The End of a Challenging Academic Year

 

As the end of term is now in sight, I know that many of you will soon be finishing for the summer.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for everything you have achieved in this most difficult of years, going above and beyond for the children and young people of Brighton and Hove, despite the many personal and professional challenges you have faced over recent months.  

I would like to wish you all a happy and safe summer.  I hope you are all able to take a well-earned break and can find some time to rest and recuperate and I hope there will be an opportunity for a relaxing summer holiday for all.  I look forward to once again working with you all.

New Youth Employment Hub

                                Deb Austin, Elle Dyson and Councillor Hannah Clare 

The new Youth Employment Hub has been open for a month and I have been so pleased to hear that Youth Employability, Supported Employment and DWP clients are already benefiting from this well-resourced safe space for young people needing support in our city. 

A YES client was introduced to a DWP work coach and together they worked on a Kickstart application, with Youth Employability providing careers support and interview practice. This client has now started work and has told her YES adviser she’s the happiest she’s been since Lockdown began. A fantastic start to a new joined up working approach, which will benefit young adults across the city when they need the support the most.  If you’d like further information about the Youth Employment Hub please contact Elle at Eleanor.Dyson@brighton-hove.gov.uk  

Online Careers Events 

Hello Future online careers events for 11-24 year olds have been taking place this week.  These events have also included sessions for parents and carers.  Many participating students have said they enjoyed asking questions on-line on the chat function and it was much easier than to ask in person!  Sessions on Friday 16th July include:-

Hello Resilience - Overcoming challenges, aiming high and staying positive.  For more details please see here.

Hello Employment - Recruiting staff, what businesses want.  For more details please see here.

Inspectors Praise Brighton & Hove’s ‘Outstanding’ Youth Offending Service

I was delighted to hear that an inspection of Brighton & Hove’s youth offending service (YOS) has been rated outstanding by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation.  The Inspection which took place in April 2021 looked at 12 aspects of the YOS’s work and awarded ‘Outstanding’ ratings in every category – a rare achievement. 

The council’s youth offending team works with children aged 10 to 17 who are serving court sentences or who have come to the attention of the police because of their offending behaviour but have not been charged – instead, they are supervised out of court. 

The Inspection found that “the service is led in such a positive way that it impacts every aspect of their work, from resourcing, to organisation, to their contact with each child under their supervision.”  Congratulations to everyone involved for their hard work to achieve this excellent result.

Skills & Employment Team Visit – One Garden Stanmer

                                                         One Garden Brighton

I was really pleased to hear that the Skills & Employment Team made a team visit to One Garden in Stanmer.  A great opportunity to meet in person, after so long!  The £5.1 million project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Community Fund, Brighton & Hove City Council, Plumpton College and South Downs National Park Authority.  Everyone was really impressed with the project and the collaboration between Plumpton College and the local authority. It’s an amazing place not just for visitors but also for students to learn in.

 

The team’s work covers a wide span of employment and skills for over 16s, those at risk of becoming NEET and adult learners, we look forward to opportunities for some joint work in the future. The pandemic has seen a growth in horticulture and a range of career pathways and Plumpton College is keen to work with local schools.  There is a classroom available for school or community use.  For  more information for anything college/horticulture/secondary school related contact  schoolsliaison@plumpton.ac.uk or for community groups, one.events@onegardenbrighton.com

Teacher Trainer Wins Tutor of the Year 

Well done to Lis Bundock, Senior Lecturer for Teaching at University of Brighton for winning the Brighton and Hove Graduation Tutor of the Year award.   All the nominations were outstanding, written with passion and included a real appreciation from the apprentices.  It proved a very difficult task to judge as all of the entries were outstanding but Lis Bundock really stood out.  Lis received several nominations, each with a story to tell about how she had gone the extra mile to support them to achieve outstanding results and create a strong foundation to build their career on in the most difficult of times.  Congratulations to Lis on a very well deserved award!

Congratulations also to Cameron Beattie, Data Analyst Level 4 Apprentice, at Longhill High School for completing and passing his apprenticeship.  Cameron has secured a new role within the NHS service.  Good luck Cameron!

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. 

