Virtual School Art Competition

For the third year running, the Virtual School has run an art competition for children in care, children previously in care and care leavers up to age 25. This year’s theme was True Colours and the competition culminated in a wonderful exhibition at the Liberation Art Gallery in Brighton. A huge thank you to all the parents, carers, guardians, teachers and other professionals that helped facilitate the amazing art works received this year. Every piece of art tells the unique story of the person behind it, and we are honoured that our young people have shared their ‘true colours’ with us. The private launch packed the gallery to the brim and it was brilliant to see some new faces and so much happiness, celebration and pride in the room. Thank you to everyone for taking part or facilitating a young person to be involved in the exhibition. The art work has had much interest and many compliments from members of the public who visited the gallery. Well done to everyone involved.

Say Hello to Our New Apprentices

The Apprenticeship Team has been delighted to welcome new apprentices and staff to their induction recently. Apprenticeships are available for managers to recruit staff into new roles for the duration of the apprenticeship, or for existing staff to stay on their current terms and conditions and upskill themselves at no personal cost. A number of apprentices were welcomed last month from services across the Council. For further information or to book a chat in with your Apprenticeship Consultants, Lynne Rimmer and Gavin Graham, contact apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk

City Maths Strategy

Developing the ability to work flexibly and fluently with number is a key priority in pupils’ mathematical development. City wide data shows our disadvantaged pupils are consistently out-performed by their non-disadvantaged peers at every statutory assessment point. To help address this, teachers from both primary and secondary schools have embarked on training with Herts for Learning who have developed an innovative programme that will help ensure students know their base facts, have a range of mental calculation strategies, and can use and apply their knowledge to a wider fluency range. This programme has a proven impact on outcomes for students in KS2 and KS3. Teachers are currently undertaking a baseline diagnostic assessment prior to the programme commencing later this autumn. A training day took place last week which was very interesting and the group were thoroughly engaged. It was fascinating taking the time to consider how many ways – efficiently or otherwise – a student might approach a basic calculation.  

Healing Classroom Work

It has been great to hear more about the amazing Healing Classroom work that the EMAS team do with Afghan, Ukrainian and Syrian pupils in Brighton and Hove schools. Activities include self portrait work with backgrounds of pictures of things they are interested in; VIP pictures where they show who is their very important person and why; boxes decorated as Brighton to show where they have been since they moved here and also boxes decorated as their home country. The work is very much led by the children and their interests and although resources with ideas are prepared for the children, there is always the flexibility to change plans. For example, the Afghan children recently showed the team how to make kites as they do in Afghanistan. For more information please see this link where EMAS teacher Suzanne Fisher talks more about this work. 

Governance Development Update

The Governance Development Team delivers a Governor Induction Programme four times a year, and I was pleased to hear that this term the take-up has been greater than ever, with 60 new governors currently engaged in the programme. Also on offer for new governors are key sessions that are crucial to help them understand the challenges that schools are facing and their role in supporting these, such as SEND, Anti-Racist Education, Health and Safety, Safeguarding and Finance.

 

There is also a range of courses offered to leaders of governing boards. Over 20 new chairs of governors and vice chairs had an induction meeting with key council officers to learn about the services that support schools and governing boards, and there is also a full cohort undertaking the Governance Leadership Programme. This is run annually and is a big commitment of five modules but provides excellent networking opportunities and a safe space to have discussions and develop as leaders. Thank you to all governors for prioritising all this important development, supporting effective governance in the city’s schools.

Apprentices Join the Mayor to Tidy Our Beaches

Last month, some of our apprentices met up with the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Councillor Mohammed Asaduzzaman to carry out a volunteer beach clean in some unexpected sunshine. The clean up was organised by the Apprenticeship team in collaboration with Cityclean's Tidy Up team and the Mayor's office. It was a great opportunity for our apprentices to meet the Mayor and network with other apprentices while tidying up our beautiful beaches. One apprentice said: "The best thing was making a difference to our lovely beach and the positive response from so many members of the public. Definitely do it!" If you're interested in supporting a member of staff on a staff apprenticeship or applying for one yourself, the next deadline for apprenticeship funding is Thursday 31 October. For more information,  please email apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk or book a virtual staff drop-in.

