A Citywide focus on inclusion

Dr Ioan Rees from Sycol speaking at the meeting

This month 119 headteachers, Inclusion leads and SEND colleagues came together at the University of Sussex representing 57 schools and colleges. We had a full morning of speakers, workshops and stalls to help us reflect on how we can balance the challenges of delivering high standards and embracing inclusion, whilst also maintaining the well-being of staff and students in our school communities. The event was a positive example of the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership coming together to debate and address city priorities. 

The highlight of the morning for me was when we heard from three young people from Varndean School, Jimmy, Soren and Samuel, about their experience and what works for them. Very impressive performance from all three to speak in front of such a large audience. We also heard what makes a good team around a child from Henrietta, a parent of a child at Patcham Infant School. Chris Pearson, Head at Goldstone Primary, shared words of wisdom from his years leading an inclusive school, and Ioan Rees from Sycol presented a model for leadership to encourage us to work together for all our schools and in all our schools. His input led to stimulating discussions about future challenges and partnership working. Workshops were also led by Hove Park School on their SEMH model; Downs Junior School on supporting children with autism; and Dorothy Stringer Secondary School on how they structure their support model. 

I was delighted to read the positive feedback from attendees: 

‘Dr Ioan Rees was an inspiring speaker and very thought provoking. Brilliant!’

‘Have taken away some fantastic practical ideas as well as more philosophical challenges of whole school development and successes in inclusion and achievement.’

‘Inspirational talks, great to have HTs and SENCos together.’

‘Very well organised and mixture of theory and practical’

‘Varndean students were amazing!’

We look forward to continuing the debates and working together to promote increased consistency in meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND across the city.

Lorna Cadwallader, BHISS Senior SEN Specialist Teacher Early Years and Jackie Vidler, BHISS Team administrator

Holocaust Memorial Day

It is really important that so many of our schools marked Holocaust Memorial Day again this year and remembered all those who lost their lives.

Lady Milner at Patcham High School with teacher Hannah Kinchin-Frost, Head of Life Skills and Headteacher John McKee

To commemorate the day, Lady Milner visited Patcham High School to deliver an assembly to year 10 pupils. She told the story of how she was rescued at the age of 9 and sent on a train to the UK. Her parents bravely sent her and her three and a half year old sister as they knew Prague was about to be occupied by the Germans. They also knew that this would put them as a family in massive danger. Her parents managed also to escape but for some time were separated from the children. Lady Milner said they were very lucky to have escaped and have lived. It was great to see a school mark such a key event and use someone else's experience to educate young people.  

Lady Milner speaking at Patcham High School

Our Lady of Lourdes marked the occasion by inviting Bryan Huberman into a Key Stage 2 assembly. Bryan spoke about his father’s life living in and surviving the Holocaust. Bryan showed powerful images depicting his father’s life. The pupils were so attentive, you could hear a pin drop. Bryan ended with a Q & A session in which the children were keen to learn more. Bryan then presented the school with a book on the memory quilt that the orphaned child survivors’ families designed to keep their parents’ memories alive. 

Congratulations Brighton & Hove primary schools

This month, we received a letter from the Schools’ Minister Nick Gibb, congratulating the local authority and it’s schools. It commends the excellent work that has taken place across our schools to support the development of understanding on phonics and more widely on reading. By helping more children to improve their reading skills we help them with their wider learning. Well done, I’m really proud of the work that takes place across our schools and the wider Brighton & Hove Education Partnership. 

