Jo’s Blog April 2016

Nothing about me, without me.

An image of a young person from the training pack

This month I am delighted to launch ‘Nothing About Me, Without Me,’ a teaching pack that is designed to support teaching and learning about disability equality through PSHE education in primary and secondary schools. It is supported by locally developed DVDs and a positive images photo-pack. 

The teaching pack and the films are hosted on the Carousel: http://www.carousel.org.uk/nothing-about-me-without-me/

I would like to thank all the children, young people, schools and organisations that have contributed to this and I look forward to hearing feedback from schools on its implementation.

Be The Change Event

Students from secondary schools in Brighton & Hove learnt how to be heroes as role models for younger students at an event this month at the AMEX Community Stadium. http://www.givingtimes.co.uk/sussex-school-students-learn-how-to-be-heroes-with-business-mentors/ Almost 90 students aged 13-14 from 10 local secondary schools were joined by a similar number of 10 and 11 year olds from Balfour Primary, Patcham Junior and West Hove Junior schools as part of the inspirational ‘Be the Change’ programme. Facilitated by LoveLocalJobs.com and social enterprise humanutopia, along with mentors from local businesses, education and the public sector, ‘Be the Change’ helps young people to fulfill their potential and improve their life chances. The secondary schools involved in the programme from Brighton & Hove are Cardinal Newman, Dorothy Stringer, Hove Park, Longhill, PACA, BACA, Varndean, Patcham High and Blatchington Mill School. 

Gary Shilladay, Head of Year 9 at Dorothy Stringer said, ‘If only every child in my school could be involved and be a part of this! A community-changing and inspirational message that will change lives. Be the Change gives the students motivation, direction and provokes positive thought. I look forward to seeing the long term benefits for the students involved and just wish I could be more involved.’

Students from Patcham High and Dorothy Stringer

Primary Admissions

It has been a very busy month for the admissions team and an anxious time for parents waiting for their primary school place. However nearly 88% of Brighton & Hove families applying for reception age school places in September 2016 have been offered their first choice school. Overall, more than 97% have been allocated one of their preferred schools this year. I’m delighted that we’ve been able to offer the vast majority of local families their first choice school. There has been a 1.4% improvement in pupils receiving one of their preferred choices of schools this year and a 1.7% reduction in pupils being directed to a school which they had not chosen. I’m sure you will agree this is good news!

There have been three OfSTED inspections so far in April however none of the reports have yet been published: Jeanne Saunders Centre and Easthill Park (PRESENS service), Benfield Primary School and Bevendean Primary School. I look forward to hearing the results of these inspections and will feedback in next month’s blog. 

We are pleased to announce that Cherry Tree Nursery report has been published and they have been judged outstanding.  

“There is an exceptionally good level of high qualified staff.  Staff are extremely skilled in teaching and extending children’s learning. Children make excellent progress.” 

Another school which has shown improvement is Longhill High School and their report has been published. Despite remaining as requires improvement, 

“there is much expertise within the teaching staff which generates enthusiasm for learning in many pupils” 

“almost all pupils proceed into further education, employment or training – a higher proportion than seen nationally”

“ the work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good and the quality of care for pupils is strong, whatever their learning or personal needs”

Well done Longhill

Apprenticeship placement

The Post 16 Learning & Skills Team have been working closely with the apprenticeship team within the city council . Georgia Easteal is one of the apprentices and provided an insight into her new role as an apprentice which I hope you will enjoy to read;

“My name is Georgia Easteal, I’m 16 and this apprenticeship placement is the first type of work I’ve ever done. I did a lot of research during year 11 on which education path I would go down after leaving school. I was unsure which career I was interested in and I didn’t want to go to college for two years and finish with qualifications that would not help me get the job I wanted.

I went to Longhill High School, who provided information on apprenticeships and we were also visited by the apprentice ambassadors. As I have come straight from school and this apprenticeship placement is my first type of work I’ve ever done, it was quite daunting. All my teachers were very supportive and my PSHE teacher once said to me “you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it” which gave me confidence. I work in Transport Planning and work on different projects all around the city, working alongside teams including; Procurement, Legal, Branding and Marketing, Graphic design, Finance and many more, this has given me so much variety in my job.