From September 2024, Ofsted have made some changes to the way they inspect schools. They no longer provide an overall effectiveness grade, but there are still individual grades in Quality of education, Behaviour and attitudes, Personal development and Leadership and management. Where applicable, Early years and Sixth form provision are also judged.

 

Downs Infant School and St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School were the first schools in the city to be inspected this term, and the reports have now been published. Both schools were judged to be ‘Good’ in all areas.

Amongst the strengths identified at Downs Infant were the expectations for pupil behaviour, particularly that pupils ‘demonstrate high levels of self-control and motivation’ when directing their own learning. I was also pleased to read about the comprehensive PSHE curriculum and the high-quality play available across the year groups, which helps pupils develop in many areas. There is also a strong culture of reading, and communication and language development are a top priority.

 

At St John the Baptist, inspectors highlighted the ambitious curriculum, with pupils being ‘confident readers’ with ‘secure mathematical knowledge’. The school is also strong in identifying pupils’ need ‘precisely’, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Pupils are given many opportunities outside the classroom to contribute positively to the school and wider community, and I was particularly pleased to read about all Year 6 children having a leadership role, for example through leading environmental projects.

 

Well done to all at both schools. 

Goodbyes

                                                              Julie Radmall

Our colleague Julie Radmall at Roundabout Nursery is retiring this month after 43 years of working for the Council. I want to congratulate Julie on this amazing achievement and convey our heartfelt thanks to her. Julie has supported thousands of children and their families, including in some cases, three generations of the same family. She has made such a difference to these children and families through her caring, non-judgemental and gentle manner. We are sure her presence will be greatly missed and we wish her all the happiness for a long and relaxing retirement. Thank you, Julie, for your many years of dedicated service with some of the city’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable families.

 

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

A great start to the academic year

 

September has been a positive start to the autumn term, with children and young people starting back at nursery, school and college after their summer break. We have already seen some fabulous achievements and great work from our council teams to support the children, families in the city. We are looking forward to working in continued partnership with you to inspire and educate the children and young people of Brighton & Hove.

Another positive set of results for the city

We are very proud of the city’s summer results and have seen excellent outcomes in GCSEs, A-level, BTEC and T Level results this year. We had impressive reading SATs results, placing our local authority in the top quartile of outcomes nationally. I would also like to congratulate those with SEND for the excellent outcomes they have achieved. We are very pleased that outcomes for these learners are improving. Thank you for your leadership and congratulations to everyone involved in all of these positive achievements.

 

Visit to the new Jeanne Saunders Centre

         Anne Rhodda (Deputy Head of Service, Jeanne Saunders Centre) and Jo Templeman 

                                             (Head of Family Hubs) at the Centre

                                          The garden at the Jeanne Saunders Centre

I was very pleased to visit the new Jeanne Saunders Centre at Connaught Road earlier this month. The Centre provides intensive early learning and assessment to children with a range of complex needs, including severe language delay and autistic spectrum conditions. The team has created a fresh new environment with spacious, modern areas offering a wide range of opportunities for learning and the Centre now has a larger space to welcome parents, carers and partner professionals to build opportunities for support, information and training. The team has not only created a very special place for early learning for children who have places there, but also to welcome families of children with complex needs from across the city to their drop in groups. Well done to everyone who has worked extremely hard to get the Centre up and running.

Our City Our World

         Brighton & Hove teachers, hub leaders, Cllr Rowkins, Max Evans from Let’s Go Zero,           and Our City Our World leaders Katie Eberstein and Jonathan Cooper at the training

Sustainability education leads from across the country recently joined us for training in the Our City Our World approach to sustainability, climate change and environmental education, developed in Brighton & Hove schools. Thank you to the teachers who shared their experience of implementing the programme and gave valuable advice. By 2025, the DfE requires all schools to have a sustainability lead and produce a Climate Action Plan. Training has also taken place for sustainability leads and additional training will take place for school leaders and business managers in Climate Action Planning in early 2025. 