Leadership by our young care leaders

YPBMF Horsham Chanel & Chloe

This month our care leavers, supported by the Youth Participation team, took part in the Young Person’s Benchmarking Forum in Horsham (YPBMF), hosted by West Sussex. The theme for the forum was ‘accommodation’ and ‘loneliness’. Care leavers from Southwark, Bristol, Walsall, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove were able to network and share their personal experiences through a poster sharing event. The event was coordinated by Catch 22 on behalf of the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF) and will feed into an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

Supporting Apprenticeships in schools

All maintained schools in Brighton & Hove pay into the apprenticeship levy, and funds have a limited shelf life of two years which means that from May this year any of the original payment not utilised will expire and will be no longer available, and this will continue each month thereafter. The Apprenticeship Team have produced materials to support schools to promote apprenticeships to your existing staff. Take a look at our school animation and video 

More on maths 

One of our top priorities championed by the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership is Maths. It was good to attend Coldean for a special visit by two maths teachers from Shanghai. The Mayor and Coldean Primary School welcomed  the teachers Ms Linyan Hou and Ms Minzhu Miao with an amazing display of British dances, poems and songs. Ms Hou and Ms Miao have been teaching groups of children, demonstrating the mastery approach. Last week, teachers from all over Sussex gathered for mornings of maths. They observed lessons and discussed the mastery approach, the teaching methods and the gains in understanding the children have made over the two weeks. 

If you’d like to know more, applications are now open for teachers who would like to be part of the Teacher research group. For more details, visit www.ncetm.org.uk/masteryrecruitment 

Linyan and Minzu with Mayor Dee Simson

Big Difference Awards 

Council Chief Executive Geoff Raw presenting the awards

So pleased that staff from the Integrated Team for Families in the Education and Skills service were nominated for the Team and Collaboration Award.  It was an excellent demonstration of how colleagues can collaborate across services, rise beyond silo working and solve issues within communities. Congratulations to Melanie Pollard (Family Coach) and Stephen Woodward, (Parental Relationship Coordinator). 

Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) also received an award for Team Work. Christine Booth (Teacher), Meeta Johnson (Teacher) and Nada Gamaan (Home to School Liaison Officer) attended the ceremony and council Chief Executive Geoff Raw said he would like to meet the bilingual assistant team to share the award with them. Well done to all! 

City celebrates GCSE success

This month’s DfE statistical release confirmed that the overall GCSE results in schools across Brighton & Hove continue to outstrip the national average. The city is four percentage points ahead of the national average in both the government’s key measures for English and Maths combined. 68% of Brighton & Hove students achieved grades 9-4 compared to the national average of 64% and 47% of Brighton & Hove achieved grades 9-5 against a national average of 43%. This has also included an improvement city-wide in Progress 8, another key government measure. This year-on-year improvement comes on the back of improved results city-wide at both A-level and primary level. Well done to our young people and their teachers, who have worked really hard to achieve this. With all of our secondary schools now rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, parents can be confident that their children will get an excellent education whichever school they go to.

A focus on Science at Westdene

Richard Robertson, Scientist in Residence, giving a talk on gravity

Westdene Primary School kicked off the spring term with an action-packed Science Week that resulted in a week of wonder that created a great buzz all around the school. This special event was launched with an assembly titled ‘Are We Nearly Here Yet?’ which was the story of the whole Universe, told in 45 minutes. During the week children were captivated by awe-inspiring activities that included workshops, visitors and whole school challenges. Children produced creative posters and models on the theme of a ‘Journey in Science’ which were displayed for everyone to enjoy in the entrance hall. One of the highlights of the week was when over 200 children and parents attended an interactive talk on gravity one evening presented by ‘Scientist in Residence’ Richard Robertson. Parents and carers also gave up their time to inspire the children with talks and workshops about their jobs and careers in science. ‘It was lovely to see so much passion and enthusiasm displayed by our children and we hope the children’s thirst for knowledge will lead them to read and explore more widely.’ (Mel Stone – co-lead for science).

This month has been slightly quieter on the Ofsted front. 

Congratulations to Hertford Junior School, Middle Street Primary School, Fairlight Primary School and King’s School on retaining their Good judgements from Ofsted.

Hertford Juniors: ‘The school is held in high regard by parents, carers, pupils, staff and the local community.’

Middle Street Primary: ‘You [Julie Aldous, Headteacher] have created a culture of strong partnership between staff, pupils and parents and carers that allows everyone to contribute to the success of the school.’

