A Whole School, Whole City Approach to Climate Education and Action

It was great to see such a large turnout of headteachers and principals from our city’s schools and colleges attending an online event ‘A whole school, whole city approach to climate education and action’ last month.  The event aimed to address both council priorities and students’ concerns about the environment. 

Brighton & Hove declared a climate and biodiversity emergency in 2018 pledging to be carbon neutral by 2030.  In a recent survey of over 500 secondary school students, nearly half felt they only had a very basic or no knowledge about the environment and most felt there was not enough about the environment being taught in schools.

There is already a lot of good environmental practice in many of our city’s schools.  To ensure this is embedded in the whole school culture, it must be lead and supported by school leaders.  We heard inspiring talks from Patcham Juniors, Dorothy Stringer and BHASVIC on how they are leading climate and environmental action and from St Luke’s Primary on how they have adopted a Climate Curriculum.  

I was delighted that we were also joined by a passionate and eloquent student from Teach the Future and the founders of ThoughtBox and The Harmony Project, sharing examples of how they integrate climate and nature’s principles into the curriculum.  A representative from Let’s Go Zero introduced this national campaign for schools working to be carbon neutral by 2030 – 6 schools signed up that day!

In the afternoon, attendees discovered more about practical action they could take on areas such as food, travel, school grounds, outdoor learning, energy and decolonising the curriculum.  We hope this is just the start of work to prepare for a sustainable future in our city’s schools.  We look forward to working with headteachers and principals to develop further support for schools shortly.

                       Teachers doing some outdoor learning training in Stanmer Park

Virtual School Summer Conference 

The Virtual School is pleased to be hosting its annual summer conference as an online webinar on 24 June this year, which will feature Kit Messenger as a keynote speaker. Kit is a former headteacher with over 25 years’ experience working with young people and is also founder and Co-Director of Changing Chances, an organisation with a mission to ensure all young people are supported in ways that enable them to feel great, maximise their strengths and achieve their very best. Kit received 5* reviews at the Virtual School’s recent foster carer conference with one carer describing her keynote as the best she had seen in 20 years!

Headteachers, governors, senior managers in schools, designated teachers, SENCOs, teaching assistants, social workers, foster carers and other professionals who work with or support Children in Care/Previously in Care are all encouraged to book a place and can do so via this link: Virtual School Summer Conference 2021

School Streets Programme

Another city primary will get to sample the benefits of our School Streets programme this week when Westdene Primary takes part in a taster day on Thursday 27 May.  School Streets support the safe movement of children to and from school by creating streets that allow for more walking, cycling or scooting.  They reduce congestion around the school gates, improve air quality and encourage active and sustainable travel around the school.

What will be different for Thursday’s taster day is that access to the road will be restricted for the entirety of the school day (between 8am and 4pm), with children taking part in a series of activities throughout the morning and afternoon including bike safety; eco/air pollution activity; Eco Street and active travel pledges.  The day will be an opportunity to gather the views of parents, carers, school staff and local residents and we will also be monitoring the impact on the local area.

In September 2020, as part of measures to support a safe return to the classroom during the Covid-19 pandemic, School Streets was trialled at nine schools.  Currently, four schools, Brunswick Primary, St Luke’s Primary, Downs Infant, Downs Junior, St Nicolas CE Primary are all running the schemes.  More information on the Westdene School Streets Taster Day, including information on the road restrictions, can be found on our School Streets page.

UEFA Women’s Euros Launch 

                                     Carlton Hill and Patcham High school students

Carlton Hill and Patcham High school students attended the launch of UFEA Women’s 2022 legacy plan at the Pavilion on Wednesday 16 May. 

The tournament will take place in July 2022 – with the AMEX hosting a number of games. You can find out more about the tournament and now pre register for tickets by clicking here: UEFA Women’s EURO legacy launch 

Brighton and Hove is also a FA Girls' Football School Partnership area – giving all primary and secondary schools in the city access to CPD opportunities to encourage more girls to play the game and help deliver the FA’s ambition of making girls' football equal by 2024. 