Goodbyes

We would like to wish Jonathan Cooper, Headteacher of St Luke’s Community Primary a fond farewell.  Jonathan is retiring from a very successful headship at St Luke’s, where he has been Headteacher since St Luke’s Infant and Junior schools merged in 2009.  He has led the outstanding primary school with innovation and creative flair, always encouraging the staff and pupils to challenge themselves to do their absolute best and to try out new ideas. Through Jonathan’s additional roles as National Leader of Education and Chair of the Partnership in Leading and Learning, he has supported many colleagues with their own development and challenges and has shared his expertise to improve practice across the city. 

Kay Watson, Deputy Head at St Luke’s will be stepping into the role of Acting Headteacher from September until a new appointment is made.  Thank you Jonathan - enjoy your retirement from the school.

                                                                Jonathan Cooper

We also say goodbye to Linda McMillan who will be retiring this year.  She has worked with the local authority for many years - she was a headteacher at St Martin’s CE Primary School, seconded as an adviser and become a school improvement partner and subsequently school partnership adviser supporting numerous schools in the city over the last 12 years.  She has been instrumental in developing training for governors and a constant supporter of school improvement within the city.  We wish her a very happy retirement.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

A Huge Thank You

National Thank A Teacher Day took place last week on 23rd June and I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the fantastic teachers, teaching assistants and support staff in our schools for their hard work and determination in what has been another very difficult year for everyone.

Sussex Specsavers Virtual Summer School Games 

Schools in Brighton and Hove have been taking part in the Sussex Specsavers Virtual Summer School Games competitions this term.  Over 120 schools in Sussex took part, with KS1 taking part in athletics and KS2 and KS3 in Tri Golf, Tennis and Dance.  Two of the competitions - Year 5/6 Quad Kids Athletics and Year 3/4 Tri Golf - progressed through to a virtual Sussex final with Cottesmore winning the Athletics and Carden winning the Year 3/4 Tri Golf.  Well done to all schools who took part in the competitions!

You can view the closing ceremony of the games on the Active Sussex Youtube Channel (4) Active Sussex - YouTube from 2pm on Friday 25 June. 

                                                   Cottesmore Athletics Team

                                                        Carden Tri Golf Team

Refugee Week 14 – 20 June

Some resources pulled together by Sanctuary on Sea were sent into schools to support marking the Refugee Week theme We Cannot Walk Alone.  We hope these were useful and look forward to hearing what schools did to mark this week.  You may be interested in this pledge from the council: Council pledges to continue its support for refugee children

Virtual School Summer Conference 

The Virtual School hosted its annual summer conference online on 24 June and it was a resounding success. The conference included a typically exuberant and inspiring two part keynote from Kit Messenger.  A theme of working as a whole school community was shared by John McKee, who, as headteacher of Patcham High School, has successfully overseen the evolution of a zero exclusion policy now into its second year.   

ASATT (A Seat At The Table) addressed the impact of racism on young people who have already experienced trauma and highlighted our responsibility to see, hear and value them within the school community. On top of this was one of the Virtual School’s Brighton & Hove care leavers, Hannah Fulker, who shared her wisdom through her lived experience of being a young person coming through the education system as a child in care. 

Finally, there was an exhibition of art work from the Virtual School’s holiday art club along with comments that were submitted by the young people attending the club. 

 

                             Examples of work from the Virtual School’s holiday art club 

Brighton and Hove Schools Sport Facility Defibrillators Fundraising Challenge

I was delighted to learn more about a fundraising challenge which is being organised by Pete Mowforth, the head of PE at Blatchington Mill School, to raise money for Brighton and Hove Schools Sport Facility Defibrillators by running around 17 miles from Longhill High School to PACA, visiting all Brighton and Hove secondary schools along the way.

The run takes place on Friday 16 July with a group including Liam Murphy from Cardinal Newman School, Matt Ford from Longhill School and others. The aim is to raise money to purchase enough defibrillators for each of the 10 secondary schools to have them located in accessible areas for their facilities, following the horrendous incident involving the Danish footballer Christian Eriksen at the Euro 2020 Championships recently.  If you would like to contribute to this great cause, please see the following link https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/defibchallenge?utm_term=R8y8eByVk

 

                                                          

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 their monitoring report which was very positive about the efforts being made by the school, particularly the leadership  “Leaders are taking effective actions towards the removal of serious weaknesses designation”.  The report acknowledged the challenging circumstances for the school and particularly noted that  “The headteacher is steering the school through an unsettled period with care and sensitivity. His aspirations for the school and its pupils remain high.”

Balfour Primary school received a section 8 monitoring visit in June.  We are awaiting the report to be published.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

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

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