Fairlight Primary: ‘You [Damien Jordan, Headteacher] lead a dedicated and enthusiastic team that works hard for the benefit of all pupils. The school’s inclusive ethos is a great strength.’ 

King’s School: ‘Pupils from a range of backgrounds thrive in this highly successful and inclusive school. Leaders are dedicated, determined and ambitious.’

West Blatchington Primary were inspected this month and we are awaiting the results. I look forward to reporting back next time. 

Welcome

Sophie Thomas, St Andrew’s new Headteacher

Welcome to Sophie Thomas, who is now in post as the new substantive Headteacher for St Andrew’s. Sophie came to us from Newick Church of England Primary School in East Sussex and we are delighted to have her with us in the city as an experienced school leader.  

We all wish her well and are looking forward to working with her.
Best wishes,
Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Happy Christmas

Wishing you a Happy Christmas

and good wishes for the New Year

 from

 Jo Lyons

and the

Education & Skills team

  

Daily Mile

St Paul’s pupils enjoying the Daily Mile

Despite only having a small amount of outdoor space, St Paul’s Church of England Primary School have taken up the daily mile with great enthusiasm. A total of 45 different children have participated and there are 5 children who have been every day. Well done St Paul’s!

11 of our Brighton & Hove schools are currently running a Daily Mile or similar programme in their school. In Brighton & Hove there are significantly more children (in school Years 1-11) who are active across the week (32.0% undertake an average of 30 minutes or more both at school and outside school but not every day), compared to the national average (25.7%). In our city there are also significantly fewer children (in School Years 1-11) undertaking less than 30 minutes of sport and physical activity a day at school and outside of school (61.2%) than the national average (67.5%). There is still work to be done to get children active for 60 minutes in & out of school and how the daily mile can help schools achieve their Active 30 minutes.

St Paul’s pupils enjoying the Daily Mile

The PE and School Sport Premium funding guidance does make reference that ‘Where schools choose to take part in an active mile, you should use your existing playgrounds, fields, halls and sports facilities to incorporate an active mile into the school day and develop a lifelong habit of daily physical activity’ .

Schools can use the Active Planner for further guidance and support around introducing Active Miles / activities into the school day. https://www.activeschoolplanner.org/

School Christmas performances

It’s that time of year when our schools and colleges have been ‘wowing’ their parents and communities with amazing end of year performances.

I had the great pleasure of visiting Coldean Primary to see their Key Stage 1 performance of ‘Dumbo’ which was a fabulous display of talent from all their children. Thank you, Coldean.

  

Little Green Pig

Little Green Pig are a charity that run writing workshops in schools and after school clubs for children and young people. They came to the Primary Heads meeting this month and shared a video of the BrightSTAR project which took place in Moulsecoomb Primary. This was a whole school writing project based around a school curriculum topic of space. More details are available through the website where you can also watch a film of the project and its impact here: https://www.littlegreenpig.org.uk/blog/watch-a-transmission-from-brightstar/

 

Every Child a Reader

Vicky Hemstedt, Reading Recovery teacher from Middle Street Primary at the House of Lords  

Staff from Middle Street Primary School in Brighton went to the House of Lords this month to talk about their outstanding success in helping pupils who struggle with reading. Since 2012 more than 40 children at the school have benefited from the Reading Recovery programme. Children who are struggling with Literacy in Year 1 are given daily 1-1 individualised literacy lessons with an expert teacher. This is a national scheme coordinated locally by Brighton & Hove City Council and used by 16 schools in the city.

Fast forward six years – and the first pupils to have received Reading Recovery left for secondary school having caught up with their peers and with a love of reading. Many of these children went on to become ‘reading buddies’ and school librarians. Middle Street’s Reading Recovery teacher, Vicky Hemstedt, said: ‘The programme has had a massive impact in our school, not just with improved exam results but also in terms of behaviour and engagement in class. It’s incredibly rewarding to see children’s sheer joy and boosted self-esteem when they become successful readers and writers.’

The council’s Reading Recovery coordinator, Louise Zahra, said: ‘Reading is a fundamental skill – children simply can’t achieve their potential without it. The Reading Recovery programme has had a massive impact in all the schools who have used it – it’s literally changed the lives of thousands of our city’s children.’

