the city to have a voice. It brings together 11 key youth groups across the city with events organised on a quarterly basis. The chair of the Council’s Children, Young People and Skills Committee, Councillor Hannah Clare attended and commented: “We know that our young people want to have more influence in local decision making, and we want to help make this happen. Young people continually raise the climate crisis as an issue; they want not only to discuss this but also see action being taken”.
If you would like to know more about YouthWise please contact Tracie James, tracie.james@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Youth Employment Hub Visit
Mims Davies MP and Elle Dyson
We were delighted to welcome Mims Davies, Minister for Employment to our Youth Employment Hub in October to meet the staff behind the project and hear about the exciting initiatives and projects we have been championing.
The Minister heard from DWP and Council colleagues about the collaborative work which has been undertaken to make the Youth Employment Hub a success, and also had the opportunity to speak with Future Creators to hear about the work of the Youth Employment Hub from an employer’s perspective.
She said: “It was fantastic to meet the team at the Youth Employment Hub and hear about the invaluable support they are providing to local young people and the valuable local partnership they have with DWP. From Youth Hubs and the Kickstart scheme to apprenticeships and dedicated Work Coaches, our Plan for Jobs is supporting young people in Brighton and beyond to get into work, progress, and maximise their potential.”
Brighton & Hove Youth Council Induction
It has been lovely to hear about the induction day for Brighton & Hove Youth Council which was held at Brighton Town Hall earlier this month. Sixteen young people attended, representing ten different schools and colleges. The Youth Councillors learnt how decisions are made in the Council and how they can have an impact on ensuring young people’s voices are heard. The young people took part in team building and collaborative exercises to get to know each other and become aware of the skills they will develop as a Youth Councillor.
There are a total of 23 Youth Councillors who are very keen to represent young people’s voices in the city. Attendees also took part in a workshop led by Transport Planning which enabled them to feed their views into the Local Transport Plan and Local Cycling and Walking infrastructure plan for the city. All young people thoroughly enjoyed the day and one Youth Councillor said: “I liked meeting new people and talking about issues that need to be tackled”.
If you want to know more about the Youth Council, or to check your school is represented, please contact Tracie James at tracie.james@brighton-hove.gov.uk
School Streets
A six-week online consultation has been launched to gather views for road restrictions outside six of the city’s primary schools - Westdene Primary School, Downs Infant School; Downs Junior School; St Mary’s RC Primary School; Hove Junior School (Portland Road site); Queen’s Park Primary School.
Working in partnership with the schools, School Streets will create more space for safer journeys to and from school by reallocating road space during drop off and pick up times. This will allow a safer space for walking, cycling and scooting while also reducing the number of cars parked or idling outside school gates which will improve air quality. For more information, please follow this link. The deadline for responses is 29 November.
Opening of BHASVIC’s New Elms Building
Students opening BHASVIC’s new Elms Building
I was delighted to attend the official opening of the new Elms Building at BHASVIC this month and was so pleased to be able to see some fantastic performances from the students. Well done to everyone who took part in this special celebration.
Congratulations to Jenny Barnard-Langston
Congratulations to Jenny Barnard-Langston who works with our Governance Development Team on her re-appointment as a National Leader of Governance. The NLG programme has been reformed this year and is now being managed by the National Governance Association, so Jenny had to undergo a rigorous application process, including an interview and two day induction. She is one of 60 NLGs across the country who have been newly designated by the Department for Education to support schools with governance challenges, including external reviews of governance.
As well her commissioned NLG work, Jenny delivers training to local governors with the council’s Governance Development Team. This includes the Chairs’ Development Programme, which consists of five sessions for new and aspiring chairs to work together to develop themselves as leaders. A strong new cohort has just started and I look forward to hearing how they get on. Thank you to all governors and clerks for their continued commitment and hard work in the city’s schools.
Ofsted are very much back to regular business and we have had two inspections recently – one at Carden Primary School and one at St Nicolas CE Primary School. We look forward to reading their reports once released.
Welcomes and Goodbyes
We say goodbye and thank you to Ashley Harrold who will be stepping down as Headteacher at Blatchington Mill School after the half term break. He moves on after six years in this role, during which time the school has reached consistently high standards in ensuring its young people achieve the best they can. Ashley has always been committed to partnership working and will be very missed across the Brighton and Hove Education Partnership. We wish him all the best for his new role.
I am very pleased to welcome Kate Claydon, who will be taking over from Ashley as Acting Headteacher. Kate will be stepping up from her Deputy Headteacher role until the recruitment for a permanent headteacher is made. We look forward to working more closely with Kate in her new position.
I would also like to welcome Camille Kumar who has recently joined our Education, Standards and Achievement team as the Education Adviser for Anti-Racism. Camille will be working with partners across Brighton and Hove to continue development and implementation of the comprehensive anti-racist education strategy. Camille will be reaching out to colleagues in schools as the work progresses both to utilise expertise and to offer whatever support she can to deepen anti-racist practice. Camille can be emailed on camille.kumar@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Best wishes,
Jo
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