I am also one of the Apprentice Ambassadors which involves visiting schools, colleges and career fairs to promote career opportunities and provide information on apprenticeships. My apprenticeship has given me essential life skills that will help me in any future employment or job interview and is something that cannot be taught in college or university, this is one of the reasons why I became an ambassador.

I’m so glad I decided to do an apprenticeship as it has given me a sense of responsibility and along with earning my own money, knowing that my work is helping the residents of Brighton & Hove is a reward in itself.”

Thank you Georgia and it’s great to have you on-board.

Brighton & Hove Education Partnership future developments

One of the slides from the event.

We facilitated a productive and forward thinking event on 26^th April with our Head Teachers, college principals and wider partners discussing the White Paper and future developments of our education partnership. The turnout was fantastic with representatives from all phases of education from early years through to post sixteen provision and university, we were joined by our partners from the Diocese and the Aldridge Foundation.

It was an opportunity to celebrate the work of our strong family of Brighton & Hove schools and education provision. It was a chance for the Local Authority to outline its response to the White Paper and its vision for our Education Partnership going forward. There was a real appreciation from all of the challenges the education sector currently faces and the opportunity to take collective responsibility for shaping the future.

We discussed and explored different models and organisational structures and how these might support Brighton & Hove’s vision and values going forward.  We discussed the need for the continual development of effective working in the clusters and partnerships that exist across the city and the possibility of the creation of an overarching legal entity in the form of a trust company or cooperation including our schools, the council and other education partners.

The Local Authority provided a strong message of its commitment to ensuring that education and schools remain central to fulfilling the ambitions of children and young people and expressed its determination to continue to offer schools and wider education partners the best levels of support.

There was a clear message that we needed to continue to develop and grow our successful education partnerships we have in place across the city with an ongoing focus on improved outcomes for children and young people to ensure that no child is left behind. There was a real desire to keep the strong family of schools and education provision working together and continually improving.

There was a lot of lively debate and agreement to work together to develop our city approach further, whilst keeping a close eye on national developments in relation to the White Paper.

The Music & Arts Supporting Wellbeing

Our Music & Arts service have been working with young people in eight of the city’s schools to co-develop and deliver a range of creative programmes focused on achieving not only artistic but also wellbeing outcomes. Children and young people from four secondary and four primary schools have taken part in programmes that explore different aspects of wellbeing including resilience; emotional regulation; the Five Ways to Wellbeing; and the development of alternative coping mechanisms through activities including song-writing, sculpture, music technology and exploration of heritage.

This wellbeing programme includes both targeted and universal models, working closely with vulnerable young people who are demonstrating specific ‘unhealthy’ behaviours (e.g. self-harm) but also with larger groups to explore and promote the components of good mental health for everyone. This work also brings together professionals from different settings to create unique, positive experiences for the young people that use the power of creative and cultural engagement to improve their sense of wellbeing. If you are interested in finding out more about the innovative work we are doing, please contact Peter Chivers (Peter.Chivers@brighton-hove.gov.uk)

Visit to the Early Explorers Pre-School Setting

It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to visit the Early Explorers and spend the morning with Alison Wakeford (Education Manager of Early Explorers), the children and staff, and also shadow Teresa Darby and Penny Macey from PRESENS as well as meeting with some parents.

The education and care of the children which I observed was outstanding with clear evidence of children making progress and having fun in a positive environment. It was so important for me to see, first hand, how the PRESENS  team support Alison and the team to ensure the best outcomes for the children.

Secondary Admissions

Richard Barker and I have been busy facilitating twenty four public engagements across the city as part of the reviews. These have been well attended by parents, carers and colleagues from education and schools and have provided us with a range of feedback about the potential admissions models.  It’s been a privilege to meet so many parents and hear their views and issues related to that very important decision they make regarding transfer to secondary school. We have also been engaging with children and young people in a serious of focus groups. The engagement phase finishes on the 1st May and then there will be a period of reflection, gathering in all the comments and feedback before moving forward with more firm proposals for the final consultation. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this first phase.