  

The Schools Christmas Concert

Pupils at Schools Christmas Concert, photo Ayla Carli 

On Monday the 3rd of December over 1,200 children from 43 different primary and special schools took part in the Schools Christmas Concert at the Brighton Centre. It was a fantastic evening of festive music-making organised by Brighton & Hove Music & Arts with a programme featuring both traditional and contemporary festive songs. Further showcasing musical talent in the city, the massed choir where accompanied by young musicians from Brighton & Hove Youth Big Band and Brighton & Hove Youth Wind Orchestra during this celebratory evening of music. Congratulations to all the young musicians who performed!

Pupils at Schools Christmas Concert, photo Ayla Carli 

Family Learning

Family baking

Brighton & Hove’s Family Learning team ran a Family Christmas Baking session with the Food Partnership at the Community Kitchen this month. Six families came along for an afternoon of baking festive cheesy crackers and stained glass biscuits. Family Learning courses are informative, practical and fun offering a great opportunity for parents, carers and their children to enjoy quality time together learning new skills and are often the first steps to further learning.

  

Family baking

  

As always it’s been a busy time with Ofsted this month. Congratulations to City Academy Whitehawk and Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School on retaining their Good judgements from Ofsted.

The Ofsted Inspector said the following about City Academy Whitehawk:

‘School leaders at all levels, as well as the governors, are strongly committed to providing the best possible education for pupils.’

The Ofsted inspector said the following about Our Lady of Lourdes:

‘Leaders work effectively together and have created a positive culture that supports all members of staff in doing their very best for the pupils in the school.’

We also have to give great congratulations to Royal Spa Nursery on being judged Outstanding again.

The Ofsted inspector said this about Royal Spa:

‘There is a culture of care and kindness throughout the school. The learning environment both indoors and outside is a wonderland of activities waiting to entice children to use their curiosity to learn.

The comment of one parent exemplifies that of others:

‘In my opinion Royal Spa is everything a nursery should be: safe, welcoming, caring, educational and fun. Due to the attentiveness and warmth of the staff, my daughter settled into nursery and is excited to go in each day.’

Other inspections have taken place and we are awaiting the results for Hertford Junior School, Middle Street Primary School, Fairlight Primary School and King’s School. I look forward to reporting back next time.

The Ofsted Annual Report 2017/18 is also now out, read it here.

Welcomes and Goodbyes

It’s time to say goodbye to Andy Lincoln from St Andrew’s CE Primary. Thank you for his leadership at St Andrew’s during his time as interim head teacher.

Helen Emerson, PSHE Lead Teacher

It’s time also to say thank you and goodbye to Helen Emerson, PSHE Lead Teacher for the local authority and PSHE Co-ordinator at Dorothy Stringer. Helen is leaving us to work as Secondary Subject Specialist for the PSHE Association. We are delighted for Helen as this recognises her skills and abilities, but it is also recognition of the high quality PSHE practice we have in Brighton & Hove. I would like to thank Helen for the support she has given to secondary schools and in particular new PSHE co-ordinators. Helen has been instrumental in organising Theatre in Education Tours dealing with exploitation, developed resources for PSHE and provided excellent training to schools. Her commitment and ‘can do’ energy will be missed, but we wish her well.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services. 

Congratulations to our Children in Care

Children in Care and Care Leavers Trophies

It was amazing to attend the Children in Care and Care Leavers Awards ceremony on Friday 23rd November at the Amex Stadium. It was a positive, uplifting and glitzy event to mark the achievements of young people, with GOAT (Greatest of All Time) certificates and trophies being presented by the Mayor of Brighton, Cllr. Dee Simson, and Pinaki Ghoshal, Executive Director of Families, Children & Learning. Congratulations to all the proud award winners and everyone involved in arranging this feel good celebration of their tremendous efforts. 

