As part of the Family Hubs transformation programme, Brighton & Hove City Council has redesigned its Early Help Services. The integrated team for families, parenting team, children’s centres and family information service will become a new Family Hub Team from 1 April 2023, working whole family with children aged 0-19 (25 with SEND). The new team will deliver support across tier 1, 2 and 3 of the threshold document, including Information, advice and guidance, long term and short term 1-1 support for families and evidence based intervention groups. The new team will consist of new Family Hub roles as per the structure below.
You can refer to the new family hub team via the front door for families from 1 April 2023. Please look out for the full briefing in March which will include details of the service offer as well as dates for professional workshops to learn more about the family hubs transformation. If you would like further information or would like to meet one of the team to discuss the transformation, please contact bhfamilyhubs@brighton-hove.gov.uk.
Westdene Primary School Celebrations
I was delighted to be able to join some of the recent celebrations at Westdene Primary School which took place to mark the school being one of only two primary schools in Sussex to receive a prestigious Platinum Artsmark Award. The Award supports schools to develop and celebrate arts and cultural education. Pupils learnt about Cezanne, drew some still life and described their artwork in French. Fantastic cross-curricular links and learning! Year 3 learnt to weave using eco offcuts and Year 4 had a ball designing and decorating cupcakes, learning lots of new techniques and perfecting their piping. The results tasted delicious too! The celebration event culminated in a grand finale on the junior playground with an appreciative audience of parents and carers to show off Bollywood dancing moves. It was amazing to see such a presentation of creativity from the children at the school and listen to the pleasure they get from the arts at Westdene. Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to all of the team who have been involved in this fantastic award!
BookTrust Represents promotes and improves the representation of people of colour in children’s books so that children read books that reflect them and their wider communities. Ten schools across Brighton & Hove were invited to take part in this exciting opportunity for Year 5 and 6 pupils, working with some of the UK’s leading authors and illustrators of colour in children’s literature. Authors will visit schools over the next few weeks where pupils will receive a copy of the author’s book, have the opportunity to hear from the author and have their book signed.
Alex Wharton, author of Daydreams and Jellybeans, visited St Mark’s C of E Primary School earlier this month where pupils were transfixed listening to poems being performed and hearing inspirational stories of his writing journey. Pupils commented on how they were now eager to get writing and one Year 6 boy exclaimed, “I am so excited, I might faint!”. Other schools involved in the project are St Joseph’s, Bevendean, Queen’s Park, City Academy Whitehawk, West Blatchington, St Martin’s, Moulsecoomb, Coombe Road and St Bartholomew’s.
Pupils were
welcomed into the hall with Alex’s piano playing
Alex performing poems from his book
Brighton & Hove School Games Update
This term, over 30 primary schools have been involved in Indoor Athletics events for years 5 and 6 at BACA, supported by brilliant Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, Varndean College and BACA. 20 female Sports Leaders from PACA and Patcham High also took part in a Netball Leadership course at PACA this month. These students will now support Primary School Stinger Netball tournaments during March.
A group of Year 6s from Carden and Year 7s from Dorothy Stringer attended a year 6/7 transition event at the K2 Leisure Centre in February, focusing on team building and discovering what it’s like when you move up to secondary school. All of the students took part in street dance workshops, parkour and team building activities and everyone really enjoyed the activities and trying something new.
Our City Our World
Our City Our World is the Brighton & Hove sustainability, climate change and environmental strategy. Currently 30 of the city’s schools are making excellent progress towards developing a culture of sustainability and empowering their young people with the skills, knowledge and solutions they need to address the climate change crisis. The city’s remaining schools have the opportunity to join the third cohort starting in the summer term.
Recent work across the city has focused on a termly themed approach to integrate biodiversity, energy, water, food, travel and waste across school assemblies, individual and family actions and school audits. Work in Brighton & Hove is being recognised nationally, in the DfE "Climate in Education Snapshot" and Local Government Association website. There has been significant interest from other local authorities and academy trusts and we are looking to introduce the work to the University of Brighton Initial Teacher Education staff and students. For more information visit www.ourcityourworld.co.uk or contact katie.eberstein@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Spring Primary PSHE Network
The recent spring Primary PSHE Network brought together the PSHE leads from across the city. The session helped leaders to reflect on their school’s “PSHE story, with leads who have recently experienced an Ofsted inspection sharing their thoughts. This included revisiting how central the PSHE curriculum is to the school inspection process on many levels. Some great examples of PSHE recording were also shared – for example creative “floor books” and PSHE reflective writing.
Let Girls Play Day
An initiative from England Football celebrating girls’ football in schools and the community will be taking place on Wednesday 8 March. Cardinal Newman and Longhill High will be running events for local primary schools and Patcham High and PACA are hosting year 7 tournaments. Many other schools across the city will also be celebrating with assemblies and girls football events. At Goldstone Primary and Balfour Primary, every girl will have the opportunity to take part in a football session during the day. If you would like to get involved or to find out more, please go to girlsfootballinschools.org I look forward to hearing more about the exciting activities taking place across the city.
This month, three more Ofsted inspections have taken place: Coombe Road Primary School, St Martin’s CoE Primary School and Cottesmore St Mary’s Catholic Primary School. We look forward to seeing the results of the inspections.
We were absolutely delighted to hear that BHASVIC received another Outstanding grading at their last Ofsted inspection. The inspector said: “Students are courteous and highly respectful of their peers and teachers and enjoy the college community environment. Students understand very well how these values contribute to the positive and inclusive culture at the college…. They are well prepared for life in the diverse local community.” Congratulations to all the staff and students at BHASVIC on this fantastic achievement.
Best wishes,
Jo
Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.
Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.
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