Richard Barker engaging with children in Whitehawk

Bilingual Primary School

Children dancing Flamenco

I was pleased to be invited to the official opening ceremony of the Bilingual Primary School, Brighton & Hove. It was wonderful to see the brand new school and be shown around and greeted in Spanish by the children. Wendy King (the Headteacher) talked with passion about her vision for the school where they promote the ‘love of learning through language’. She emphasised the importance of being part of the family of schools in the city working closely with the Local Authority and thanked those parents who established the school from the start to what it is today. The ceremony was creative and fun with the children doing amazing displays of Flamenco dancing and singing in Spanish.

Best wishes,
Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

March 2016

World  book day at Woodingdean Primary School

World Book Day

World Book Day is all about dressing up as your favourite book characters and on 3^rd March there were some colourful costumes all over the city.  Meriel Jones, Every Child a Reader (ECaR) Teacher at St. Martin's (CE) Nursery and Primary School asked each class to make a big book for their book corners which the children can share, cherish and enjoy! Adults in the school community were asked to share their favourite books in a school assembly and the children were so engrossed and interested in what we liked and why.

Several year groups visited Jubilee/Moulsecoomb libraries. Meriel said ‘’The children were completely bowled over by the building itself, couldn't quite believe it was a building purely full of books. When it came to choosing a book they were amazed at the choice on offer. They really loved their experience there.’’

It is so positive to see that events like this have been successful in engaging many children from our Brighton and Hove schools in reading and books.

This month we received the Ofsted report for the City Council’s Family and Community Learning provision which was inspected in late January. I am delighted it has been rated as a good provider with a judgement that safeguarding is effective. Inspectors noted the responsiveness of our family learning team. The provision was deemed to be collaborating well with partners and responsive to learners, while targeting the hard to reach pupils. Overall learner achievement was rated as good, while learners with difficulties found to achieve outstandingly well. Tutors’ planning and general guidance was also deemed to be good.  

Ofsted also inspected Longhill secondary school this month and I look forward to receiving the final report.

Post 16 Skills and Learning

At the end of National Apprentice week I joined other council leads, Head teacher’s local businesses, colleges and other agencies for the launch of the Employer Pledge at the Dome.  The Employer Skills Taskforce has been headed by Zac Toumazi, CEO of Sussex County Cricket.  The event considered how businesses can be better linked to schools and how apprenticeship numbers can be increased.

One of the recommendations is to recruit a Governor for Enterprise within each school, who can champion entrepreneurship within the curriculum, support initiatives that raise awareness of the world of work and promote employability. Another commitment is to recruit 1000 apprentices in 1000 days a commitment from employers across the city. As part of this, the council has committed to recruit 100 apprentices 2016/17 and will be supporting employer engagement with schools, which is another part of the pledge.

https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/jobs/apprenticeships/1000-apprenticeships

Please follow the link to find out more.

 Stephanie Baker Post 16 Apprentice presenting at the LSEP

At this month’s Learning, Skills and Employment Partnership meeting it was also positive to hear two of the council's apprentices talk about their experience within the council, in their role as apprenticeship ambassadors.










Secondary School Admissions Review- Engagement Phase

I have been busy with Richard Barker (Head of School Organisation) and other team colleagues this month hosting a serious of engagement events across the city as part of our review of secondary admissions catchment areas. There have been 8 events so far and we have had over 500 responses via the council’s online portal.  Additional events will take place after the Easter school holidays including opportunities to engage with young people. This engagement phase runs up till 1^st May and will inform the statutory consultation that will take place in autumn 2016. 

Please do look at the website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/schooladmissions and provide your views and comments as this is such an important development for the city and its children, families and schools.

Launch of the Schools of Sanctuary Programme

I was delighted to open the launch event for the Schools of Sanctuary programme. 50 people attended representing 22 schools and we were all moved by the stories of refugees Alex Ntung and Gee Manoharan. Students and staff from Blatchington Mill shared Moving Stories – films made by young people to tell the stories of leaving their home country and moving to Brighton & Hove. Teachers from St Luke’s and Patcham High shared work they had done to include teaching and learning about refugees across the curriculum and St Bartholomew’s staff explained the work they had done to welcome and include two Syrian refugees into their school family. The feedback included ‘a very moving morning, the personal stories were extraordinary’, ‘incredibly affirming’.