Anti-Bullying Week

This month we had anti-bullying week. The Equality and Anti-Bullying Service sent materials under the ‘Choose Respect’ theme to primary and secondary schools that buy into the service and has promoted to all schools the anti-bullying alliance resources. https://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/anti-bullying-week Schools got involved with this theme and engaged children and young people in activities to promote respect and kindness. For example: PACA held an anti-bullying t-shirt competition. 

PACA Anti-bullying display

Anabel Carrington from the Community Safety Team organised an Odd Socks Day for us here in Hove Town Hall to raise money for the anti-bullying alliance and the excellent work it does.


Patcham Infant school enjoyed a week of friendship and respect during Anti-Bullying week this year. The children were wowed by a film clip with a personal message from Andy from the Odd Socks Gang and CBeebies, while joining him in wearing odd socks to celebrate difference. The children learnt about what respect means and how to show respect in school. They were reminded about what bullying behaviours are and what to do to get help if they see it or experience it. The children were reminded about the importance of including others and how to be welcoming.  

Odd socks at Patcham

Youth Led Grants

Some of the young people involved in the funding project

Young people in Brighton & Hove took the lead on agreeing funding for £88,000 of council grants to fund community-based projects for young people aged 11-19 (or up to 25 with special educational needs).

Brighton & Hove City Council’s youth-led grants programme offers funding of between £500 and £5,000. The grants support projects and activities for young people in four key areas: improving mental health support, helping reduce alcohol and substance misuse, providing activities for young people, and creating volunteering and work experience opportunities.

Young people have been at the centre of both the bidding process and in deciding how the funding should be allocated. A group of young people made a presentation about their involvement in the funding scheme at the council’s Children, Young People and Skills committee this month.

Primary Schools go cross country running  

The start of the 2018 Brighton & Hove Primary Schools Cross Country races at Waterhall

After a wintery start over 1,000 children took part in the annual Brighton & Hove Primary Schools Cross Country races at Waterhall on Wednesday 21 November. Children from 41 Brighton & Hove Primary schools took part – all racing over the 2k course. Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer and PACA helped at the event by marshalling out on the course and co-ordinating the race results. Phoenix Athletics club also supported the event by running the finish funnel. The event is organised by the School Games Organiser who is part of the Active for Life team at Brighton & Hove City Council. Emma Greenough – School Games Organiser for Brighton & Hove said ‘It was great to have so many children taking part and representing their school. As we all know being active is so important in keeping a healthy lifestyle and it’s fantastic to see so many children enjoying running today. So many schools now have Daily Mile type challenges at school which encourages so many more children to get outside and run and I think that’s why we are seeing so many children taking part and having ago at the Cross Country today.’

Congratulations to the Supported Employment Team 

Lewis with his cricket team

Lewis is a client of the Brighton & Hove Supported Employment Team (SET). His service from SET is part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) funded Local Supported Employment programme. Prior to being a SET client, Lewis attended a local day centre part-time. Through his involvement in volunteer work at the Sussex Cricket Club, Lewis started travelling independently on the bus, stopped attending the day service, started running a session for the day service he used to attend, and working towards gaining a coaching qualification – which could lead to paid work in the future. Lewis is justifiably proud of what he has achieved and the Sussex Cricket Club has been wonderfully supportive of Lewis and his aspirations. He was nominated for Cricket volunteer of the year award and went to a swanky dinner at Lords cricket ground in London. I am very pleased that our SET team has played a part in supporting Lewis and the Sussex Cricket Club in these achievements.

Lewis receiving an Young Volunteer of the year award

Supported Employment (SET) client celebrates 25 years in job 

Robert and Lea Pulling, the store manager

This month Robert Brown, one of our learning disabled Supported Employment Clients, was given recognition by his employer, Sainsbury’s, for 25 years of service. He received chocolates and gift cards. Robert started at Sainsbury’s London Road store in 1993. That store is no longer there and Robert now works at the New England Quarter Sainsbury’s store.

Robert was supported into employment by the Supported Employment Team in 1993. Over the 25 years the Supported Employment Team has kept in touch with Robert and his employer and on many occasions our team has been called upon to provide short-term support to ensure that Robert successfully maintains his employment.

Providing Access to Childcare and Employment 

PACE project with service users at a children’s centre

PACE (Providing Access to Childcare and Employment)  is a European funded project delivered locally by the  Family Information Service (FIS) and children’s centres. This video gives a brief overview of the project by Eleanor Stewart, Project Co-ordinator, and some of the parents who  are signed up to PACE.  The video was shown at a national conference earlier this month by Fiona Ricci, FIS Manager, and it will also be included in the paper that is going to committee in March. For more information see the website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/pace

National award for one of our Apprentices 

Chris Bubloz at the British Computer Society IT Industry Awards

Well done to Chris Bubloz, Technician in the IT & Digital Customer Delivery team, Customer & Partnerships, who won the Highly Commended Award in the IT Apprentice of the Year category at the prestigious British Computer Society IT Industry Awards 2018.

The Art of Good Health

In the latest annual report of the Director of Public Health, director Alistair Hill explains how the arts can be beneficial to good health at all stages of life. It’s got local statistics and some interesting case studies from the past year that show how arts and culture are making a difference across Brighton & Hove. Follow the link to take a look. 

Congratulations to Hove Park for ICT

Congratulations to Headteacher Jim Roberts and everyone at Hove Park School. They have been acknowledged as an Apple Distinguished School for the third time, for their continuous innovation in learning, teaching and the school environment.

Congratulations to Josh Cliff 

Josh Cliff representing B&H at the House of Commons

On 9th November, over 300 members of the Youth Parliament - including Josh Cliff representing Brighton & Hove - joined the 10th annual UKYP debate in the House of Commons. 

Following a record 1.1 million votes from young people in this year's ‘Make Your Mark’ ballot, debates were held on 5 topics that young people cared about, chaired by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon John Bercow MP. 

At the end, the members of Youth Parliament voted and decided on two campaigns to work on over the next year. These are 'Votes at 16' and 'Put an end to Knife crime'

Drove Road is Outstanding 

A service run by Brighton & Hove City Council for young people aged 8-18 who have learning disabilities and challenging behaviour has been judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. The Drove Road residential short breaks service in Portslade provides a mixture of short breaks and full-time accommodation. 

Albion in the Community update

Congratulations to all schools who competed in the Albion Cup football competitions recently. Primary Schools Goldstone, Hangleton, St Mary’s Catholic and Balfour (under 11 mixed) and Balfour, Cottesmore, Goldstone and St Mary’s Catholic (under 11 girls) have now qualified for the county-wide finals which will take place Brighton & Hove Albion’s Training Ground in Lancing later this month. The winning teams of this event will go on to represent Albion in the Community (AITC)/ Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (BHAFC) at the national finals and get to play at a (yet unknown) Premier League stadium! AITC are also running ‘Albion Cup’ inter-school competitions in enterprise, literacy and numeracy at the Amex stadium this year.
AITC have produced a new guide as an overview of all the support they can provide. You can view a copy here.

It continues to be a busy Ofsted time for us all. Saltdean Primary and Stanford Junior were inspected last month and I’m very pleased that they both continue to be Good. Congratulations and well done to acting headteacher Natalie Burley (Saltdean); headteacher Paul Davis (Stanford) and all teachers, support staff, parents and of course the children!

The Ofsted inspector said the following about Saltdean: 
‘Parents and pupils […] said that the school is friendly and welcoming. Pupils told [the Ofsted inspector] that all the adults are caring and that they like their school.’

The Ofsted inspector said the following about Stanford Junior:

‘Pupils in the school are happy and successful. They settle quickly when they arrive in Year 3 because staff invest in helping them to move successfully from their infant school. They relish the opportunities to learn beyond their formal curriculum, through rich experiences in and out of school, supported by carefully planned trips and activities.’

City Academy Whitehawk, Royal Spa Nursery and Our Lady of Lourdes School had inspections this month. I look forward to reporting back next time. Best of luck to everyone at the schools!
Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.