New Headteachers Induction 

On 16 September Deb Austin, Corporate Director - Families, Children and Learning Services, and I welcomed our city’s new headteachers to Hove Town Hall for their first induction session. This was a chance to meet with key officers and learn about the range of services and support on offer. This meeting is part of a package of support we offer to new headteachers that also includes support from an experienced headteacher ‘professional mentor’, additional time from the school partnership adviser and follow up opportunities to meet with key service leads. I look forward to visiting their schools in the near future.

Roots Project at St Mark’s Primary

It has been lovely to hear more about the fantastic ROOTS Project, a Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) project St Mark’s Primary School has initiated for its refugee children. The project offers Refugee and Asylum Seeking pupils an opportunity to take part in an art project that celebrates their culture and heritage. It was designed by PSHE and Mental Health Lead and Y6 teacher - Nina Xerri, who crowd funded to be able to deliver the project and provide resources. Over 6 weeks, children worked 1:1 with Miss Xerri to produce a piece of work which reflected their identity, their background and their culture. The pupils explored their home countries, listened to music, tried foods from their home countries and celebrated their ROOTS!

2023/2024 National School Games Mark 

I’m delighted to announce that 35 primary/secondary schools from across Brighton & Hove have achieved the School Games Mark award for 2023/24. The School Games Mark is a government-led awards scheme launched in 2012 to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. Participating in this process allows schools to evaluate their PE provision and assists them in developing an action plan for future progress. Of these, 8 schools: Elm Grove Primary, Coldean Primary, Downs Juniors, Brunswick Primary, Cottesmore Primary, Balfour Primary, Hertford Juniors and City Academy Whitehawk – have achieved the Platinum School Games Mark – which means they have achieved 5 years of the Gold School Games Mark. A huge congratulations to all of the schools involved!

Anti Racist Strategy news

Now in its fourth year, the anti-racist strategy has already delivered training to all but four of the city’s primary phase schools. During the September INSET days, Hove Park, Longhill and Kings took the opportunity to benefit from the excellent in-house training on offer to further their anti-racist education journeys. A program of training on diversifying the curriculum has now been set out. The Widen the View training was introduced at the April anti-racist conference and is available to book on BEEM from October. Other training planned includes creating pupil support groups and guiding schools in the process of responding and reporting incidents of racial harm. The team has also been working closely with Brighton Museum. Anoushka Visvalingham of St. Luke's Primary is on the teacher ambassador team for developing diversified resources for schools, Dulani Kulasinghe is working to develop World War 2 resources for schools and the secondary history group has been creating close links through Shareen Hone of Cardinal Newman School.

Oracy Project for Disadvantaged Pupils

                                                   Attendees at the launch event

An exciting partnership project is underway between the local authority, the Durrington Research School, the Education Endowment Foundation and several Brighton & Hove schools to develop literacy skills for disadvantaged pupils, focusing specifically on spoken language, communication and vocabulary. Following a launch event earlier this month, colleagues will come together to engage in a programme of professional development with agreed implementation strategies and ongoing support given. Detailed and thorough monitoring and evaluation templates will result in a Brighton & Hove literacy project that will be shared more widely across the city of schools. Further information will be shared through School Partnerships and Headteacher meetings.

Bucking the trend on school exclusions

Mary Reid, Assistant Headteacher at Patcham High School, recently spoke on Radio 5 Live about the stance the school has taken on school exclusions. She discussed the school’s commitment to finding a more suitable provision, avoiding the use of the exclusion pathway, for children for whom the school setting is not appropriate. I am sure you would all like the opportunity to listen to the interview which can be played here (from 1:25mins - 1:31mins). 

St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School, Downs Infant School, Westdene Primary and Moulescoomb Primary have all received inspections this term and we await their reports. Ofsted has now published updates to its school inspection handbooks and provided explanation around the interim arrangements this year while they consult on a new framework for 2025. The removal of the one word overall judgement is welcomed by all of us. If your school is expecting an inspection this year, we will be sharing further information through our network events and there are a number of online resources such as this video briefing.

