Georgia and Deneb, the Members of Youth Parliament for Brighton & Hove, recently joined over 200 other young people from across the UK and British Overseas Territories at the House of Commons to discuss prominent issues facing young people and debate key areas of focus for their National Campaign around Free School Meals. This is the only group outside of Parliament permitted to sit in the House of Commons, so it is a prestigious occasion with young people able to sit on the famous green benches of Parliament.
The day was chaired by the speaker for the House of Commons in the morning and the Deputy Speaker for the House of Commons in the afternoon and included a letter from the Prime Minister. Deneb was fortunate enough to be selected to speak and delivered a powerful argument for extending the current school holiday provision to ensure no child was left hungry in the holidays. The campaign will finish nationally by March, with new Members of Youth Parliament then elected. We thank Georgia and Deneb for their hard work and commitment over the last two years and look forward to welcoming new members in the coming months. If you would like to know more about the work of the UK Youth Parliament or our MYPs locally, please contact John Lewry at john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Play at Fairlight Primary and Nursery School
It has been wonderful to hear more about the great work going on at Fairlight Primary and Nursery School using Opal to focus on play as a way to support well being, mental health and physical health and to develop resilience, collaboration and inclusion. Opal is a nationally recognised and award winning, mentor supported school improvement programme addressing all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to strategically and sustainably improve the quality of their play opportunities. Currently 32,770 schools in the UK participate, as well as schools from other parts of the world including Canada, America, Malaysia, Spain and many more.
Fairlight is one of just a handful of schools who have achieved the Platinum Award on several occasions and as a result of this has been invited to be part of the OPAL College. This is a prestigious honour and makes Fairlight one of the best schools in the world for play. In March this year, Fairlight will accept their most recent Award at the Houses of Parliament and will speak to a group of assembled Ministers, Lords and advisors around the importance and the need for play to be given a higher profile in schools. I look forward to hearing more about this fantastic work.
TeenTech Sussex 2023
Described by one teacher as "the best trip I’ve been on in ten years of teaching", the inaugural TeenTech Festival, delivered in partnership with West Sussex and Brighton & Hove Careers Hub, really packed a punch! Over 1,600 students participated in the ‘Future Tech Innovation Day’ virtual pre-event in October and the live festival in November at the Amex Stadium in Brighton.
21 different schools, including two SEN schools, attended from across Brighton, Hove and West Sussex with students taking part in interactive activities at Insight Zone Exhibition stands and Challenge Zone activities. The one hour Innovation Zone activity enabled students to build on ideas inspired by the virtual event and to consider how they might use data and/or AI within their projects. Students can now work on ideas with support from TeenTech mentors and submit them to the TeenTech Award programme. As a result of attending the TeenTech Sussex festival, 12 schools have already registered to enter the TeenTech Awards programme, further extending the reach of the festival.
Think Futures
Youth Council Representatives at Children, Families and Schools Committee
Two members of Brighton & Hove Youth Council recently sat as young people’s representatives on the Council’s Children, Families and Schools committee, a role which they recurringly hold. In a very busy agenda, one of the key areas of discussion impacting young people was around a proposal to introduce Free School Meals eligibility as a prominent criterion in secondary school admissions.
Our youth council representatives raised some interesting points on how this would be implemented and also flagged concern about the cost of travel. One representative spoke of her own experience of being on free school meals and the excellent education she had received through BACA where she attended. Our other representative asked a relevant question around the involvement of the voice of SEND young people in the design and plans for the SEND short breaks and holiday activities offer by the local authority. You can watch the webcast of the meeting through the Brighton & Hove City Council website here. Additionally, the youth council representatives’ comments were also featured on episode 8 of the Class Divide Podcast. If you would like to know more about the youth council’s representation on council committees, please contact John Lewry on john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Governance Briefing
School governors from across the city came together this week for this term's Governance Briefing in Hove Town Hall Council Chamber. We were pleased to welcome Cllr Lucy Helliwell, Co-Chair of Children, Families and Schools Committee, to the event. She talked about the council's priorities and their plans for tackling the issues with pupil admissions numbers, SEND, budgets and equalities, and answered questions from governors.
Two council officers also gave updates about important work that is being carried out to support schools. Helen Emerson, Education Adviser for PSHE, Anti-bullying and Equalities, talked about her team's current work in this area and what governors can do to support their school colleagues in delivering this crucial area of work. Linsey McGill, Schools' Mental Health Service Lead, also gave an update on her team's service offer and links with other mental health provision in the city for children and young people. It was good to be able to catch up with colleagues face to face and discuss some of the key challenges for schools, and I look forward to seeing governors again at their annual Governance Conference on 23 March.
Downs Junior School and Balfour Primary School reports have recently been published. Downs Junior’s previous inspection took place in 2011, the longest wait in the city! Ofsted graded the school as ‘Good’, recognising the school’s inclusive community, with parents, pupils and staff ‘extremely enthusiastic’ about the opportunities available. There was praise for the many extra-curricular activities that benefit pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with SEND. The school also has effective safeguarding procedures, well-supported staff and high pupil attendance. Well done to all involved.
Balfour Primary has been upgraded to ‘Good’, with positive comments across the whole report. This is well-deserved and we congratulate all staff, governors and pupils. Ofsted acknowledged the inclusive community and the ambitious and exciting curriculum. The school places a particularly high priority on reading, with inspectors recognising that ‘pupils are inspired to read and have well-informed opinions about the books and authors that they enjoy’. Congratulations to everyone in both school communities for all their hard work.
Carlton Hill Primary School and Hangleton Primary School have both received inspections this month and we await the results.
Welcomes
I am very pleased to welcome Lisa Walker as Interim Headteacher at Downs Infant School. We look forward to supporting Lisa in her new role.
I am also delighted to welcome Anita Philbrook as Interim Headteacher at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School and look forward to working with her over the coming months.
Best wishes,
Jo
Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
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