Make sure your school is registered by going to Girls’ Football in Schools to access free resources.  For further information on the Girls' Football School Partnerships please contact Emma.greenough@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Hove Park School Wins First Prize in National Mandarin Speaking Competition

                                                      Hove Park's winning team

A Year 9 team from Hove Park School recently entered the annual Mandarin Speaking Competition organised by the British Council.  This is a prestigious national competition, and this year over 200 students from some 70 schools competed.  Illango Bogschutz, James Cox, Fintan Crean, Katie Galloway and George Stevens wrote, practiced and performed an original script in Mandarin, which was expertly filmed and edited by Dylan Barker. 

The judges liked the creativity of the script, based on a news broadcast.  The Hove Park School team was delighted to learn that, against intense competition, they had won first prize in their category. They will receive a £100 book voucher plus a digital workshop or tour for their Mandarin class.

Head of Languages, Mr Sandford said “Winning this element of such a prestigious competition is a very public recognition of all the hard work that both the teachers and students put into the study of Mandarin at Hove Park School. We are very proud of all of our languages being taught this year in school and we continue to buck the national trend of disengagement in language learning. What I’d like everyone to recognise is that all these high standards have been maintained over not one, but two lockdowns! Amazing effort by everyone”. 

Well done to everyone involved in this outstanding achievement!

Congratulations to Jess Middleton, Apprentice Business Administrator who completed her apprenticeship last month with a distinction.  Well done to Jess for such a great achievement in a very difficult time. 

I would also like to wish good luck to the nine new Post Graduate Apprentice Teachers who are due to be starting their apprenticeships on 7 June.  Thank you to the all of the schools involved for their support.  These include Mile Oak Primary School, Downs View School, Varndean High School and Longhill High School.  I am so pleased that the teacher apprentices have helped bring gifted and talented people into our teaching pool.  All teacher graduates have achieved a grade of outstanding.

Ofsted have confirmed that monitoring visits may take place in Requires Improvement or Inadequate schools during the summer term.  We also know that full inspection will not return until the Autumn term.  Please see the link for more details Education inspections in the summer term. 

Moulsecoomb Primary School received another monitoring visit in May.  We are awaiting the report to be published.

Welcomes

There are a number of welcomes this month, both within the Education and Skills team and within our city’s schools.  

Welcome to Ashley Seymour-Williams who will be joining the Education and Skills Team as Senior Education Adviser: Partnerships. 

                                                     Ashley Seymour-Williams

I am also very pleased that Norman Haskins will be joining the team at Hidden Children Officer and would like to welcome him to the role.

                                                             Norman Haskins

Within our schools, I would like to welcome Shelley Baker who has started this month as Headteacher at Varndean School.

                                                              Shelley Baker

Welcome also to Tina Davidson who has taken over as Headteacher at St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School.  

                                                               Tina Davidson

I would also like to welcome Gemma Chumnansin who will be starting a new role as Headteacher of Woodingdean Primary School on 1 June.

 

 Gemma Chumnansin

Finally, welcome to Drew Dower who will be taking over as Head of School at Benfield Primary School from 1 June.

We are looking forward to working with all of our new colleagues and supporting them in their new roles.

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 Summer Term

 

I am delighted that the start of the term has gone so well for schools, colleges and early years providers.  It has also been great to see how happy so many children and young people are to be back in school and that they are also engaging in after school sports, drama and other clubs safely.  I would like to say a huge thank you to the heads, teachers and support staff for the efforts they have made to make this all happen safely.  It really does feel that we are starting to move forward into the new normal.

Over the Easter holidays Brighton & Hove ran the DfE funded Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF) for children and young people aged four to 16, eligible for benefits-related free school meals. 

Over four days, 15 activity providers ran HAF at sites across the city. These included Ofsted-registered playschemes, sports organisations, community groups, a provider for black and minority ethnic young people as well as specialist organisations for children and young people with SEND. 

Visits to schemes showed the value of being able to engage children and young people in enriching and physical activities with their friends following the winter lockdown. It was fantastic to have children with smiles on their faces and to hear giggles of enjoyment as they participated in everything from building dens and creating masterpieces from clay, to playing ultimate frisbee and learning to skateboard. Healthy meals and nutritional education, as well as family support, were on offer throughout. 

Our summer programme will run for four weeks and be on a larger scale with better coverage of the city. We want to work with more schools – primary, secondary and special – to deliver on their premises. This can be either school-run provision, or through an external specialist provider. We want as many children, young people and families as possible to benefit and so will be in touch shortly about how you can take part in HAF summer 2021.