Welcomes 

This month, we welcome a number of new Heads to our schools as well as new colleagues to the local authority. We look forward to working with them all over the coming months.

Amanda Easton - Brunswick Primary School (Acting Co-Headteacher)

                       Sarah Sipula - Brunswick Primary School (Acting Co-Headteacher)

                                       Ben Massey – Elm Grove Primary School – Headteacher

                   Carly Carden – St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School - Headteacher

Natalie Burley – Outdoor Education Adviser 

Kathryn Mitchell – Administrative Officer - Access to Education Team

Goodbyes

After 18 years of working with the council, Rob Caddick, Education Adviser at the Virtual School, is moving into retirement. Rob has worked in various roles with Children in Care over the course of his career and many of you will have worked alongside him to support our most vulnerable children. So many children, teachers, social workers and foster carers will have benefitted from Rob’s wealth of experience and relational approach, he will be very much missed by the Virtual School and across the authority and the city. 

                              Rob Caddick, Education Adviser at the Virtual School

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

End of another academic year

As we approach the end of another academic year I want to thank you for your commitment. Education remains an extremely challenging sector to be working in, however, I am incredibly proud of the resilience and vision of the education leaders in our city. Challenges around finance and the increase in the numbers and complexity of our vulnerable learners have presented all settings with significant challenges. However, the quality of provision in Brighton and Hove remains strong and the education partnership is collectively working towards a shared vision, tackling our main priorities such as improving outcomes for disadvantaged learners. I hope you manage to find time to relax over the summer break and I look forward to working with you all going forward.

Team Domenica's Employer Partner Celebration

                                                    The Team Domenica event 

It’s been great to hear more about the Team Domenica event on Friday 12 July which was held to celebrate the commitment made by employers, candidates, staff and volunteers to making a difference in the city. Team Domenica’s Founder, Baroness Rosa Monckton MBE, spoke of the journey the organisation has made in the last 8 years. Employer partners such as the i360 and Pizza Pilgrims shared the benefits of supporting candidates with additional needs into paid work and the positive impact it has had on recruitment, business, and wellbeing in their staff. Candidates articulated their own individual journeys and successes. It was a wonderful opportunity to value the work done by Team Domenica and their candidates and to be reminded of the inclusive and progressive business community in Brighton and Hove. 

Interschool Poetry Competition

    Pupils from Coldean, Coombe Road, Moulsecoomb, St Bernadette's, St John the Baptist 

                                         and St Joseph's celebrate their successes!

                        Winners Connie and Kayden being presented with their prizes

Last month, pupils from schools across the Aspirational Partners in Learning & Leadership (APLL) Partnership came together at St Joseph’s Catholic School to participate in the inaugural APLL Cluster Inter-school Poetry Competition. The event was a celebration of poetry and of creativity, with participants either performing their own work or bringing to life the poems of well-known poets. 

Connie from St John the Baptist Catholic Primary was awarded first place for performing a moving poem that she had created, ‘The Wishes of the World’ and Kayden from Coldean Primary gave an enthusiastic performance of the poem 'I Wish I Was Our Sammy' monologue from Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. St Joseph’s Headteacher, Gill Foan, congratulated all poets for participating in this event, and having the courage to share their thoughts and emotions through poetry, with a reminder that, “Your voices matter, and your words have the power to change the world.” Well done to everyone who took part.

Meaningful Features

                                                       Students at the event

Well done to all of the post 16 students from BACA, Varndean College, BHASVIC and Newman College who attended an inspirational week of work experiences and workshops at Plus X Innovation centre as part of skills week. The event, led by Celine Mckeown from Do What Matters and Paris Palmano from Citizens Brighton & Hove, helped students to learn about purpose, meaning, power and impact through two simple but powerful frameworks - The Map of Meaning and the 10 One Planet Living Principles. 

The students visited a range of organisations from a commercial business, social enterprise, charity with a commercial arm and a charity doing outreach work. On the final day, a panel of stakeholders from the world of education, business and sustainability were presented with a manifesto written by the young people based on their learning from the week. Feedback included: ‘Meaningful work can come in many forms and doesn’t have to be one type of job’ and ‘You can combine having a successful career with meaningful work.’

