The end of another academic year

It’s that time of year when our schools and some of our education and skills providers are finishing for the summer. For others across Education and Skills and the wider partnership, you may be planning for a summer holiday or a short well deserved break from work. I’d like to wish you all well and a happy and safe summer. Thank you for your continued commitment to education, skills and our children and families across the city. 

NQT Celebration Event

Skills and attributes mapping

Congratulations to all our newly qualified teachers (NQT’s) who are coming to the end of their induction year. A celebration event was held this month by Sharon Mackenzie (School and Governance Development Manager) and her team, where NQTs spent time reflecting on their achievements so far. They also learnt about next year’s appraisal process, the opportunities available to them as they move on in their careers and the skills and attributes they hope to develop (pictured). I hope you all have a well-deserved break over the summer!

Governance training & development

New Ofsted Framework

Our final event of the academic year went down well this week, with governors and clerks spending an evening discussing the new Ofsted Framework and thinking about questions they can be asking their school leaders. Governors welcomed the fact that there would be more focus on all areas of the curriculum and time was spent considering how governors can support school leaders with this change. The Governance Development Team also held a very engaging Governance Partnership Forum this month led by Gavin Thomas, Access to Education Manager. Delegates were able to share ideas about how we as a city can support some of our most vulnerable children - such as children with medical needs, school-aged mothers, those in elective home education, poor attenders, Hidden Children, excluded children etc. Thank you to all those who contributed - including governors from Longhill (pictured, with Sharon MacKenzie and Gavin Thomas). 

Longhill governors with Sharon MacKenzie and Gavin Thomas

Congratulations - Another good set of results 

A huge thank you for all the hard work of our teachers and all school staff who have prepared children for and organised a range of assessments in primary schools this summer.
The headlines in our early analysis of provisional results show that:

• At KS2 (age 11) schools in the city remain above or at national averages in reading, writing and maths. We know that there have been particular improvements in writing progress which has been an area targeted for improvement
• At KS1 (age 7) there have been improvements in reading, writing and maths attainment to be above national averages
• In early years we continue to remain in line with national averages

Well done to all the children and staff who have worked so hard across the City. We are very proud of these successes!

As part of the ongoing collaboration of the schools in the Aspirational Partners in Learning and Partnership (APLL), they held an exhibition event to showcase some of the work done by their children throughout the year. It was hosted at Longhill High School. I was delighted to be invited and join the teachers, headteachers, councillors, governors and wider partners. The simple theme was creativity. It was well and truly an amazing event with some spectacular innovative displays from all the schools involved. Lots of learning, sharing and networking was had by all. Well done APLL and the children of course! 

Brighton & Hove Virtual School annual summer conference

Sam Wilson, Virtual School lead, speaking at the conference

Brighton & Hove Virtual School held its annual summer conference this month. Dr. Margot Sunderland, award-winning author and co-director of ‘Trauma- informed Schools’ shared not only how trauma can affect a child’s ability to learn, but also how school leaders can embrace a whole school trauma informed approach. 

We also heard how our own Brighton & Hove schools have embraced this learning and used the Attachment Aware Behaviour Regulation Policy guidance to review their own inclusive behaviour practices. To find out more about the work of Trauma Informed Schools: www.traumainformedschools.co.uk

However, it was the performances from our own Brighton & Hove children in care and children previously in care that blew us away; their talent, confidence and creativity shone through their poems and songs. The children and have been working with Little Green Pig, a local creative writing charity. More info and contact details: https://www.littlegreenpig.org.uk/  , info@littlegreenpig.org.uk , 01273 457 758

The conference was a wonderful opportunity for teachers, headteachers, educational psychologists, social workers, adopters and foster carers to come together, to explore how we can each contribute to supporting the emotional and mental health needs of our children- because we know that if we do they will achieve their very best!

Sussex Teacher of the Year Awards

The Sussex Teacher of the Year Awards was a fantastic evening, all made possible by great partnerships, and a fitting celebration to trumpet the best educators and support staff in your county. 

Mark Storey, Head of Education Standards & Achievement and Emma Gale, Maths teacher, with one of her awards 

Well done to Emma Gale from Coldean Primary School for winning the awards for Maths Teacher of the Year Brighton, Hove and Mid Sussex, and Overall Sussex Primary School Teacher of the Year. See event video: https://vimeo.com/345222247 

Looking forward to next year’s event and some more winners from Brighton & Hove! 

Carden annual Eid Picnic 

Carden Nursery and Primary School hosted their third annual Eid celebration picnic again this year. There was a fabulous array of delicious food, from curries to pastries - some which had come from as far away as Kuwait! The ever wonderful Parent Teacher Association (PTA) also provided henna tattoos for numerous delighted children. This event is not only a celebration of this particular festival but a reminder of the brilliant community at the school. Huge thanks to all who organised, attended and enjoyed the afternoon. 

Miss School Miss Out – our Citywide attendance campaign

Following on from the Miss School Miss Out attendance campaign, we’ve made a video of some of our primary school pupils saying what they like best about going to school. They told us all sorts of things they enjoy – from seeing friends to sports, maths, art and playing ninjas in the playground. Take a look: https://youtu.be/sacirXUERZU 

The video is designed to be shared with parents and pupils as part of the drive to improve attendance in our schools. It can be shown in the classroom; shared on social media and sent to new parents to share with their children. Although it is subtitled, it is far better with the sound on; so please make sure you listen as well as watch! Thank you to the staff and pupils of St Peter’s Primary for their help in producing this film and for their enthusiastic responses. 
We will also be producing another video aimed at secondary pupils next term, so watch this space. 

The council's access to education team can also offer help and advice with school attendance. Email attendanceteam@brighton-hove.gov.uk or call 01273 291378. For further advice on school attendance please visit https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/miss-school-miss-out 

Official Opening of New Build at St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School

The Bishop of Chichester at the new building entrance 

On 12 July, St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School celebrated the opening of their new extension. It looks fantastic and the inclusion of a clock above the entrance gives a focal point for people coming to and from the station and into the local supermarket. Bishop Martin of Chichester led the celebration and blessed the new build. 

Thank you and Goodbyes

It’s that time of year when some of our headteachers and principals across the partnership retire or move on. We would like to thank them all for their commitment to the children and families across the city and wish them all the best for the future. 

Paul Beverton has been Headteacher of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School in Rottingdean for four years and a deputy and teacher in the city for the whole of his career so far. In September he is taking on the headship of St Thomas a Becket Catholic Primary School in Eastbourne. We wish him all the best.
Richard Bradford came to Dorothy Stringer from leading a school in Hong Kong. As well as successful headship at Dorothy Stringer he has been instrumental in partnership working overtime, chairing the Secondary Schools Partnership and one of the founder headteachers of the Pavilion and Downs Teaching School Alliance. He will be retiring at the end of term and we wish him all the best for the next chapter of his life.

Suzanne Morgan has worked in the city for 33 years as teacher, senior leaders, consultant and Headteacher. She is leaving Saltdean Primary School at the end of term.  

Our thanks to Natalie Burley who has been Acting Headteacher at Saltdean Primary School. Natalie has done a fantastic job and we wish her well as she returns to her role as Deputy Head

We are also saying goodbye to Ellen Mulvihill, Director of the Pavilion and Downs Teaching School Alliance and former Head of Standards and Achievement and Behaviour and Attendance in the city. She is leaving to take on the role of Director of School Improvement for Surrey Schools. We are looking forward to working with her in her new role. 

Paul Beverton, Headteacher of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary, Richard Bradford, Headteacher of Dorothy Stringer, Suzanne Morgan, Headteacher of Saltdean Primary School

Ellen Mulvihill, Director of the Pavilion and Downs Teaching School Alliance, Natalie Burley, Acting Headteacher at Saltdean Primary School

Best wishes,
Jo

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

Refugee Week

Richard Williams and Angie Lynn from Sanctuary on Sea presenting the award to Teresa Owen, one of the managers at Roundabout Nursery

The theme of Refugee Week was ‘Different Pasts, Shared Futures’. Innovative lessons, projects and celebrations during last year’s Refugee Week were used by a number of schools as a springboard to start their work for a School of Sanctuary Award. Amongst them, Royal Spa Nursery School and Roundabout Nursery used Persona Dolls to teach pre-schoolers about refugees. Dorothy Stringer undertook Moving Stories workshops in collaboration with Blatchington Mill and the University of Brighton, in which they made and shared videos of pupil’s migrations. St Joseph’s has pupil-led Languages of the Month in every class. We celebrate that these all achieved a School of Sanctuary Award, with Blatchington Mill and St Luke’s Primary both winning their second Award. Stanford Infants, Hove Juniors, Sussex House Nursery, University of Brighton Nursery, St Peter’s Portslade and Brackenbury School are all engaged with the School of Sanctuary programme and hope to qualify for their awards in due course. And it’s great that both BHASVIC and Brighton MET are looking at working towards becoming Colleges of Sanctuary. Well done to all. 

Good news from Hove Park

Jim Roberts, Headteacher and Michelle Prentice, Deputy Headteacher, recently attended a reception at the House of Lords to be formally told they have made it into the EdTech50 schools in the UK. This is a recognition by the Education Foundation. There were lots of applications and the judges were hugely impressed with Hove Park! This follows on from Michelle’s work that she presented at the Education & Skills Committee.

John Gaston, exams officer at Hove Park School and creator of Examscreen

Also, a Hove Park teacher has won an award for his Exam app. Congratulations to John Gaston, the exams officer at the school, who invented Examscreen to meet the need for a clear and consistent way to display exam information. Mr Gaston hoped that it would be a way of improving student experience and reducing workload for exam officers and invigilators. His idea has now earned him a £5,000 prize and the app has been adopted by more than 600 schools. Mr Gaston said: ‘I decided to create Examscreen because I saw that there was a gap for a tool that would standardise and professionalise exams across the UK with many benefits to the individual schools and students.’ See examscreen.co.uk and www.coolinitiatives.com.

Congratulations Isabel Reid

Isabel Reid, Winner of the National RSE Teaching Award

Isabel is the Inclusion Co-ordinator at Carlton Hill Primary School, PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) Lead Teacher for Brighton & Hove City Council and an SLE for Pavilion Downs Teaching School. Isabel was nominated for the award by Tamsen Beer, Headteacher, Carlton Hill Primary School. The judges were extremely impressed with the quality of Isabel’s work to improve the quality of teaching and learning in relationships and sex education (RSE) both in school and citywide. Here's a quote from the nomination which will resonate with anyone who has worked with her: ‘Isabel is passionate about ensuring that every child leaves Primary school with the skills and knowledge to support them through the complicated teenage years ahead of them.’ 

We are all very proud of Isabel and thank her for her hard work and commitment. We are lucky to have her and other PSHE Lead Teachers, Sarah Jackson and Hugh Garling, supporting schools in the city; particularly with statutory relationships, relationships and sex and health education on its way. Isabel said ‘I am really pleased to be recognised for the part I have played in promoting high quality RSE at my school and across the city's primary schools.’

See www.sexeducationforum.org.uk , www.ncb.org.uk and get involved, and access a range of resources about RSE DAY here.

The Power of Reading

Congratulations to Rudyard Kipling Primary School and Nursery, who have been invited by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) to become an Advocate School for the Power of Reading. This is a proven English curriculum which places high quality texts at the heart of teaching and learning, and impacts greatly on engagement, achievement and attainment in language, reading and writing. As an Advocate School, they will receive training, support and visits from Advisory Teachers at the CLPE, and be open to visits from other schools and settings to share their good practise and expertise. Rudyard Kipling are thrilled to have been given this opportunity by the CLPE and are lucky to have an ECAR teacher who is part of the CLPE. Congratulations to the school’s Headteacher Joanne Smith and all the teachers and pupils at Rudyard Kipling. 

Withdean Athletics 

Pupils taking part in a relay race at Withdean Athletics

It was great to see so many children taking part and enjoying Athletics this month at Withdean. We were so fortunate with the weather! 840 children from 24 schools took part! A big thank you again to all of the Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer and PACA, who all did a great job in officiating at the competition. The day couldn’t have happened without them.  We would also like to say a big thank you to the team of volunteers and staff from the Active for Life Team. Hopefully lots of our children have been bitten by the running bug and would like to do more after school! 

Cottesmore Quad pupils with their Spirit of the Games and 1st place awards

This week we also had the Sussex School Games finals. Some highlights from the day: 
·         Cottesmore winning the year 5/6 Quadkids Athletics and the 
          Spirit of the Games award! 
·         Newman Year 7 Girls finishing 2nd in the Netball
·         Patcham High Year 7/8 Mixed Table Tennis team finishing 
          3rd in the Table Tennis 
·         And Cottesmore’s Year 5/6 Quadkids team winning the Spirit of the                       Games award.

PACA and Patcham High’s Sports Leaders also officiated at the Netball and Table Tennis finals. All of the leaders did an outstanding job, and many of the schools commented how knowledgeable and efficient the leaders were at umpiring and scoring. They were all a real credit to their schools and Brighton & Hove! 

Congratulations to the Supported Employment Team 

Suzette Attwood from SET, and Paul Turk from Southdown Housing attending a workshop in London where they met Justin Tomlinson, the new Minister of State for Disabled People

Brighton & Hove Council’s Supported Employment Team (SET), who recently received a Kitemark from the British Association for Supported Employment, have been taking part in a DWP ‘Proof of Concept’ project. The project involves 11 Local Authorities using the Supported Employment model to help people with Learning disabilities, Autism and Mental Health difficulties who are furthest from the labour market to access employment opportunities. This work is done through a partnership between SET and Southdown Housing’s Employment Support team.

3 of PGTA and their mentors from Downs View School attending induction

Twelve new Post Graduate Teaching Apprentices (PGTA) have started their training with University of Brighton, with five of the apprentices from within Brighton & Hove maintained schools.  The PGTA is a great opportunity for you to grow your own teachers supporting new or existing staff from a pool of fresh talented people. The apprenticeship takes 14 months, starting in June and completing the end of the summer term when the apprentice will be ready to start in September as a newly qualified teacher (NQT). Grants are available through DFE to support the apprentices and vary from £4,500 to £14,500, dependant on subject area. These grants can be used to support the apprentice’s salary making the journey from TA to PGTA more affordable option for the school.

Deputy Headteacher Rachel McDonald-Taylor said: 

‘We're very pleased to say that the four apprentices have started and are already proving to be valuable members of the team. We are looking forward to seeing them grow and becoming fully fledged teachers, passionate about pupils with SEND. The programme is going smoothly: the work based learning coupled with the theoretical input from the University of Brighton is a very holistic combination that is working well for the school.’

For more information on apprenticeships, please contact Gavin Graham gavin.graham@brighton-hove.gov.uk , 01273 293320 or 07510 585701. Click on me to find out first hand from a PGTA apprentice

St. Paul’s links with Zaragoza

St Paul’s children playing Spanish games with their link school

Way back in 2011, the school began a bilingual project to incorporate Spanish into other areas of the curriculum. From then they taught Spanish from reception and in all classes in key stage one and two. This work has led to exceptional results and has grown every year. St Paul’s arranged training so all their teachers could use every day basic Spanish vocabulary with the children and learn new words. As the pupils move up through the school, their Spanish vocabulary becomes increasingly complex. St Paul’s wanted the children to use their Spanish in its natural environment. Every year since 2015, St Paul’s have visited a link school in Zaragoza, Spain, and welcomed children from the Spanish school. It is such a rich experience to use language, explore our cultures and learn about each other’s education systems, as well as making friends. See link http://www.ripl.uk/school-focus/st-pauls-cofe-brighton/ Well done to the Headteacher, all the staff and pupils at St Paul’s!

Congratulations to St John the Baptist for retaining their Good judgement from Ofsted. 

‘The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have a clear vision for the school. You aim for your pupils to have the best opportunities in education, so they are well prepared for the future.’

St Mark’s CE Primary School received a Requires Improvement judgement from Ofsted. They will continue to receive support from the local authority and the wider Brighton & Hove Education Partnership on their improvement journey. There were many positive elements in the report and it was good to read the many strengths of the school being recognised.

Many of our schools in Brighton & Hove have been celebrating Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month.  This has been a great opportunity to celebrate the many successes and positive contributions of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people to our society.  

     

The schools have run a competition with the theme ‘My Roots, My Routes’.  This has been a fabulous way of allowing all children to discuss and celebrate their diverse heritage, and for children to ask questions of people with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller heritage and find out more.

Children have been writing, drawing and talking about their heritage and celebrating the many contributions made by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people to our society.   There have been assemblies and lessons led by our Traveller Education Support Unit which have explored identity, stereotypes and the media portrayal of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people.

Richard O’Neill, author

Patcham Junior School also invited Roma author Richard O’Neill along. Richard has produced a beautiful new book and teaching resources - Polonius the Pit Pony.  The presentation is great and the book has wonderful reviews. The Book Nook in Hove stock (or can order) Richard's books. This would be a great project for Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month.  

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Another Amazing Children’s Parade

Children’s Parade. Photo Xavier Clarke 

Jointly produced with award-winning community arts organisation Same Sky and sponsored by the University of Brighton, the 2019 Children’s Parade took place on Saturday the 4th of May. It was fabulous to watch with a spectacular view from above on the Balcony of the Theatre Royal. The theme of this year’s parade was ‘Folk Tales from Around the World’, focusing on tales from Africa, Europe, the Arctic the Americas, Asia and Oceania. This year, 58 schools and 3,473 children took part with the help of over 1,000 parents and carers. It was great to see so many of our Brighton & Hove headteachers leading their schools dressed up for the occasion, an example of the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership at its best.

Early Years Nursery Conference

It was a pleasure to open this year’s annual nursery conference held at Sussex University and meet the team. 110 nursery staff attended the event, which focused in the morning on supporting children’s early literacy and language skills with a focus on closing the word gap. The theme for the afternoon was safeguarding. Speakers included Darrel Clews, LADO for Brighton & Hove, Anna Wharf, who spoke about the PREVENT duty, and the final presentation of the day looked at parental conflict and the impact this can have on young children. Throughout the day staff were also able to book onto smaller workshops to develop their skills in Makaton, Music Making, Engaging Fathers in Early Years, and Child Led Play. The importance of the wellbeing of staff was a priority for the day, with information stands from Albion in The Community, My Staff Shop and a bespoke workshop to support staff with questions around the menopause. It was such an important day for our early years workforce who do such a fantastic job ensuring our youngest children make the best start in their education.

Young City Reads

Author of The Boy at the Back of the Class, Onjali Q.Raúf 

I was privileged to join over 1,400 school children for the Young City Reads project finale at Brighton Dome, to see the inspirational author Onjali Q. Raúf live on stage for this special celebration of her award winning book: The Boy at the Back of the Class. I am currently reading this book to my own daughter and it’s amazing. The book tells the story of a young Syrian refugee, Ahmet, and describes refugee crises through the eyes of a child. It is written with heart and humour and highlights the importance of friendship and kindness in a world that doesn’t always make sense. It was very emotional to see so many year 4 and 5 children engaged, listening and then cheering for Onjali. What a fabulous celebration of reading in our city.

In Brighton & Hove there are some incredible projects working to ease the plight of the refugees and to ensure that some of the most vulnerable people in society feel welcome and safe in our lovely city.

Primary children at the Young City Reads event at the Dome. Photographer credit: Sam Luck

Watch Onjali introduce the project and her book here.

Supporting Transition for Children and Young People in Care and Previously in Care

The Virtual School has recently published a transitions resource based on learning from parents and carers of children previously in care. Parents and carers spoke about what they have found helpful for their children in supporting them to deal with change, as well as suggesting what would be even better practice. This short resource is designed to add to the transition toolkit that schools already have in place. It covers why children in care and previously in care may benefit from an enhanced planning and transition process and includes whole school approaches and support for individuals. It includes ideas, suggestions and examples from local primary and secondary schools, as well as links to additional materials. I’d recommend all schools to take a look. Please contact virtualschool@brighton-hove.gov.uk for a copy, and if you have access to the wave and school bulletins, please click here .

Ramadan Mubarak

Ramadan this year began on Monday 6th May. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic. Fasting takes place from dawn to sunset during this period. It is a time in which Muslims dedicate to refocus on purifying their souls and conduct through self-reflection, self-sacrifice and prayer. It was good to hear that so many of our schools were learning about Ramadan and supporting and respecting colleagues and families who were observing Ramadan this month. We are now looking forward to Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Learn about this important religious holiday.

City Mathematics Strategy across the City

Maths poster

It was a real pleasure to attend the celebration event for the schools involved in the very successful maths (Strategic School Improvement Fund) project. There was so much enthusiasm in the room for maths and we could tell from the presentations just how far schools have progressed in their thinking. It was also good to hear about the times it didn’t go so well and the great learning that it brought.

The schools presented their maths projects

Brighton & Hove City Council is pleased to be able to support the further development of maths through a new project ‘it all adds up’. We are delighted that together with the Sussex Coast Teaching School Alliance, Stuart Mcconnachie, Headteacher and National Leader of Education from Coldean Primary, the fantastic SLE (Specialist Leaders Education) from the maths hub, and our local schools, we can use the learning from the project to further develop our approach to maths across the city. If any other schools would like to take part, please contact Hilary Ferries by e-mail: hilary.ferries@brighton-hove.gov.uk or telephone: 01273 293738.

Foster Care Fortnight

Foster Care Fortnight took place this month – the UK’s biggest annual fostering awareness campaign, developed and delivered by The Fostering Network. The campaign this year highlights the power of fostering to change futures and celebrates the transformational effect of foster care and the achievements of everyone involved. We are continuing to work hard to increase our number of in-house Foster Carers. We have a growing Foster Carer community who are changing the futures of fostered children and young people every day. They do what they do because of the significant, positive impact the children and young people in their care can have on them as a fostering family. If you or someone you know could become a Foster Carer and can make a difference to the lives of children who need support, then the Recruitment Team would love to hear from you. To find out more call 01273 295444, visit the website, complete the enquiry link or e-mail fosteringrecruitment@brighton-hove.gov.uk

A New Special Educational Needs and Disability Strategy

Work is underway across the city partnerships to develop a new SEND Strategy 2020-2025. A wide range of partners including health and social care colleagues, parents and carers and school staff are working together on agreeing a new set of priorities for the city around SEND. They are identifying what actions will need to take place across the next 5 years and looking at how progress can be meaningfully measured. The SEND Partnership Board will oversee this work and will be monitoring progress in the future. If you are not yet involved and would like to have your say please contact sen.team@brighton-hove.gov.uk .

Welcome to our Newly Elected Members

Following the local elections, the city council held an event on Tuesday the 7th May to welcome newly elected Members and give them a flavour of the range of services provided by the council directorates. The event was set out as a market place, each directorate having a stall to display information about the services they provide. The event was well attended by new councillors who were very interested to hear about the range of services delivered by Families, Children and Learning and work with schools and our wider Brighton & Hove Education Partnership and our plans for the year ahead. Our new lead member for FCL is Nick Childs and he will be the chair of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee.

Patcham Junior School was inspected this month. Congratulations to Patcham Junior School for retaining their Good judgement from Ofsted.

‘Pupils’ attitudes to school are very positive. They [..] enjoy coming to school because teachers plan exciting things to do and make learning fun.’ 

Moulsecoomb Primary School received an inadequate judgement from Ofsted. They will continue to receive support from the Local Authority and the wider Brighton & Hove Education Partnership on their improvement journey. There were many positive elements in the report and it was good to read the many strengths of the school being recognised.

St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School and St Mark’s CE Primary School have also had an Ofsted Inspections and I look forward to sharing the results in the next blog.

After extensive consultation, Ofsted have now released the new Ofsted Inspection Framework for September 2019. Please look at the link through to this framework and the inspection handbook on the Ofsted website. 

Work of Youth Employability Service and the Supported Employment Team 

Dean Coussens, Employability Adviser providing advice to a young person

The Youth Employability Service and Supported Employment Team have been busy working in partnership on the Think Futures programme, supporting young people 19 -25 years not in education, employment and training. Since October 2018, 88 young people have received bespoke packages of support to access meaningful employment and education opportunities including the achievement of AQA unit awards and a range of vocational qualifications. We are delighted that participant feedback so far has been really positive.

Curriculum: Intent, Implementation and Impact

We are looking forward to seeing all headteachers or senior education leaders from across the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership on Friday 14 June at Brighton Racecourse for our termly cross phase event to share experiences and ideas on Curriculum. There will be opportunities to join in workshops and hear from a range of speakers. If you have not already booked your place, please sign up via BEEM (login required) or email schools.training@brighton-hove.gov.uk If you are unable to attend yourself, then please send another member of your leadership team. There is plenty of on-site parking at Brighton Racecourse and parking permits are not required.

Best wishes,

Jo

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

The Summer Term and Brighton Festival begins

I hope everyone across the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership managed to get a break from work over easter. We have an important term ahead of learning and creativity across the city with all the fun Brighton Festival brings, the fabulous Children’s Parade (on the 4th of May), numerous educational trips and the annual sports days. 

May and June is also tests and exam time and I’d like to wish all our children and young people well, but recognise it can be a stressful time for many. It’s important for us all to work together and ensure support is in place for all our children and young people’s emotional wellbeing.

Trans Day of Visibility

Pronoun stickers

In Brighton & Hove, four of our secondary schools and two colleges shared the work they did to mark ‘Trans Day of Visibility’. The International Trans Day of Visibility was a great success at Longhill this year. It provoked many comments from students and staff as to how interesting, thought provoking and uplifting the assemblies and activities were. Amongst comments made by staff who saw students after assemblies were: ‘They were buzzing with it and had loads of questions’, ‘The clips went down really well’

There was a great deal of excitement and interest over the Trans stickers, handed out to students through their Mentors (Tutors) at the start of the day; and the contents of the lunchtime stall kindly hosted by Liv from Allsorts Youth Project. Feedback from the day from our Trans community revealed that they felt the issues they wanted to be raised in our initial meeting had been addressed. It was a day of mutual support, warmth, kindness and focus on our diverse community celebrating its differences and valuing its solidarity.

Curriculum Revisited

A word cloud of the geography curriculum

The School and College Leaders Cross Phase Business meeting this term will focus on the creativity of the curriculum. This is very timely with the new Ofsted framework coming out in the autumn. A group of headteachers are planning with Hilary Ferries (Senior Adviser: Education Partnerships) and the teaching schools to create a positive morning, where we will hear from school leaders and have workshops to share strategies as we consider intent, implementation and impact of the curriculum offer. I look forward to seeing you on 14 June at the Racecourse (please note change of venue).

BAME School Staff 

BAMEed, a national organisation for BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) educators, are holding their third annual conference at the University of Brighton in June 2019. BAMEed connects, enables and showcases the talent of diverse educators so they may inspire future generations and open up the possibilities within education careers. We hope that all BAME school staff and interested parties are able to attend this event. As there is a low number of BAME staff in schools, this is an opportunity to be part of a support network, a forum for discussion and a group with shared experiences and interests. 

BAMEed would like to support a regional group for Brighton & Hove BAME teachers and school staff, and hold its first meeting at the conference in June. If you are interested in being part of this group, but can’t attend the conference, please contact John Lynch (Independent Consultant, working with Beth Thomas-Hancock of the University of Brighton to support BAME student mentoring programmes) at jk33lynch@btinternet.com You can book onto the BAMEed conference here . For more information, see the website here 

Syrian Flavoured Ice cream supports children’s Big Read 

Brighton artisan ice cream parlour Boho Gelato has created a new Syrian inspired flavour in honour of this year’s Young City Reads book, ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ by Onjali Q Raúf, winner of The Blue Peter Book Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. The book follows the compassionate story of Ahmet, a young Syrian refugee and a small group of determined nine-year-olds, who go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure their new classmate has a sense of belonging.

Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival said: ‘Young City Reads is such an inspiring way to encourage more children to enjoy reading and express their ideas creatively. ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ is a perfect choice for Brighton Festival 2019, as we welcome Malian musician Rokia Traoré as our Guest Director. The book’s messages of friendship, kindness and celebrating difference should be shared now more than ever.'

Congratulations to Cardinal Newman – Rugby Champions 

Newman Rugby Academy have seen phenomenal success this season which culminated in the team winning the National AoC Final at Moseley, Birmingham. The team had worked their way up to the final where they played against Myerscough College who they beat in an exciting game winning 40-5 to crown them National Champions.

Newman Rugby Academy have been working extremely hard to get to National success. The Rugby Academy was created to allow students to develop themselves and play a high standard of rugby alongside their studies. 

Mr Neil Lester-Card, Rugby Academy Coach, said: ‘This is a fantastic result for Newman College and the players. It has been our goal for a number of years and to achieve it in such a convincing manner is a brilliant way to finish the season.’ Well done, Cardinal Newman!

Queen's Park Primary School at the Theatre Royal 

Queen's Park Pupils in ‘Emil and the Detectives’

Mark Storey (Head of Education Standards & Achievement) had the absolute pleasure of attending ‘Emil and the Detectives’ at the Theatre Royal. It was great to see the whole year 5 group getting involved and all were included. They were involved in every aspect of planning and creating this year's end-of-term play, including set design, costumes, lighting, sound, special effects, make-up and designing programmes for the audience - complete with word searches and cast lists. The children also stage managed and operated sound and light for the performances under the guidance of the theatre’s tech team. This is the first time a Brighton school has performed its end-of-term play in their local theatre. Well done Queen’s Park. 

Queen's Park Pupils in ‘Emil and the Detectives’

‘I saw children looking happy; having high expectations of what can be achieved and having an experience they will always remember. It was also great to see children from other schools enjoying the performance too. Thanks to all the staff and children who have been involved, great work and well done’ (Mark Storey) 

Governance Conference: Education Trends 2019: What’s coming now and next?

 Some of the school governors going up the i360

Our Annual Governance Conference was a great success and we were lucky to have glorious weather for the day at the i360 and we have received overwhelmingly positive evaluations . I welcomed the opportunity to attend and contribute to the debate with Pinaki Ghoshal (Director of Children’s Services), Mark Storey (Head of Education Standards & Achievement) and Hilary Ferries (Senior Adviser - Education Partnerships). Governors particularly appreciated how informative and thought provoking Laura McInerney was (Education Journalist & Co-Founder of Teacher Tapp). Laura gave us lots of food for thought and talked about the trends in education that will affect us over the next few years. However, they did also appreciate having the opportunity to hear from the Local Authority panel. We really did get the impression that we were ‘all in this together’ to do the best for our schools, and everyone went away feeling very positive. 

The view from the top. We even managed to conquer a couple of people’s fear of heights!

National quality mark for our Supported Employment team

The work of a Brighton & Hove City Council team that helps get local people with disabilities into jobs and training opportunities has been praised by a national body. The council’s Supported Employment team has gained a kite-mark award from the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE). The team is one of only 11 in the country to have been through a new auditing process being trialled by the association. They are currently working with more than 80 local people, helping them gain and retain employment. The team provides support to the employee, the employer and work colleagues through training, job coaching and advice.

We want all our residents to have equal access to training and employment opportunities. The BASE kite-mark is a very clear sign that we’re doing things the right way, and I hope it will lead to more local employers working in partnership with our Supported Employment team. To find out more about getting support from the council’s Supported Employment team to offer jobs or training opportunities to local people with disabilities, please email SET@brighton-hove.gov.uk or phone 01273 29 5961.

This month Ofsted has been visiting Moulsecoomb Primary and St John the Baptist Catholic Primary schools. I look forward to reporting back next time. 

Welcome

Helena Thomas, Principal at Greater Brighton Metropolitan College

I’d like to provide a warm welcome from the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership to Helena Thomas, who has been appointed to the role of Principal at Greater Brighton Metropolitan College (the MET) following an extensive recruitment and selection process led by the Board of Governors. Helena has been doing a great job already acting in the role for the past few months. We are all looking forward to continued partnership work with Helen and the MET. 

Best wishes,
Jo

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