For more information please contact Mel Kinnear, HAF Programme Manager, Brighton & Hove City Council, melanie.kinnear@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Trans Toolkit Consultation

I would like to say thank you to all the schools that shared the Trans Toolkit consultation and to those staff who participated in the consultation. This was an extra piece of work for you at a difficult time, but your support is appreciated and will make a difference to the final version of the Toolkit and therefore provide support to you and your school communities in the future. More information about the outcomes of the consultation will be shared at a later date. 

Foster Care Fortnight

Foster Care Fortnight is The Fostering Network's annual campaign to raise awareness of the transformational power of fostering and to celebrate the fostering community.  It takes place from 10-23 May.  The theme for the fortnight will be #WhyWeCare.

We would like the whole fostering community to step up and shout loud about #WhyWeCare. There are lots of ways that you can provide support for the campaign, such as creating videos, updating social media headers and sharing Facebook posts.  For more information, please contact fosteringrecruitment@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

We need more foster carers within a 25 mile radius of Brighton & Hove from all walks of life who have the commitment, passion and dedication to support vulnerable children and young people.  For more information, why not attend one of our informal virtual information sessions for the opportunity to chat to experienced foster carers, ask questions and meet our team. For details of upcoming sessions, please visit the events page.

Holiday Art Clubs

Examples of work produced at an Art Club

Since 2019 the Virtual School has worked with Future Creators to run week-long holiday art clubs for children in care and previously in care. More recently during the Covid period, the art club has taken place online with ever increasing numbers of children joining and resulting in a wonderful online exhibition.

In addition to this, every child that takes part is offered the opportunity to gain a qualification by taking part in the Arts Award. Some of our Year 6-8 young people have already started the Bronze Award which is equivalent to a GCSE grade 4. 

The most recent art club took place during the first week of the Easter holidays, with the theme of fantasy gardens.  I was delighted to see some examples of the lovely work that’s been produced at the club.

New Minibus Donated to City’s Top-Rated SEN Pre-School

Glenn Tyler, Anne Rhodda, Jimmy Tarbuck, Len Goodman and Jamie Little 

I was really pleased to hear that a new minibus has recently been donated to the Jeanne Saunders Centre – an ‘outstanding’ specialist pre-school centre for children with special education needs and disabilities run by Brighton & Hove City Council.

The minibus has been generously donated by Variety Golf, a children’s charity. The bus was purchased through Variety, the children’s charity sunshine coaches programme. Sunshine coaches are donated to schools and care centres for disabled and disadvantaged children. Brighton & Hove City Council also part-funded the minibus.

Manager of the Jeanne Saunders Centre, Anne Rhodda and driver Glenn Tyler were presented with the minibus earlier this month by Jimmy Tarbuck, Variety Golf President, Jamie Little, Director of Variety Golf and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman and 2021 Captain at Croham Hurst Golf Club.

We have not had any further Ofsted inspections this month. Fully graded inspections will return in the autumn but Ofsted have confirmed that “lighter touch, on site inspections” may take place in schools during the summer term. Please see the link for more details Education inspections in the summer term - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Welcomes

Elle Dyson

Congratulations to Elle Dyson who will be starting a secondment in the new role of Employment Hub Co-ordinator on 1st May. Elle will be using her experience as Employability Adviser and social media lead in the Youth Employability Service to co-ordinate the employment hub’s virtual and physical activity. 

Youth Employment Hubs are being established across the country in response to the rise in unemployment of young people caused by the pandemic. The city Youth Employment Hub located at Montague House in Kemp Town is being developed in partnership with colleagues at the Department for Work and Pensions. It will offer IT facilities, careers and job support, events and training. A virtual site is currently under development and further information will be provided as the project progresses. 

Best wishes,
Jo

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

Happy Easter Break

 

It’s been another challenging term responding to the pandemic but all staff in our education settings have risen to the challenge and gone that extra mile to meet the needs of children and young people and families. I’d like to thank you all for your amazing efforts within your settings and across the city.  I do hope you get a well deserved break at some point over the Easter period.

World Book Day at Stanford Infants

I was so pleased to hear about the creative and imaginative ways schools have been celebrating World Book Day this year.  Stanford Infants arranged a fantastic day of activities enjoyed by the whole school community, both in school and at home via the learning platform and live Zoom sessions with each class.

Staff and pupils dressed up as book characters and activities included scavenger hunts to find characters in books, making puppet theatres, singing along with the official World Book Day rap, taking part in author and illustrator “how to” sessions and sharing stories together. It has been wonderful to see how the whole school came together virtually to celebrate their love of reading. 

                                                  Stanford Infants celebrate World Book Day

Foster Carer Conference

The Virtual School in conjunction with Fostering, Placements & Permanence hosted their annual Foster Carer Conference on the 18 March and it was a resounding success.  Although the conference had to be take place virtually thus year, engaging and informative keynote presentations were given by Kit Messenger on ‘The Empowerment Approach: A Curious Approach to Helping Children Grow’ and Lisa Anderson on ‘Emotional regulation and avoiding the ‘happiness trap’’.

Further presentations included a Brighton & Hove foster carer couple talking about their experiences as carers, an enlightening discussion on being curious about race and culture and a wonderful section on wellbeing, self-care & resilience delivered by Claire Haines & Darren Muirhead.   Amongst the very positive feedback from the event, one attendee said Kit’s keynote presentation was the best thing she had seen in 20 years - so be sure to catch Kit at the Virtual School Summer Conference on 24 June!  Well done to Virtual School team and Fostering, Placements & Permanence on organising such a successful event.  

Brighton & Hove Family Learning Free Online Workshops

Brighton & Hove Family Learning is offering free online workshops where families can learn together or parents and carers can gain skills to benefit the whole family.  These short courses are fun, relaxed and run for small groups, with no grading or exams.  Courses include family first aid; becoming a reader; building children’s resilience; starting out/moving on with phonics and supporting a teenager with anxiety. 

For more details and dates, visit: Family learning online classroom (brighton-hove.gov.uk) or email Family.Learning@brighton-hove.gov.uk

The Specsavers Sussex Winter School Games has seen an amazing 45 schools and 3,621 students in Brighton & Hove taking part in the Winter Sports Challenges. The Games, which ran for 4 weeks during February, saw Team Brighton and Hove came 3rd out of the 9 Sussex School Games areas. 

Well done to Balfour Primary School and Patcham High School who had the most students participating over the 4 weeks.  There will also be more ‘virtual’ competitions & festivals happening in the Summer along with the Primary PE and School Sport Network meeting on Thursday 29 April 3.45-5.00pm. If you would like any further information please contact Emma Greenough emma.greenough@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Above & Beyond

 

                                          Zoe McGuigan, Justine Harvey and Rachael Durneen

Brighton & Hove Buses have been on a mission to find and celebrate the unsung heroes of Brighton. Local community groups and members of the public were invited to nominate the people going ‘Above and Beyond’ every day with photos of 24 community champions appearing on bus sides with a little bit about their amazing achievements on panels inside. The buses are on route 1, between Mile Oak, the city and Whitehawk.

Congratulations to Hertford Infant and Nursey School teachers Zoe McGuigan, Justine Harvey and Rachael Durneen who have been included in this.

Brighton-based children’s theatre company Freckle Productions are kindly sharing their popular stage adaptation of Stick Man, based on the book by Julia Donaldson with illustrations by Axel Scheffler to Brighton & Hove school pupils to stream for free from Tuesday 30 March – Wednesday 7 April.  Filmed at the production’s final live performance at the Rose Theatre Kingston in December 2020, this made-for-TV version of the show was initially created for families to view at home over Christmas.   However, with the extraordinarily tough start to the year, Freckle were keen to give something back to their hugely supportive audiences in Brighton, and hope that Stick Man will be an hour of fun for families this Easter.

To access the stream, please click the following link and enter the password when prompted:

https://vimeo.com/freckleproductions/stickman-brighton   Password: Fam1lyT

EMAS (Ethnic Minority Achievement Service) Home Learning Project

The EMAS REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) Project ended last week with a virtual celebration sharing stories, photos and videos sent in by parents of their children playing and learning. 72 children received a delivery of a play pack based on the Very Hungry Caterpillar, containing lots of exciting ideas and activities to support talk, sharing books, environmental print and mark making.

The project, which ran in 15 different languages, aimed to encourage every family to look at what they do every day with their child and see how they can make it a learning experience. Bilingual assistants were on hand to translate and there was also a bespoke programme adapted to families with children with SEND.  At the end of the project the children received a letter inviting them to attend a hat party on Zoom. The children had the experience of receiving and posting a letter.  The project ended with another delivery of a bookstart pack, card to make their party hat and a certificate for parents which they opened together at the Zoom party with caterpillar themed healthy snacks.

Some really positive feedback was received from families including:

“I really enjoyed every activity and session. I use the ideas every day. Nursery have really noticed a difference in my son. We have a much closer relationship now and his behaviour has improved.” Arabic

“I learned that you can learn with your child through play, on walks, practically everywhere, and you can use anything for learning. You don’t need to make up anything specific as your child will have the greatest ideas.” Polish

Congratulations to Richard Enticknap

                                                                    Richard Enticknap

Congratulations to Richard Enticknap a Primary teacher at the Central Hub Brighton working with students at risk of exclusion and with EHCPs for social, emotional and mental health difficulties on recently winning a PACC award for his work.  

Richard was nominated by a parent who said of his involvement:

“Since Richard has been working with my son he has undergone a great transformation…. He worked with him all the way through the lockdowns, providing routines, teaching him social skills, building his confidence, communication skills, ensuring the right environment for learning whilst meeting his other needs. My son now has friends, he leaves for school happy every day for the first time in his life.”

Young Carers Action Day

Young Carers Action Day took place on 16 March 2021 to raise awareness of young carers and the issues that are important to them.  Young carers are people aged 6-18 who provide unpaid support to family or friends who couldn't manage without this help. This can mean caring for a relative, partner or friend who is ill, frail, disabled, or has mental health or substance misuse problems.

They often miss out on fun activities and seeing friends, don’t do as well at school as their peers and are more likely to have issues with school absence and emotional or mental health needs. The pressure on young carers has only increased since the pandemic. 

The council and partner organisations currently support just over 350 young carers in Brighton & Hove, but the actual numbers are much higher.   To mark Young Carers Action Day the council has pledged to work with The Young Carers Project, schools, other services and agencies in the city to find these hidden or unknown young carers ensuring that their voices are heard and their needs are understood.  For further information about the support available to young carers in the city, please visit www.thecarerscentre.org, 

or www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/children-and-learning/young-carers

or contact the Carers Centre on 01273 746222.

Ofsted completed three additional remote monitoring inspections at Moulsecoomb Primary School, Balfour Primary School and Homewood College.   

Balfour and Moulsecoomb have reports now published and read incredibly positively.  We are really proud of the improvement both schools are making and the incredible work done during the pandemic.  In both cases Ofsted have said “Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action to provide education in the current circumstances”.  

We are expecting Homewood College’s letter to be published very soon.

Goodbyes

We say goodbye to a number of colleagues across Brighton & Hove this month.

                                                                       William Deighan

William Deighan is retiring at the end of the term as Headteacher of Varndean School as the city’s longest serving secondary headteacher.  William has been an inspirational leader, holding high expectations for pupils and staff and leading Varndean to great success over the years.  Willam will be very much missed by all who have worked with him.  We wish him a very happy and well deserved retirement. Gareth Hughes will be taking over as Acting Headteacher next term.

                                                                                            Carmel Hughes

Carmel Hughes, Headteacher at St John the Baptist, is retiring at the end of this term after delaying her retirement in order to support the school through the last challenging year. Carmel has been the headteacher at the school for over a decade and has dedicated herself to providing the best education for the children at the school. She will be greatly missed by the school and local community.  We wish her the very best for her next adventure. Tina Davidson, Deputy Headteacher will be acting up as Headteacher for the coming term.

Jackie Whitford will be leaving her position as Advisor for Traveller Education at the end of the month.  Jackie has worked for over a quarter of a century to ensure that Gypsy, Roma, Traveller families could access their rights to good housing, education and health and was pivotal in highlighting the need for and ensuring for the development of a permanent Traveller site in Brighton and Hove.  We want to thank Jackie for her huge contribution and wish her well for the future.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Welcoming All Children and Young People Back

 

Following the government announcement that schools and colleges will fully reopen for all children from the 8 March, I’d like to thank everyone for the preparation already done and the ongoing work you are all undertaking to make this happen.  This work is taking place alongside providing quality remote learning and on site provision for vulnerable children and the children of key workers.  A massive thank you to all school, college, early years staff, and our education and skills team for your hard work and commitment to our children and families of the city.

I was really pleased to hear that schools across Brighton & Hove have opted to deliver Every Child Counts interventions.  Funded by the local authority, this programme aims to improve achievement and raise attainment for pupils who struggle in mathematics, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.  

The first training sessions were held virtually this month for teachers and teaching assistants on the 1st Class @Number 1 programme. The value of early interventions like Number Count was highlighted by one teacher who told the group, “one of the first children I worked with, who was really struggling with maths in year 2, is now 15 and in the top set for maths.''  

Further ECC training is planned, including Becoming 1st Class @ Number which is starting on 2 March and is aimed at year 1 children and any child that needs to master the ELG. 1st Class@ Number 2 is starting at the end of March and Success@Arithmetic: Number Sense will be starting in April.

It has been great to see schools recruiting new apprentices and taking advantage of the government incentive.  If you would like to take further about Apprentices, either to develop your current staff or recruit into the school, please contact Gavin Graham at gavin.graham@apprenticeships.gov.uk

Leadership Development Programme

Jane Baggott

We continued our Leadership Development Programme for headteachers this month by welcoming Jane Baggott to lead a session about resilience.  Jane is a leadership coach who already works with a few of the city’s headteachers and came highly recommended.  The session proved really successful, with heads appreciating the time to reflect on their leadership and consider how to build the resilience of themselves and their teams.  It turned out to be very timely as it came just after the Government’s announcement about the full re-opening of schools, so heads were able to think about how to approach the transition of pupils and staff fully returning to school.

We are very proud that our PSHE Service has been commissioned by Winston’s Wish to develop some lesson plans on bereavement. These lessons have been awarded the Quality Mark by the PSHE Association who said:

"The lessons approach learning about the topics of loss, bereavement and grief in a developmentally appropriate, relevant way. Teachers are supported with useful guidance and well planned lessons which will promote confidence in teaching this vital subject, and support a sensitive approach to the learning. When embedded within the wider PSHE education curriculum, the lessons will also support learning in areas of Relationships and Health Education." 

Comprising two lessons for each key stage, these resources are designed to help pupils and students explore bereavement and grief in developmentally appropriate ways. They are not intended as a pastoral intervention in the event of a bereavement in the school community, as at that point the priority is for pastoral care rather than preventative education. The lessons are not suitable for home learning, but can be used with pupils who are physically in school now, or planned into your programme to deliver face-to-face later in the year.

For more information, please follow this link Free PSHE lessons on loss and bereavement | Winston's Wish or contact our PSHE Service for training on delivering these lessons pshe@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

City Wide Assessment Project

As a result of the pandemic our headteacher school partnership chairs have been working closely with the Education and Skills team, the teaching school and lead practitioners from primary and secondary to develop a city wide approach to planning and assessment to support children when they all return to school.  This is a wonderful collaborative piece of work with an aim to provide an assessment criteria for early years and for reading, writing and maths in all other year groups. The first working parties met straight after half term and were filled with enthusiasm.  The team are making great progress and their work will be made available through the upcoming schools’ bulletins.  The team will also be offering Continuous Professional Development to support teachers using these documents effectively to support pupils for the remainder of this academic year.  

Reducing Parental Conflict   

How parents get on with each other can have a real impact on their children.  Parental conflict that is frequent, intense and poorly resolved can affect children’s mental health, education attainment and long-term outcomes, regardless of whether the parents are together or separated.  Training is available for anyone working with children or families to learn how to support parents in conflict, and signpost them to the right help.  We also have a range of relationship courses and resources, such as our Getting On Better Pack which helps parents think about their relationship in a new way, with ideas on how to improve communication and reduce conflict.  

So far over 250 packs have been posted out to parents and those supporting them.  One couple found the pack so useful they made a video about it!   For further information see our website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/parent-relationships or email parent.relationships@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Education colleagues can read Why Reducing Parental Conflict Matters for Schools for specific advice and recommendations.

Outdoor Learning for Well Being

Outdoor Education Adviser, Paula Greening has been working on a series of communications and webinars for schools on how outdoor learning can help with pupils’ reintegration into school life and support for their mental health and well being as we come out of lockdown.

Paula looks at how the combination of fresh air, exercise and nature all work together to reduce stress, boost mood and improve concentration and creativity, with the focus on group work and experiential learning helping children to re-establish relationships and re-engage with learning after many hours staring at screens.

With uncertainty still surrounding summer residentials, Paula will be exploring the many opportunities and activities – both on and offsite - that can help with pupil transition, mental health and well-being, re-connection and self-development from team-based games and challenges and adventurous activities to skill and nature-based workshops and overnight camping.  For more information please contact Paula at Paula.Greening@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

On 24 February Moulsecoomb Primary School had a section 8 monitoring visit.  This took place remotely and we expect a report to be published before Easter.

Ofsted Annual Engagement Meeting

Every local authority is asked to share an annual self-evaluation of the quality and impact of its practice with children and families as part of Ofsted’s ‘Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services’ framework.   An annual engagement meeting (AEM) then takes place where this is discussed and decisions are made about the next inspection steps to be taken.

Brighton & Hove City Council’s Families, Children & Learning AEM took place on 25 February with members of the Directorate Management Team and Heads of Service meeting with the South East Regional Director of Ofsted and his team, to discuss performance generally and also looking specifically at our Social Care and Education services.  

The discussions with Ofsted were positive and explored a range of matters such as the impact of Covid on CYP in the city, the rise in elective home educated children, the complexities of supporting children open to social care and the launch of the new SEND Strategy. A letter summarising the discussions will be shared by Ofsted with the LA in the coming weeks.

Welcomes

I would like to welcome Sue Franklin who has recently joined us as Principal Educational Psychologist in FCL.  Sue joins Brighton & Hove City Council with an experienced background in education, following seven years as a Principal Educational Psychologist in a London borough.  I am sure everyone in FCL will look forward to working with Sue.

Sue Franklin

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

A Challenging Start to the New Year

As we started the new year we went into another lockdown with our early years, schools, colleges and education providers moving to remote learning and providing on site learning for the most vulnerable and children of critical workers. 

As they did last time, senior leaders and support staff in our provision and across the council have responded quickly and positively to the changes needed. We have seen a wide range of creative remote learning opportunities and support put in place for parents and carers and for some of the most vulnerable young people. Services have adapted by providing virtual support and advice. Continued thanks to everyone involved for their ongoing dedication and commitment to meeting the needs of our children and families across the city. 

Leading for Impact Session

I am really pleased that we will be welcoming Andy Buck to host the next session in our Leadership Development Programme for Headteachers & Principals.  This will be taking place on Tuesday 2 February from 9.30 – 11.00am via Microsoft Teams.  

Andy’s session will explore ‘Leading for Impact’ and will look at how all school leaders can create a whole school ethos of mastery, empowerment and impact.  This interactive session will focus on the three key areas where mastery is important: for leaders, for teachers and for pupils.  The session will explore how the concept of developing great personal habits at all levels can have the greatest impact on pupil outcomes across a school.  You can find out more about Andy Buck here.   

Please go to BEEM to book a place and the Teams link will be sent the day before.  For heads unable to attend, we would be pleased to welcome deputies or other senior leaders.  For the list of headteacher events this year, please refer back to Schools’ Bulletin AS/017/21 on The Wave. We look forward to seeing you there!

Remote Learning Takes a Technology Break 

Although schools in the city have been using effective and efficient remote provisions for pupils learning at home since the start of term, it was great to hear more at the recent Headteachers briefing about a number of schools trialling ‘Digital Detox Days’, ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’ and ‘Feel-Good Friday’ where pupils are offered activities and tasks away from online learning. 

Pupils have still received guidance on how to spend their time with some learning related to their topic as well as self-care and well-being activities that will support pupils in looking after their mental health and recharge and ready to learn. What a great idea!

Remember, if you would like to see our case studies of what some schools in the city are doing for their remote learning please contact Joyti.Azad@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Holiday Activities and Food Programme

I am pleased to confirm that the Government has announced that the holiday activities and food programme will be expanded across the whole of England in 2021. The programme will provide healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children during the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays in 2021.  

The aim of the programme is to make free places available to children eligible for free school meals for the equivalent of at least 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, 6 weeks a year.    There is flexibility about how to best serve the needs of children and families including how the programme can be delivered to older children.  As part of the programme we will ensuring that sufficient provision is available for children with SEND or additional needs.  If you would like to find out more please contact vicky.jenkins@brighton-hove.gov.uk

2021 sees the final year of DfE grants for most routes into teaching. To help maximise the use of these grants, the Apprenticeship Team would like to invite schools to attend a briefing session on the Post Graduate Teacher Apprenticeship (PGTA).  

This event will look at aspects of the PGTA including; the delivery of the PGTA and how it works for your school; how the school supports the PGTA and how to set up a place on the Teacher Training Portal.  Speakers will include the University of Brighton, Millais Alliance – Lead School and past PGTA apprentices and school leads.

The dates are as follows:-

Primary Schools - Monday 1 February 2021 - 3.30pm
Secondary Schools - Monday 8 February 2021 - 3.30pm 

To book a place on these events please email apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk or contact Gavin Graham for further information on 01273 29332 or 07510 585710.

More Brighton and Hove schools have received training so that pupils will benefit from the high-quality ECaR interventions on offer. I am delighted that the second cohort of professional development is in progress despite current restrictions. 

As a result of this additional funding pledged by the council, fifty teaching assistants across all phases, have been trained to deliver either Fischer Family Trust (FFT), Better Reading @Primary/@Secondary or Inference Training. 

A screenshot from a recent virtual ECaR training session

Feedback from schools shows that these reading interventions are already having a positive impact on pupils’ confidence and love of reading:

“One of the boys in my group loved Diary of a Killer Cat. He read it in a day and was very keen to talk to me about it. I suggested he do a book report on it, which he did on his own time at home, and then wrote it up neatly for our class display. He's already asking what the next texts will be so he can read them! It's really lovely to see him so engaged with it.”

“I received some lovely feedback from XXX's mum this afternoon. She commented on how his attitude to reading had significantly changed, and his reading has vastly improved in the last few months. She wanted to thank you personally. He bought a WBD book at the weekend, and mum was thrilled that he was independently reading and enjoying it- well done!”

 

Virtual School News

Congratulations to the Virtual School team who have recently increased Personal Education Plans compliance to the very high level of 99.1%.  I’d like to thank the team for all of the hard work and commitment to children in care in Brighton and Hove which has produced this fantastic result.  Well done to everyone involved!!

The Specsavers 'Virtual' Sussex School Games are back on Monday 1 February! 

After the success of summer virtual games, when almost 10,000 people took part weekly, the Sussex School Games Organisers and Active Sussex have put together a new set of challenges, so that children (and adults) can ski, skate and even bobsleigh from the comfort of their own living room with no special equipment needed.

There will be four challenges each week during February, each linked to a different Winter Olympic discipline.  Separate leaderboards for primary and secondary school children, as well as an Active Adult leaderboard mean that teachers, parents and carers can all get involved and represent the school too.  Trophies will go to schools that get the most children active each week and there will be prizes for topping the Brighton & Hove Leaderboard as well as training prizes.

Challenges will be published at 9.30am on a Monday morning, on www.sussexschoolgames.co.uk, on social media, and sent directly to those signed up to the mailing list.  For more information, please see the following social media links or contact Emma Greenough at emma.greenough@brighton-hove.gov.uk :-

Twitter: @SussexSchGames
Facebook: Specsavers Sussex School Games
Instagram: @SussexSchGames

Congratulations to Claire Jarman

I’d like to offer congratulations to Claire Jarman who has been appointed as the Principal at Cardinal Newman Catholic School with immediate effect, having been in position as Interim Principal since the start of the academic year.  We look forward to continuing to work closely with Claire to support the ongoing improvement of the school.

Welcomes

I am delighted to welcome Amir Bahrami who will be taking up the role of Adult Learning Manager in the Skills and Employment Team from 1 February.  I am sure everyone will give Amir a very warm welcome and help him settle into his new role.

There have also been a several new and acting headteachers across the city at the start of this term.  We are looking forward to working with them and supporting them all in their new roles.

Michelle Lord, Headteacher at St Paul’s CE Primary School

Jo Fish, Acting Headteacher at Woodingdean Primary School

Euan Hannington, Head at Rudyard Kipling Primary School

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.