Virtual School Education Conference

                                          

This year’s Virtual School Education Conference was a huge success. Working to a theme of ‘Creative Solutions’ there were excellent keynote presentations from education expert Marc Roland on “Supporting Disadvantaged Children in our Schools” and from “Representation Matters” founder Aisha Thomas. Shelley Baker, Headteacher of Varndean School, shared the fantastic work they have been doing to support the attendance of vulnerable children and we were delighted to hear from Cardinal Newman, Patcham Juniors and Carden Primary who have been working with Kit Messenger to develop their whole school relationship-based approach to supporting behaviour in school. 

Withdean Athletics 

The sun shone at Withdean Stadium last month as 1,495 children took part in the Brighton and Hove School Games Athletics event. Children from years 4, 5 and 6 from 42 primary schools were represented at the event. 78 Sports Leaders from Varndean College, Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer and Patcham High all supported the event. It’s been another brilliant year for the School Games programme in the city with over 6,000 students taking part in 42 different events, competitions and festivals. Well done to everyone involved in these fantastic events.

Careers Hub Summer Conference

                                                Attendees at the conference

Brighton & Hove City Council’s Skills and Employment team attended the West Sussex, Brighton & Hove Careers Hub Summer Conference on Wednesday 3 July. There were some useful presentations supporting schools and colleges to plan for the next academic year including helping young people understand apprenticeships, working with parents and carers, and some LinkedIn training to help connect our school and college careers leaders with local employers. Many of our school and college careers teams in Brighton and Hove were recognised for their outstanding contributions to the Careers Hub. Congratulations to all those who were awarded “Careers Champions 2024 certificates of recognition”.

Four schools in the city have recently been inspected by Ofsted.  

 

Fairlight Primary School received a ‘Section 8’ ungraded inspection, where Ofsted visit a school to check it is still ‘Good’. I was really pleased to hear that if this had been a fuller, ‘Section 5’ graded inspection, it may have improved from ‘Good’ to ‘Outstanding’, so a graded inspection will be carried out next time. Inspectors were particularly impressed with pupil progress and behaviour, commenting that pupils ‘focus intently on their learning, determined to succeed’. Other highlights in the report included the ‘exceptional’ teaching of reading, skilful teacher assessment, committed governors and the range of wider opportunities available to enhance pupils’ learning and give them a ‘healthy appetite for outdoor interests’. 

 

St Martin’s CE Primary School retained its ‘Good’ judgement overall, with ‘Behaviour and attitudes and personal development’ judged as ‘Outstanding’. Inspectors praised the ‘reflective’ and ‘inspirational’ leadership in the school, with staff who are consistent and ambitious in their approach to teaching and learning. Other strengths include the early years curriculum, ‘impeccable’ pupil behaviour, the support for pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and the range of cultural experiences the school offers. 

 

Middle Street Primary School also retained its ‘Good’ judgement overall, with ‘Personal development’ judged as ‘Outstanding’. Inspectors particularly recognised the ‘ambitious, carefully sequenced curriculum’, the effective support for children with SEND and the priority given to develop children’s reading. The extensive range of opportunities available in the wider curriculum benefits the pupils’ personal development, and the ‘cohesive community’ is inclusive of everyone. 

 

Brunswick Primary School’s inspection report recognises there are now rapid improvements in teaching and learning, which had previously been affected by a period of leadership changes. Although the school’s overall judgement is ‘Requires Improvement’, there are many strengths highlighted, such as strong school governance, a ‘rich and stimulating’ early years environment, ‘expert’ support for children with SEND, a ‘highly effective’ approach to pupils’ personal development, and good behaviour and attendance. We will continue to support the school in its journey of improvement. 

Well done to all staff, governors and pupils for their hard work. 

Goodbye and Thank You

We have reached the time of year again where we say goodbye and thank you to colleagues across the partnership for the fantastic contribution they have made to children and families in the city. We would like to wish them all the best for the future and hope they will keep in touch.   

                                             Louise Willard, Elm Grove Primary 

                                        Tina Davidson, St John the Baptist Primary

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Youth Employment Hub Receives Highly Commended Status

 

Congratulations to The Youth Employment Hub Brighton & Hove team for being awarded Highly Commended in the Public/Public Partnership category at the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards 2024. After progressing through the application stage with over 900 entrants, the next step was delivering a presentation to and answering questions from a panel of local authority senior leaders. The judges fed back positively praising “the impact now but also for the futures of each and every young person being supported... that crosses the traditional boundaries of support schemes.” This is a recognition of the work Brighton & Hove City Council provide in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, Amaze, employers and education providers to ensure tailored, accessible support is available for young people. Well done to everyone involved!

English Schools’ Football Association Reward & Recognition Awards 

                         Matt Evans from Balfour Primary School receiving his award 

Congratulations to Matt Evans from Balfour Primary School and to Brighton & Hove Schools’ FA who won awards at the English Schools’ Football Association’s Reward & Recognition Awards in June. The event, which took place at Wolves’ Molineux Stadium and was attended by over 200 people, celebrated achievements of players and volunteers and saw 12 awards presented and the England U15 Schoolgirls and England U18 Schoolboys receive their international caps for the season. The largest award of the evening, in a tough category with 8 shortlisted nominees, was presented to Matt Evans for Teacher Dedication to schools’ football. Brighton & Hove Football District also won the Association success story award for their work across the city to increase access for school children to regular, district football. 

Apprentices Go On An Adventure

I was very pleased to learn more about the third annual ‘outward bound’ event at Adur Activity Centre in Shoreham which was hosted by the Apprenticeships team. Fifteen apprentices attended the event, which was funded through Department for Education apprenticeship grants. Over two days, the two teams - one called Brighton and the other called Hove - carried out various activities to challenge themselves and build on working as a team. They assailed the climbing wall, competed in archery, cross country bike ride and orienteering. Each day was finished with a competitive exercise. The activities visited the values and behaviours of the council – respect, collaboration, efficiency, openness, creativity and customer focus. Feedback included “it was such great fun and I would definitely recommend getting involved it’s amazing” and “I learnt about teamwork, I networked with other apprentices. If you have the opportunity to do it, take it!”  To see a video of the event, please click here. To find out more about how apprentices can support your school or service contact Gavin Graham at gavin.graham@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Ethnic Minority Achievement Service Nature Based Activity Day

It has been lovely to hear about how the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) team used a recent INSET day of training at Woods Mill in June to focus on staff wellbeing. Around 40 members of the team took part in mindfulness exercises and engaged in creative activities to experience play and risk taking and considered how important this is to the children EMAS support and how they can share this with communities in Brighton & Hove. By coming together as a team and acknowledging EMAS’ strength in support and relationships, it gave them the opportunity to step out from their normal roles, relax in the woods and learn about how they might helpfully work with their young people out in nature and take time to play.

Brighton & Hove City Council Legal Services Win Legal Team of the Year 2024

Brighton & Hove’s Legal Services team

Brighton & Hove City Council’s Legal Services team have recently won the 2024 Legal Team of the Year, Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) Award which took place in Leeds on 7 June. The LLG said of the team “Brighton & Hove City Council Legal Services secured the award for their outstanding work across their commercial and litigation teams and for promoting well-being, inclusivity and talent retention within their authority.” A huge congratulations to the team, who have been recognised for their dedication, innovation, and expertise on a national stage.

Royal Spa Nursery school was recently inspected and retained its ‘Outstanding’ judgement. Inspectors praised the expert staff who are well trained and have caring and supportive relationships with children and their families. The ‘rich learning environment’ helps the children make strong progress, and children with SEND thrive due to early identification and working with partners. The focus on communication, language and reading is also key in the development of all children, as is their personal, social and emotional development which prepares them well for the next stage of their education. 

 

Saltdean Primary School was also recently inspected and has retained its ‘Good’ judgement. Inspectors noted the high aspirations for pupils through an ‘inspiring’ curriculum that is delivered by skilled teachers, including an ‘expertly taught’ phonics curriculum. They were also impressed by the focus on pupils’ personal progress and the real sense of community in the school through the relationships with parents, staff and governors. 

 

City Academy Whitehawk also retained its ‘Good’ judgement. Strengths were highlighted in many areas, including behaviour and attendance, with inspectors recognising ‘impeccable classroom behaviour’. The inclusive nature of the school was also highlighted, with pupil disadvantage described as ‘a motivation, not an excuse’. Another strength was early years provision, and the curriculum design throughout the school that is leading to improved outcomes. 

 

Well done to the staff, pupils and governors of all schools for their hard work. 

Fairlight Primary, St Martin’s Primary, Middle Street Primary and Brunswick Primary have all received inspections this month and we await their reports.

University of Brighton Initial Teacher Education provision 

The University of Brighton Initial Teacher Education provision has recently been inspected by Ofsted and the report can be found here. The glowing reports are testament to the dedication and hard work of not only staff based at the university, but across the partnership in schools across Brighton & Hove and beyond. The DfE has also confirmed that they have been signed off as ‘ready to deliver the quality requirements’ for Initial Teacher Education, meaning they continue to accredit their own provision and have again been commended for the high quality of curriculum design. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Children’s Parade Kicks Off the Brighton Festival

 

I was very pleased to be able to watch this year’s Children’s Parade earlier this month and to see so many of our city’s schools celebrating the start of the Brighton Festival in such a colourful and creative way. The theme of this year’s parade, which took place in collaboration with award winning community arts organisation Same Sky, was “Dream Again” and the displays and costumes created a wonderful atmosphere with amazing decorative costumes and floats on display. Well done to all of the Heads, teachers, children and families from Brighton and Hove schools who helped to create such a special event.

It’s Official - We are Outstanding!! 

Care Leavers and their Personal Advisors celebrating the Ofsted judgement

I am delighted to announce that we have been awarded an ‘Outstanding’ overall grade following our March 2024 Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services. This is a tremendous achievement and a reflection of all the amazing work that is done across Families, Children and Learning Services to support our city’s children and their families. 

 

We have received ‘Outstanding’ sub judgements for our work with children in care; care leavers; and for the impact of leadership and management. Our sub judgement for children in need of help and protection has been raised to Good. This new judgement means that Brighton & Hove City Council now has the highest rating across 3 key areas of Children’s Services: Children’s Social Care Services; Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision and Youth Justice Service. Congratulations to everyone involved in this fantastic achievement. The link to the inspection report can be found here.

Ed Sheeran Visits Fairlight Primary School

All photos were taken by Sadie www.sadie-avard.com

It has been wonderful to hear more about Ed Sheeran’s surprise visit to Fairlight Primary School earlier this month. Ed visited the school to see the amazing work they do in music education and in the creative arts with Create Music - the local Music Hub in Brighton and Hove. Ed runs a music foundation and is interested in music in schools and how it can be accessible for everyone. He arrived and spoke to the Director of Create Music, Peter Chivers, Deputy Director, Emma Collins who is the Strategic Lead for Quality and Inclusion and Damien Jordan, Headteacher about music tuition, music education in schools and about what he is doing with his foundation. 

Around 60 children at Fairlight take individual music lessons every week during the school day in guitar, drums, keyboard and violin. During his time at the school, Ed visited some music lessons, including one where he learned how to play We Will Rock You on the Glokenspiel, and joined a newly formed band in the school to listen to and play a song they had created for the visit. Ed then gave a performance of three of his most famous songs for the children and staff and finished his visit by donating five of his Ed Sheeran Lowden Guitars to the school for children to use and practise with.

Apprenticeship Award Winner from Longhill High School

Layla and Nathan

Well done to Layla Williams, Data and Exams Manager at Longhill High School for winning the Brighton & Hove City Council Apprenticeship award for manager of the year! Layla was nominated by her apprentice, Nathan Kinny, the Exams and Data Apprentice, who is on a Data Analyst level 4 Apprenticeship with Chichester College Group. Layla also completed her Data Analyst apprenticeship in March.  Nathan said in his nomination: “Layla has always been an incredible mentor and teacher… Layla has been committed to the apprenticeship scheme and continues to discuss how more apprenticeships could be introduced within the school environment.” If you would like to know more about how apprenticeships can help you and your staff develop in their role please contact Gavin Graham, gavin.graham@apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Youth Participation Team Arts Workers…another great success for young people!

Silver Arts Award Leadership session where a trans young person with autism 

taught how to draw a manga-style eye

Congratulations to the young people who recently took part in the Arts Award moderation and passed with flying colours, receiving 3 Silver (Level 2) and 5 Bronze (Level 1) awards. The young people are all out of education due to mental or physical health needs and for many this is the only formal qualification they have. Two of the young people completed their Silver Arts Award (a national Level 2 qualification – equivalent to GCSE grades 9-4) together, supporting each other emotionally to attend the sessions. Neither had attended mainstream education for many years, as alongside their autism diagnoses and sensory needs, they struggled with significant mental health issues. Both completed an Arts Leadership Project, planning, delivering and reviewing a series of digital art workshops and choosing to work on developing confidence and communication skills. One said: “My confidence improved with each session... I guess I have developed communication skills and confidence because of the arts leadership.” Well done to everyone involved in this fantastic achievement.

Leading for Sustainability day

This week, the 4th and final cohort of schools started working together on the Our City Our World programme. This involves a ‘Leading for Sustainability’ day for headteachers, governors and senior programme leads with follow up training on curriculum development, eco-anxiety and the programme framework.  There was a buzz of excitement and urgency in the air as schools began planning how to ensure their pupils were well equipped to live in a changing climate and schools both mitigated against and adapted to climate change. 90% of the city’s primary schools, and over half of the city’s secondary schools are now involved in this transformative work which has been recognised nationally as a best practice approach. The programme has recently received £100k from a national charity to share the framework with 4 other local authorities in a programme named ‘Our Schools, Our World’. 

Trip to Hindleap Warren

Outdoor activities at Hindleap Warren

It’s been lovely to hear about the trip that young people from both the older and younger children in care councils took to Hindleap Warren at Easter. They spent the day taking part in outdoor activities including a high ropes obstacle course called ‘the Pentagon’, and problem solving team challenges including the favourite ‘crate stack’. Young people had a brilliant time and it was a fantastic way for them to meet other children in care, build friendships and confidence in their own abilities. When asked about the day, young people said: “I enjoyed the pentagon -it was such fun but quite scary at first…and I loved the crate stack”; “Doing the high ropes backwards and blindfolded was the best bit – I didn’t know I could do that” and “I wasn’t sure about coming today but I’ve had loads of fun and have made new friends”.

The Youth Participation Team provides groups for young people in care and those with care experience. For more information please contact Debbie Garrett (07880 043396) or Debbie Tabis (07827 880771) for enquiries about the younger group.

Central Hub Brighton was recently inspected and was judged to be good. Many strengths were outlined in the report, and inspectors were very impressed with how the expert staff understand the barriers to each child’s learning so they can make good progress. They remarked “Individual pupils really matter here, and the school knows each pupil well.”  We are delighted that the strengths of this provision have been recognised. They provide education for some of our most complex young people with Social Emotional Mental Health needs in the city. Well done to all involved.

 

Longhill High School’s recent inspection has recognised the significant positive developments at the school led by the new head and the school’s leadership. Although the school’s overall judgement is requires improvement, the many strengths of the school are recognised. The ambitious curriculum and developments in areas such as reading and PSHE were all highlighted, and staff say they feel valued and supported to make improvements to ensure consistency across the school. It was also noted that there is an “impressively wide range of extra-curricular activities” and older pupils are “ambitious for their future”. Well done to everyone at the school and we look forward to continually working in partnership with you going forward. 

 

The Royal Spa Nursery School and City Academy Whitehawk have both received inspections this month and we await their reports.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.