Congratulations to the following schools – the first to receive Schools of Sanctuary certificates for the work they have done contributing to making their schools places of welcome and sanctuary: Blatchington Mill, Carlton Hill, Elm Grove, Hove Park, Patcham High,St Luke’s and St Mary Magdalen’s. Their good practice case studies and more information about the schools of sanctuary programme can be found on Pier2Peer. https://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupId=1247886

Jenny Lansdell  -Chair of Sanctuary and Tania Hendry - Hove Park School

Integrated Learning Support and Educational Psychology Services

The consultation period is now over on our plans to make improvements to the way our learning support and educational psychology services support schools, their pupils and their families. We have listened to the feedback and have taken it into account in our final proposals for change. We also engaged a consultant to scrutinise our review of our support services and her report will also influence the final outcome. The work and its final proposals were well received by the Children, Young People and Skills Committee. Regan and I are currently in the process of recruiting the new Head of Service and working with the teams to plan the bringing together the of new integrated service.

The Education Partnerships in Brighton & Hove

Many of you will have seen the announcement by the Chancellor in the recent budget speech and the new White Paper ‘Education Excellence Everywhere’, which includes government’s policy that every school must become an academy. Linked to this will be legislation with regard to the role of Local Authorities and our role in education.  It suggests that local authorities will be moving to a radically different relationship with its schools.

It will be no surprise to you to learn that the City Council and its Administration are absolutely committed to ensuring that education and schools remain central to fulfilling the ambitions of children and young people here in the city irrespective of the governance arrangements that emerge over time

We hosted a very positive meeting this month with the head teacher, chairs of the cluster partnerships, college principals and our wider education partners from the University of Brighton and Sussex, the Aldridge Foundation and the Russell Education Trust, to look at the positive work of our current partnerships and how we can improve and develop them further going forward. We are looking forward to widening this debate with a session with all heads governors and the wider partnership early next term where we can look at the full implications of the White Paper and so we can develop in the post legislative landscape.  There are several potential models that could be developed and we are working on the merits and demerits of each of those and will fully engage with you so that any new model is co-constructed. We would therefore encourage you to engage with us as we plan out what that future will look like so we retain the best facets of the positive partnerships what we have in Brighton and Hove.

Let's dance 2016

Picture from Dorothy Stringer’s website

This month was the annual spectacular week long event celebrating school and young people’s dance organised by Dorothy Stringer School and it was an amazing evening, a real celebration of dance with well rehearsed routines, incredible eye catching costumes and even a guest appearance from one of our Primary Deputy  Headteachers on stage. The stage was full of colour with wigs, extravagant costumes and a lot of gold lame! 78 schools, colleges, dance groups and the University of Brighton had danced on stage over the week, and  I’m sure the show gets better and better each year. Thank you to all the children and young people who took part and thank you especially to Dorothy Stringer School for continuing to give the children and young people this opportunity to perform together in such a big event.

Welcome and Goodbye

Claire King my Personal Assistant and the Education and Inclusion Office Manager left us at the end of term. Claire has been amazing in her role and has done much to improve our systems and communication in the branch and across Children’s Services. We will miss her very much and wish her well in her new role with the Clinical Commissions group

                                                                 Claire king and Jo Lyons on Claire’s last day

Welcome to Anne Henderson who has joined the School Admissions Team from the youth service as Senior Admissions Officer.

Anna Czepil has been appointed as the new Head of SEN Statutory Services.  Anna is currently SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities) Joint Commissioning Manager in East Sussex. Until she joins us, which is unlikely to be for three months or so, Ronny Burfield will continue the excellent job she has been doing so far as Acting Head of this section.

Stephanie Baker 

Stephanie Baker has joined the Post 16 development team as an apprentice administrator. Stephanie is part of the council’s team for the Brathay Apprentice challenge.

I am delighted that Rachel Simmonds, Head Teacher from West Blatchington Primary School will join the team part time next term supporting us with our school improvement work and the development of our self-improving school led system.

