News from Education and Skills: September 2022

Matthew Fleming , Ewan Brown, Sam Gathern, Geoff Raw, Rehanon Mackenzie,

Lynne Rimmer, Aaron Burns

The academic year started positively with the Brighton and Hove City Council 2022 Apprenticeship Awards ceremony. The event which took place on 1 September was hosted by the Apprenticeship and Pre-employment Team to acknowledge the talent and dedication of our apprentices. The apprentices were invited to join Geoff Raw, Chief Executive, to a celebratory brunch and were able to discuss their experience of undertaking an apprenticeship, their life after completing it and how the apprenticeship has improved their performance in the workplace.

Congratulations to all the winners - Sam Gathern (Intermediate Category Winner); Harry Wilson (Intermediate Category Winner) and Rehanon Mackenzie (Advanced/Higher Category Winner). See more about what our apprentices have to say by watching what the Council think of our Apprentices. For questions about apprenticeships, please contact apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Fourteen schools came together in September to participate in the second cohort of local authority funded Power of Reading training led by the Centre of Literacy for Primary Education (CLPE). The training was delivered CPLE’s Primary Adviser Teacher, Darren Matthews, who left teachers inspired and raring to go. Associate Power of Reading School, Rudyard Kipling, hosted the event with their lead teacher, Lindsay Vaughan sharing how this approach has transformed how teachers teach English and how pupils now engage with literacy in school and at home. John Bond, author and illustrator of the Mini Rabbit collection, also gave an interesting insight on his journey to becoming a children’s author. If you would like to find out more about Power of Reading, please contact Joyti.Azad@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Darren Matthews delivering a whole school approach to literacy teaching

Teachers enjoy the opportunity to discuss ideas and share practice with colleagues

John Bond shares his journey with teachers

Arts Award Success

Examples of artwork for Part A of the Bronze Arts Award presented for moderation

I was delighted to hear about the success of the portfolios submitted earlier this year by the Arts Award Youth workers. All 9 of the portfolios submitted passed the Bronze Arts Award and were given extremely positive written feedback.

The Arts Award Youth Workers from the Youth Participation Team work 1:1 with young people who have been referred by another professional such as a family coach, social worker or educational psychologist. The work takes place both online and in person with participants using a mixture of online resources and platforms and actual physical diaries/scrapbooks. For more information, please contact Julia Box (julia.box@brighton-hove.gov.uk) or Sarah Pain (sarah.pain@brighton-hove.gov.uk)

The Nursery World Awards 2022

Congratulations to Bee in the Woods Kindergarten in Portslade who have been shortlisted for Nursery of the Year at the Nursery World Awards 2022. Bee in the Woods was set up four years ago on a restored and rejuvenated disused area of woodland which they turned into a magical learning environment for Early Years. Lucy, Director & Head of Adventures said “We are all over the moon to be shortlisted for this prestigious award! It is such an honour and I am so proud of the team for their dedication, determination and passion for children, families, community and the natural world.” Good luck to everyone at Bee in the Woods!

Children in Care Art Exhibition

A.C’s winning piece from KS4

The Virtual School’s art exhibition for children in care and children previously in care took place this month at the Phoenix Art Space in Brighton. The exhibition featured work resulting from the Virtual School’s recent art competition, with the winners having their work framed or put on plinths and all entrants having their work included in the show. A private view was held where the young artists as well as their friends, families and teachers could celebrate their wonderful and inspirational pieces of work. Well done to everyone who took part.

We Move – A Race Equality and Migrant Rights Summit

The We Move summit took place this month. Organised by the Runnymede Trust, this was the largest race equality and migrant rights gathering in decades. Brighton and Hove was represented by three of our newly recruited Lead Teachers for anti-racism, Dulani Kulasinghe (Patcham Infants), Elohor Peddy Knowles (Middle Street) and Flo Sparham (Goldstone Primary) who delivered a critical workshop on anti-racist education, sharing the Brighton and Hove journey and pushing participants to imagine a liberated education system. Sharing their personal reflections and key learnings from our city, the educators left participants with a sense of hope and possibility for the future. For more information on anti-racist education, please contact Camille Kumar (Camille.kumar@brighton-hove.gov.uk)

Home to School Transport VPAs

The Home to School Transport Vehicle Passenger Assistant team

I am pleased to say that the Home to School Transport VPAs (vehicle passenger assistants) are now a team of seven! The team meet every 6 weeks for themed coffee mornings to talk about the job, the children and young people, its rewards and any challenges they are facing. The team are really enjoying the work. The team recently received some great feedback from parents who felt the VPAs had gone the extra mile, supporting a child to attend who had previously been refusing.

“The VPAs kept in touch with us over the summer holidays in a variety of ways, [which] has been such a godsend to ensure that on return [my daughter] hasn’t felt like a gap of 7 1/2 weeks. She’s felt ‘kept in mind’ and that’s so important. It’s made all the difference to be able to feel that [my daughter] is in safe hands, and that she feels safe too.”

It is always great to hear comments like these. Well done to all of the team for their hard work.

Welcomes

I would like to welcome a number of colleagues to the local authority this month. Hannah Kinchin-Frost is a teacher at Patcham High School and has taken on the role of lead PSHE teacher for the local authority. Angela Simmonds is a teacher at Varndean School and is working as a lead teacher for equality and anti-bullying. Alex Graham has taken up the role of Education Safeguarding Officer. I look forward to working with all of our new colleagues over the coming months.

Alex Graham

It was a pleasure to also welcome our new and acting headteachers and heads of school to our annual council induction to welcome them to the city and support them all in their new roles.