#Let Girls Play Day

 

It’s been great to hear more about #Let Girls Play Day, the Biggest Ever Football Session taking place on Friday 8 March, which is International Women’s Day.

In Brighton & Hove there are events being organised at over 29 different schools. Sports leaders from Patcham High, Dorothy Stringer, Cardinal Newman, Varndean, Blatchington Mill and Longhill are all running events both for their own students as well as local primary schools. The aim is to get as many girls as possible all playing football on the same day in schools across England. Last year, a total of 285,000 took part in this amazing event. There are lots of free resources available to help bring sessions to life, but the important part is about having loads of fun! To sign up, please follow this link.

Youth Council Leadership Elections

As part of the Youth Council’s two year programme there are several lead roles where young people take on additional responsibilities in specific areas, including Members of Youth Parliament, Committee Members for the Children Families and Schools Committee, Youth Council Chair, Deputy Chair and Secretary. On Friday 8 March, the Youth Council Lead Role Election Night will be taking place with Youth Council members having an opportunity to elect their peers to leadership roles. Candidates will submit an anonymous written response, alongside an in person presentation to express to their peers why they think they would be the right person for each role. Youth Council members will then take an anonymous vote to elect the relevant roles. Young people have agreed they would like to dress up for the event, so we look forward to Youth Council members turning out in style for an evening of fun, youth led democracy.  If you would like to know more about the Youth Council Lead Roles, please contact John Lewry at john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Tackling Educational Disadvantage Annual Conference

Matthew Easterbrook and Ian Hadden from University of Sussex sharing their research on the psychology of social class inequalities in the classroom with delegates

Brighton & Hove’s Strategy for Tackling Educational Disadvantage Annual Conference took place on Friday 2 February at the University of Sussex. The event was well attended by school leaders from across the phases and proved to be an enlightening and thought-provoking event, addressing critical issues faced in our schools and providing valuable insights into strategies to overcome educational differences. The conference brought together educators and experts to explore the multifaceted challenges faced by schools in addressing educational disadvantages. One of the conference's standout features was its diverse range of speakers, each bringing a unique perspective and expertise to the table. From researchers to experienced educators working in our city, the lineup offered a comprehensive overview of the issues at hand. For more information on the Strategy for Tackling Educational Disadvantage, please follow this link.

Indoor Athletics

Over the past two months over 450 year 5 and year 6 children from 37 different schools have taken part in Indoor Athletics events at BACA and BHASVIC.  It’s been great to see so many children taking part, representing their schools and enjoying indoor athletics. The Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, BACA and BHASVIC have also been outstanding in helping to run the events. Well done to everyone involved.

Youth Mental Health Summit

The Youth Council Health and Wellbeing Campaign has been working hard over the last 18 months to formulate their listening around Health and Wellbeing into action. This piece of work will culminate in their Mental Health Summit taking place on Friday 22 March. The summit will bring together young people from secondary schools across Brighton & Hove to take part in a day of educational workshops to help them better understand the way Mental Health services work in our city with the aim of sharing and disseminating this learning back in their schools. 

The workshops have been co-produced by Youth Council members along with Mental Health experts in the city from the Schools Wellbeing Service, Public Health, CAHMS and YMCA Downslink Group. The day will have young people sharing some of their lived experience, guest speakers talking about navigating complex systems and food provided by Gem Ogston and the Wholesome Kitchen, a project that aims to create food that’s good for your Mental Health. If you are part of a secondary school that isn’t currently attending, please get in touch as we still have spaces available. If you would like to know more about the Mental Health Summit, please contact John Lewry at john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Cross Phase Writing Project

Earlier this term, local authority Lead Writing moderators, Joyti Azad and Natasha Marris ran a productive day with Year 6 teachers and Key Stage 3 English leads. The aim of the session was to ensure that KS3 colleagues experienced how the statutory Teacher Assessment Framework is used to make teacher assessments in Year 6 and how this can then be used as a baseline for expectations in writing for Year 7 pupils. Teachers who attended the day appreciated the opportunity to work alongside a colleague from another phase and have already planned follow up work to support consistency in the teaching and learning of writing approaches across the schools. The group will be meeting again in the summer term to develop this further. I look forward to hearing how this goes. 

Make Your Mark 2024 Is Live!

Make Your Mark is a National Youth Consultation headed up by the British Youth Council. It is the largest consultation of young people in the UK and has heard the voices of over 7 million young people since it began. The consultation sets out 10 key themes and asks young people to identify the one that matters most to them. Brighton & Hove Youth Council deliver the consultation on a local level and are aiming to reach more young people than ever before.

Nationally, the results will inform the UK Youth Parliament Campaign for two years. Locally, the top three issues will make up the focus of Youth Council Campaigns for the next two years. The consultation closes on Friday 8 March and results will be announced by Thursday 21 March. The Youth Council will then plan focus groups across the city to better understand the details of the key themes identified by young people. If you work with young people, please encourage them to take part here. If you would like to know more about the youth council’s representation on council committee’s please contact John Lewry on john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

A huge congratulations to Acorn Nursery in Portslade which has been rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted. The nursery, run by Brighton & Hove City Council, was called an exemplary nursery, which allows children to blossom and thrive. Ofsted inspected the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management and gave an Outstanding grade in each category. Inspectors highlighted that “staff are dedicated to delivering tailored care and learning, recognising the uniqueness of every child” and “staff are fantastic role models to children and actively strive to teach children the importance of being inclusive”. Congratulations to everyone involved in this fantastic achievement. 

Carlton Hill Primary School's Ofsted report has recently been published, with the school retaining its 'Good' grading. Ofsted recognised many areas of strength and I was pleased to read such a positive report. Inspectors were particularly impressed with how inclusive the school is, with a “relentless determination to provide the best support for all”.  Amongst other highlights in the report were the strong early years provision, positive outcomes by the end of Year 6, effective support for the mental health and wellbeing of pupils and staff, positive pupil behaviour and strong leadership and governance. Congratulations to everyone in the school community for their hard work.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

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