SoundCity 4

 

A big, big thank you to everyone who performed in Brighton and Hove's annual celebration of young musical talent, SoundCity 4 on Saturday 12 March at the Corn Exchange.  The night brilliantly showcased the incredible, diverse and inclusive music making that is happening amongst young people across the city. All acts performed amazingly and made it a fantastic and memorable night!   If you weren’t amongst the fabulous supporters in the audience, you can watch again here http://brightondome.org/extras/live_streams/watch_again_soundcity/

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

February 2016

Partnership working

I do hope many of you found time to take a half term break this month or at least a few days off work. I spent time with my family at Centre Parcs which was an enjoyable experience and hassle free holiday with sunshine every day and everything laid on! 

February at work has been a highly productive month with a range of partnership events with headteachers, governors and other stakeholders moving us forward on our top priorities. Reviewing the educational landscape, the importance of partnership working and strong networks of schools, other education providers that support and challenge each other is becoming increasingly clear. I’m aware there is lots of exciting and diverse practice already happening in the city and am keen to promote and develop this in partnership with school and college leaders. I’m looking forward to continual dialogue with our headteachers and partners as to how we develop this way of working going forward so we have the very best practice.

Sharon MacKenzie (School Workforce & Governor Support Officer / NQT Induction Co-ordinator) at the Governors Conference

Partnership with our city’s school governors

Cllr Tom Bewick

I joined more than 100 of our school governors who came together for the annual Saturday Governors’ Conference led by our Local Authority Governor Support Team.  The theme was ‘Closing the Gap’ and we spent a packed morning with inspiring speakers and facilitators, who challenged governors’ thinking about how they can have an impact on improving progress and life chances for all our children in the city. The conference was opened by our lead member, Councillor Tom Bewick, Chair of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee.

Our keynote speaker was Martin Kaliszewski, who works with the DfE, local authorities and schools around the country to interpret data and use this to inform the work we do with our disadvantaged pupils.  

There was also time for delegates to attend discussion groups that were led by our own governors sharing practice from their schools, and it was fantastic to hear all the practical information that governors could take back to their governor bodies. The feedback from this event was excellent.

It has been very quiet on the Ofsted front this month with no visits to our city’s schools, however the report for Cardinal Newman was published. The school was judged by Ofsted to require improvement to be good. I would like to commend headteacher James Kilmartin and the team at Cardinal Newman for their swift action to start addressing the issues identified by inspectors. We will be working in close partnership with the school and its governors on its journey to good.

Visit to Downs Junior School

 Left to right:Lonny Offley (Attachment Lead Teacher) and Emma Hearn (Assistant Headteacher)  at Downs Junior School 

I was delighted to visit Downs Juniors to meet Gianni Franceschi (Headteacher), Lonny Offley (Attachment Lead Teacher) and Emma Hearn (Assistant Headteacher), who are doing inspirational work around pupil premium and adopted children.  The school have invested in an Attachment Lead Teacher, Lonny, who supports some of the most vulnerable in children in school by working both individually with children using therapeutic interventions and by training staff as school so building capacity. They are keen to share their good practice and provide school to school support.  If you wish to know more about this initiative that is having clear impact you should contact Mark Storey (Head of Virtual School). Lonny and Emma also joined us to present at our School and College Leaders business event to share this excellent practice. They skilfully got our headteachers engaged in theraplay using bubbles!

Gianni Franceschi (Headteacher, Downs Junior School) blowing bubbles!

New secondary school for Brighton 

The University of Brighton have now announced this week that the Department for Education has approved plans for a new secondary school in Brighton. The school will be for students aged 11 to 16 years and will offer 180 places each year. 

Professor Debra Humphris, the university’s Vice Chancellor, said: “We are delighted the application has been successful.......We are pleased to be working in partnership with the city council and other stakeholders on this exciting development. We look forward to fully engaging and working with parents, the community and with local schools to fully develop the plans for the new school. Our outstanding School of Education will play a key role in these developments.’’

School and College Leaders Business Event – ‘’Progress For All’’ 

John McKee (deputy headteacher, Patcham High) with Olivia and Ethan

It was a pleasure for me to open our School & College Leaders’ Business Meeting at the University of Sussex and emphasise the importance of progress for all our children and young people. The event focused on sharing good practice, closing the gap, supporting our disadvantaged children and young people, including Children in Care and Adopted Children, and the importance of celebrating diversity within our schools. Presentations from schools included Patcham High, Blatchington Mill, Elm Grove, Downs Junior. 

John McKee, Olivia and Ethan (who were amazing) gave a lively presentation on Patcham High’s GRIT and Resilience project work, demonstrating the impact this has had on students and practical measures that can be employed by other schools to develop these traits in their own pupils (it included a vacuum cleaner but you will need to ask John about that). 

Sam Beal distributed the Faith Guidance in Educational Settings document and a fascinating presentation from Maryam Riaz and Kaneez Mahab-Rehman on being a British Muslim and the different educational experiences from two women who grew up in Brighton and Bradford. Full details are available on the schools bulletin .

The special educational needs and disability review: positive changes are afoot!

I hope that by now you will all know about the consultation which has recently opened on the exciting changes we are considering to bring our 6 special schools and 2 pupil referral units into 3 integrated provisions. We also plan to relocate our specialist nursery from its current accommodation into a more inclusive setting, since although the Jeanne Saunders Centre has served us well over many years, as a building it is no longer fit for purpose.

It is really important to us that you all have your say about these plans, so please respond by logging onto the consultation portal on council’s website, where you can read all about why we need to make changes, what we are proposing to do, and when we plan to do it. We have a lengthy timeframe for the implementation of any changes (up to 2020), so there will be plenty of opportunity for everyone to contribute their ideas to help us to develop even more amazing opportunities for our most vulnerable children and young people. 

Employment and Skills

The consultation with schools, colleges and academies regarding the local post 16 provision is ongoing and the meeting of headteachers and chairs of governors welcomed Gary Peters, Chief Executive of Love Local Jobs, who is also  vice chair of the Employer Skills Taskforce. Gary addressed the meeting talking about skills needs and sector growth locally, encouraging engagement between education and employers.  The Employer Skills Taskforce has now completed its work and on 18 March it will being issuing a call to action for employers to get involved in the campaign to support apprenticeships. 

Information, advice and guidance (IAG) remain high on our agenda and Rachel Carter from my team is leading this work with schools and colleges and other partners for the local authority. We are working in partnership with the schools and the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership to help educational institutions develop a skills strategy which will support young people into the world of work, whilst engaging with employers locally.

The City of Brighton and Hove saw the launch of the 'Be the Change' programme at the Amex on 24 February. Nine of our city's secondary schools and academies sent a selection of year 9 students to the launch event, and saw students excel their own expectations and those of their teachers. 'Be the Change' helps young people to identify their barriers to success and understand what positive changes they need to make in order to realise their aspirations. 

Also this month senior LA representatives attended the 'Creative Tech Futures' event hosted by City College, this is an exciting initiative with employers and City College. 

Congratulations and Welcome 

I was privileged to join Longhill governors as they recruited a new headteacher. There was a strong field and a difficult decision for governors. We are delighted with the decision and we look forward to welcoming Kate Williams to the city. Kate is currently vice principal at Strood Academy in Medway. 

It was also an opportunity to see how well the school is doing under Richard Bradford and the Acting Headteacher, Jo Cassidy's leadership and a chance to meet the staff and pupils of Longhill who were engaged in the recruitment process. I was also very impressed with the use of inspirational messages around the school.

Longhill High School Corridor

In the local authority this month we welcome Paul Neville to the Schools Data Team, he is a Data Analyst who has joined us from Sussex Police.

Services to Schools Marketplace Event

Our services to schools offer is developing at a pace with a real focus on efficiency and value for money and providing you all with the quality services you need. 

Please come and join us at the Services to Schools Marketplace drop-in event on Tuesday 8 March, 9.30am-12pm at the Sussex Cricket Club, Dining Rooms. The event provides the opportunity to meet with the leads from the Services to Schools teams and to discuss your services provision ahead of the 16/17 buyback. There will also be updates from the Literacy Support Service and further information about the Orbis Partnership and what it means for schools.  To book your place please contact fifi.bula@brighton-hove.gov.uk or directly via BEEM.

There is a Primary Headteachers meeting also taking place at the same venue, in the Boundary Rooms from 8.30am-10.30am, headteachers are welcome to pop in after.

Best wishes,
Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons.