End of another academic year

We are almost at the end of another academic year, and it’s a time to celebrate our achievements across the city. Standards overall in our schools and wider education provision have continually improved this year and we are in a better place than ever before, something for you all to be incredibly proud of, well done. Thank you for your continued commitment to children and families in the city. Enjoy this fabulous weather, and for those who are going away, enjoy your well-deserved holiday.

This year’s Refugee Week there was a special celebration held at Royal Spa nursery school. The nursery has been awarded the first Nursery of Sanctuary award in the city. We are proud to be a city of sanctuary, working to provide a welcoming environment for refugees. Good practice for refugee children and families is embedded in the nursery, through their welcome, the celebration of all their languages and the support to access a range of local services. Families are invited to join in and volunteer wherever possible. Congratulations Royal Spa!

Mary Ellinger, the Headteacher, talked about how Royal Spa became a nursery of sanctuary:

‘All our staff and governors had training about refugees. This was very powerful in raising our awareness and inspiring us. In the winter we had a Celebration of Light. This drew on the common themes of light from many different winter festivals. We invited all our families to attend, but particularly encouraged our refugee families. This was a joyous event, with a walk carrying lanterns made by the children, and music from a Syrian father. It finished with a wonderful array of food from around the world.’

For more information: http://refugeeweek.org.uk/how-a-brighton-nursery-school-is-celebrating-refugee-week/

  

The Capoeira session had lots of participation and smiley faces

I’m delighted so many of our schools celebrated refugee week across the city. Blatchington Mill held a capoeira session which went down really well with the students who were extremely keen to get involved! They held an international cake fair which saw students and staff bake cakes from countries they had a connection with. The cakes were then swapped and shared with year 7 students; they had a huge array of countries represented including Syria, Italy and Wales.

World cakes table

  

Blatchington Mill pupils at the Great Get Together event

Success again in our primary schools

Congratulations to all pupils, staff, headteachers and governors on the very positive outcomes for the KS2 national tests again this year. Early provisional results show that we have remained above the national figure, which is a great achievement and part of our commitment to helping children have the best start in life. More details are available in this press release. The end of term celebrations will give an opportunity for young people to rejoice and reflect on all the exciting experiences and opportunities that have contributed to their learning so far as they transition to the next stage of their educational journey.

  

Celebrating our Newly Qualified Teachers

NQT event in Hove Town Hall

I was really pleased to be able to go and thank this year’s cohort of newly qualified teachers, who are just coming to the end of their induction year. The Local Authority School & Governance Development Team hosted an end-of-year celebration, where NQTs really valued having time to reflect on their year. They also heard from an ex-NQT, Vic Leon-Cutler from Goldstone Primary, about what to focus on in their second year, and Helen Horsley from Sussex Coast Teaching School Alliance, who explored all the opportunities that will be available to them in the future - maybe even headship! Thank you to all involved.

  

Sussex School Games Finals

Blatchington Girls Stoolball pupils with their Silver certificate

I just wanted to share with you the success of the Brighton & Hove Team at the Sussex School Games Finals.

The Brighton & Hove team did so well finishing 4^th out of the 9 areas across Sussex. Which is our best team result ever!

Here are the results:

Cottesmore Primary Year 5/6 Mixed Quad Kids Athletics, 1^st Place

Carden Primary Year 5/6 Mixed SEND Football, 1^st Place

Blatchington Mill Year 9/10 Girls Stoolball, 2^nd Place

Downs Park School Year 5-8 Parallel Athletics, 2^nd Place

Dorothy Stringer School Year 7 Street Cricket, 3^rd Place

Hertford Juniors Year 3/4 Mixed Tri Golf, 4^th Place

Stanford Juniors Year 5/6 Gymnastics, 5^th Place

Dorothy Stringer School Year 7 Girls Netball, 5^th Place

St John the Baptist Primary High 5 Netball, 6^th Place

Hangleton Primary Year 5/6 Hockey, 9^th Place

Cottesmore Primary Year5/6 Mixed Quad Kids Athletics pupils with their Gold certificate

All of the teams did so well to make it to the final as in each sport there was an average of 21 schools from across Sussex taking part. 23 Brighton & Hove primary schools took part in the High 5 Netball Tournaments – with St John the Baptist Primary winning the final and going through to the Sussex final. We also had Sports Leaders from PACA umpiring the Netball Final and Blatchington Mill helping with the Gymnastics Final & general event support.

Well done to everyone involved!

  

Fighting food waste and unhealthy diets

Brighton & Hove school children have been waging war against the twin evils of food waste and unhealthy eating using the simple superpower of Veg Power Pots. The fun-sized and appealing colourful cups have been filled with a different daily choice of raw veg, including carrot batons, mange tout and sweetcorn for the past three weeks, offering the children of Fairlight Primary School an alternative to the usual cooked vegetable portions with lunch.

Provided in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council, school meals contractor Autograph, working with Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, the healthy raw-veg initiative follows a school waste audit last June. This showed that vegetables were the most wasted foodstuff from school lunches, but also children said that they preferred raw vegetables to cooked ones. The children have loved the experience and we have used Veg Power stickers and posters to motivate them and as a celebration they will have the opportunity to create their own ‘Veg Power Pictures’ in a photo booth.

Chloe Clarke from the Food Partnership said ‘The Veg Power Pots are such a simple idea but they pack a mighty punch – making sure that children eat their vegetables with lunch. It’s win : win in the fight to get children to eat their vegetables and tackle food waste!’

Brighton & Hove Food Partnership will now evaluate the initiative's effect on the amount of food waste the school produced. If food waste is shown to be reduced, it is hoped that the Veg Power Pots can be rolled out to other schools in the city.

Last October, the Food Partnership made a joint pledge with Brighton & Hove City Council to become a Veg City. This is part of the national campaign, established by the Food Foundation called Peas Please which is trying to take ensure everybody eat more vegetables.

Fairlight Primary pupil sampling a Power Pot

Congratulations to Shirley Vanstaaden and Hollingdean children’s centre

Shirley Vanstaaden, receptionist at Hollingdean Children’s Centre and Steph Lakelin, Children’s Centre Manager

You will remember Shirley Vanstaaden, receptionist at Hollingdean Children’s Centre, won the Council’s Big Difference award earlier this year for her work to set up the centre’s community café, which is now run by local volunteers. Shirley was nominated for the award by her manager – Steph Lakelin, and in June they together attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace. The garden party was held in recognition of the many individuals who go above and beyond to help others.

Well done once again to Shirley, and thank you to all the volunteers and staff at Hollingdean Children’s Centre for their work to establish this café for the local community.

For the last 3 weeks, Ofsted have been in the city inspecting the local authority's Children’s Services. The inspection runs until Friday 20th July and we will provide an update next week with our reflections on how the inspection went overall. The results of the inspection will not be published until later on in August. A big thank you to our teams for all the hard work they are putting into this inspection, we are proud to be able to show the inspectors examples of great practice with families in the city.

Hangleton Primary had an inspection last month and was graded Good. Congratulations to Executive Headteacher Emma Lake, Anna Keane, Acting Head of School, the governing body, and the children and parents of course.

Brunswick Primary was also inspected last month. I look forward to announcing the results when the report comes out.

Well done Roundabout Nursery

Roundabout Nursery children celebrating their Outstanding grading

Congratulations to Roundabout Nursery in Whitehawk, for an ‘Outstanding’ grading by Ofsted inspectors for the third time. The nursery works tirelessly to support some of the most vulnerable children in the area. They have a huge amount of children attending who have Child Protection and Child in Need plans, and have the highest amount of children in the city attending who are eligible for two year old funding. The nursery is part of the Roundabout Children’s Centre.

Inspectors said:

• Children make excellent progress in this exceptionally welcoming, inclusive nursery.
• Staff are highly sensitive to children’s individual circumstances and developmental needs, and all children, including those with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities, are exceptionally well prepared for their future learning and starting school.
• Managers are strongly committed to continually developing the provision.
• Staff are excellent role models and offer children calm, reassuring guidance and praise.
• Staff very skilfully plan activities that build on children’s learning and extend their interests exceptionally well.

The Nursery managers Deborah Taylor and Teresa Owen said ‘We are thrilled to be recognised for all that we do with the wonderful children and families in this area. It is so important to us to make a difference and we are incredibly proud of our staff. Getting an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating is a huge achievement, but retaining it twice is amazing. The report reflects our ethos: ‘Creative, Inclusive and Passionate in everything we do’.

http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/CARE/EY334821

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship Roadshow 

The Apprenticeship Roadshows took place at Hove Town Hall in June and at the Brighton Centre in July. The events successfully engaged about 400 people, who attended to find out more about apprenticeships and traineeships. The attendees at both events were able to talk to a wide range of training providers and employers and the events both featured panel events about apprenticeships and traineeships, giving the experiences of apprentices, apprenticeship employers and training providers. The feedback from visitors from both events was very positive.  

Goodbye and thank you

This is the time of year where we have to say goodbye to some of our team members and partners. I wanted to thank them formally on behalf of everyone in Families, Children and Learning for their contribution to the lives of our children, young people and their families.

It is always sad to say goodbye to headteachers and education leaders and there are several colleagues who have or are moving on this term. My thanks to colleagues who have contributed so much: Trevor Cristin (Head at St Andrew’s Primary), Janet Tremble (Acting Head at BACA), Katie Scott (Head at PACA ), Gayle Adam (Head at Patcham House), Wendy King (Head at Bilingual Primary), Joan Marshall (Head at Hertford Junior) and Marcelo Staricoff (Head at Balfour Primary).      

We wish them all well in their future careers and the next chapters in their lives. 

Also special mention to the following heads who are taking on new roles or returning to their old roles: Rachel Simmonds (Acting Executive Headteacher at Mile Oak Primary). Rachel will return to her role as Head at West Blatchington Primary. Helen Horsley (Head at Benfield Primary). Helen has moved to her new role as Head of Teaching School. Rachel Kershaw (Acting Head at Cottesmore St Mary’s Primary), who will move to a new role as Head of St Margaret’s Primary. Zoe McGuigan will become Executive Head of Hertford Infant and Junior school in a new role. Clare Price, who will be moving back to her substantive role as Deputy Head at St Margaret’s Primary after acting up as Interim Head.

Regan Delf

Last month I was very pleased to give a warm welcome to Georgina Clarke-Green who has taken on the role of Assistant Director for Health, SEN and Disability. This month it is with sadness that we say goodbye to Regan Delf, who steps down from this role, looking for a change to her pace of life. Regan has been with the local authority for five years, although as our National Strategy Adviser and then as a consultant she has worked with us for much longer. She will be much missed, both for her wit but more particularly her leadership of SEND which has led to transformations in our SEN provision, the bringing together of children’s disability and adult learning disability, the creation of BHISS, the development of a new school’s well-being service, the successful conversation of SEN statements into EHCPs, and this week the expected agreement to work in partnership with the National Autistic Society to develop specialist provision in two mainstream schools.

Regan will continue on a part-time basis to offer advice and support with the establishment of the three new SEN hubs in the city and while we are being inspected we may also at times need to call on her expertise.

Thank you, Regan, we will miss you so much.

September Education Leaders Conference, Leadership: The Art of Being Brilliant

A heads up that the annual Brighton & Hove Education Leadership Conference will be on Friday 21 September 2018 and we're delighted that our Keynote Speaker will be Dr Andy Cope. Andy’s flagship keynote ‘The Art of Being Brilliant’ has been delivered to rave reviews all over the world. Andy believes leaders need to be challenged in an entertaining and humane way. He promises no big words or psychobabble, just a rip-roaring tour through the essentials of leadership as it needs to be RIGHT NOW.

The conference will be a morning session followed by lunch. To book a place via BEEM , email schools.training@brighton-hove.gov.uk or call 01273 293511.

Best wishes,

Jo

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

Celebrating Eid

This month we celebrated Eid across the city with many events in schools and communities. Pinaki Ghoshal, Director of Children’s Services, Mark Storey, Head of Education Standards & Achievement and I were delighted to be invited to a picnic at Carden Primary school attended by parents, teachers, and councillors. We enjoyed celebrating with the community and sharing some delicious food.

Pinaki Ghoshal, Director of Children’s Services and Mark Storey, Head of Education Standards & Achievement at the Eid Picnic

Virtual School Conference

The Virtual School for children in care and children previously in care held its annual summer conference this month at the University of Sussex. Sharon Gray, OBE and winner of the ‘Teacher of the Year award’ delivered a truly inspiring keynote speech on ‘Authentic Inclusion’. Sharon’s innovative whole school approach left us humbled and inspired. We were then treated to talented performances from members of ‘Miss Represented’ who are an arts collective of women facing challenging life situations and who share their stories through song, poetry and monologue. The afternoon session consisted of ‘Your space’ therapy workshops which described a range of simple therapeutic tools that could be used to support a child’s emotional well-being and educational achievement.

Miss Represented

Overall, the conference provided a refreshing reminder of how privileged we are to work with young people and more importantly, of the tremendous potential we have to impact on their educational outcomes and life chances.

Maths trip to China

Emma Gale from Coldean and Lauren Clowes from Downs Junior

Emma Gale from Coldean and Lauren Clowes from Downs Junior are the two Primary Mastery Specialists  that have been selected from the whole of the Sussex Maths Hub to go to Shanghai as part of the teaching for mastery maths initiative. We are delighted to see expertise from the city recognised and really pleased that they are part of the very successful Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF) maths project. 

Withdean Athletics

This month we had 44 of the city’s primary schools taking part in Primary School Athletics over 2 days with 1,500 children participating from years 4, 5 and 6 at Withdean Stadium. I went along and it was wonderful to see so many of our primary children competing and enjoying sport. Congratulations to the following schools for coming first in their divisions on Wednesday: Benfield, St Bernadette’s and St Paul’s, and again to Benfield for coming first overall in both the Field and Track cups. On the Thursday, Cottesmore, Elm Grove and Carden won their divisions with Elm Grove and Cottesmore winning the Field and Track cups respectively. 

It was great as well to see Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer, PACA and Patcham High supporting the event, without the support of the Sports Leaders and their PE departments these primary events just couldn’t happen. 

Closing the ‘Word Gap’ in Early Years

It was good to join Nursery and Pre-school managers and leaders from across the city at the Brighthelm Centre this month to explore effective ways to build children’s vocabulary through books and stories. The morning included presentations and workshops by Mary Ellinger, Headteacher at the Royal Spa Nursery School, Claire Pimenta, Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Nancy Savage, Library Early Years Services & Bookstart Co-ordinator and Mandy Hodge, Early Years Coordinator and Nursery Class Teacher at Moulsecoomb Primary School. Ways forward from the morning have been identified, which the Early Years Team are looking forward to seeing, supporting, sharing and celebrating.

Parental Conflict Conference

This month a wide range of professionals came together with partners from Sussex University, Sussex Police and the department for Work and Pensions to discuss the impacts of parental conflict on children and young people and some of the ways we plan to support parents to reduce conflict. I was delighted to open the conference; Reducing Parental Conflict: Helping Parents, Helping Children. The event was attended by over 130 professionals who work with families from education roles through to employment support, social work and early help support. 

We heard from Professor Gordon Harold and his team about the extensive and compelling academic research into the drivers and impacts of parental conflict. We have established a new task group with partners involved in this agenda and I’ll be posting regular updates as we develop training for professionals, screening tools and interventions to furnish a coherent pathway for supporting parents and families. You can find the day’s presentations here and for emerging evidence and ideas go to the Early Intervention Foundation’s new Reducing Parental Conflict Hub .

Play and Learning at Fairlight Primary

Many schools in Brighton & Hove have either taken up the work of Opal to develop their play or are considering this as a way forward for their school.

Fairlight Primary have come to the end of their work with Opal. The path to amazing play however is a continuous journey for all and the school will continue to develop their outside space and improve their provision further. For example, they will be working with the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership and Autograph around the actual meal part of lunchtime to complement the work in play. 

Fairlight undertook their initial audit over 18 months ago, thinking that their play was okay. They just scraped in as a Silver School and through the journey with Opal have now moved to the highest rating of Platinum School and are in the top 5% of schools in the country for play.

Damien Jordan, Headteacher of Fairlight Primary, said: 

‘I cannot recommend Opal and the process enough as a whole school focus that impacts across the whole curriculum but that also gets to the heart of good teaching and learning.

As many of you will also know from our physical environment, we have a very interesting and restricted outdoor site (all concrete- no school fields) so schools shouldn't feel this isn't for them or is an impossible task. We have made it work with one of the most restricted sites that Opal have worked with.’

http://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/

http://ipaworld.org/childs-right-to-play/uncrc-article-31/un-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child-1/

Damien Jordan, Headteacher, Fairlight Primary School, DamienJordan@fairlight.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Carlton Hill primary and the Connected Hub both had short inspections last month and both continue to be good. Congratulations to both Headteachers Tamsen Beer and Louise Cook and the governing bodies. 

Brackenbury also had an inspection last month and was graded as Requires Improvement. The Ofsted inspector said positively: ‘The headteacher has shown determination to improve outcomes for pupils. Progress is beginning to improve’ 

Mile Oak was also inspected last month and was graded as Requires Improvement. The Ofsted inspector said positively: ‘The revised curriculum provides a range of exciting and purposeful learning. Pupils are developing the skills they need across all subjects’ 

I look forward to watching both schools on their journeys to good.
Congratulations to all involved.

Brunswick Primary is currently being inspected and Hangleton Primary had an inspection this month. I look forward to reporting back when the reports come out. 

Governance Partnership Forum

Sam Wilson, Virtual School team lead, speaking a the Forum

Governors came together last week for their first Governance Partnership Forum. These events have been added to the Governor Support training programme this year so governors can discuss key priorities in more detail within their partnerships. This term’s session focussed on how governors can have an impact on outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. As well as exploring some of the issues we have citywide, three governors also shared case studies on how their governing bodies are on a journey to improve outcomes and what they have identified as key areas for their schools. There was also a real appetite for the issues raised in the presentation from Sam Wilson, Headteacher for the Virtual School for Children in Care, so this is something the team will be looking to explore further at another event. The team is planning to use more schools to host the larger governance events in future - many thanks to Blatchington Mill for hosting this time.

Miss School Miss Out attendance campaign

The new Miss School Miss Out campaign was launched recently to be a positive campaign including social media that builds on the existing “Every School Day Matters” messaging and further explains the importance of attending school.  The message of the campaign is to encourage families to consider the impact of good school attendance and encourage both parents and children to seek help if needed.

Part of the campaign will include the publication of short articles featuring a school absence issue with information on support available which can be shared by schools via email or social media or using their internal screens.

There is a social media campaign starting on 18 June based on the things that pupils will miss out on so make sure to follow council’s Twitter feed @BrightonHoveCC. We will be using #missschoolmissout and there is a new webpage for the campaign on the council’s website. 

Mental Health work at Hove Park School

Hove Park have been acknowledged for their work around Mental Health. They are in Part 3 of a series on Radio 4, ‘Storm and Stress.’

It’s a really interesting series which they are also using with staff as part of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme. The third programme ‘How to help’ is available on BBC iPlayer here. 

Well done to Headteacher Jim Roberts and the staff.

Poverty Proofing the School Day

Longhill peer researchers sharing their findings about poverty proofing the school day and how to support disadvantaged students

‘Poverty Proofing the School Day’ is about listening to school communities to find out whether any practice or policy unwittingly disadvantages families who are struggling with money. Members of the ‘Poverty Proofing the School Day’ have now carried out audits in 32 schools across the city. The audit enables pupils, staff, parents and governors to talk about different aspects of school life. At the recent School and College Leaders Business meeting, some of the students from the Peer Researcher team at Longhill High School spoke about their experience as researchers: the things that they learned about poverty, issues that surprised and shocked them and what they had learned from the experience of being researchers. 

Congratulations

Varndean's own Alison Browning receives MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List

We are absolutely delighted to share the news that Alison Browning, Varndean’s Challenge Co-Ordinator, has been awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Alison has received her award for services to young people at Varndean School, by enabling hundreds of them to complete the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and to be recognised for their charitable works, during a 30 year career of exceptional dedication and commitment to education.

Helen Osborne, Friends Centre Principal, who has been awarded an MBE

We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that the Friends Centre Principal, Helen Osborne, has also been mentioned in the Queen’s birthday honours list today for an MBE award for services to Adult Education. Helen was honoured for her work in adult education and, most notably, for her work since 2014 as Principal of Brighton's Friends Centre, an adult education organisation 'at the heart of learning in the City' for the past 72 years. Helen is also well-known for her work in Girlguiding across East Sussex.

Congratulations to Patcham High’s fantastic Personalised Learning Department, for the amazing work they do with SEN students. The team were winners of the year at the 2018 Sussex Teacher of year awards.  

Katie Mills and Julia Cason receiving their Sussex teacher of the year award

Welcome

Georgina Clarke-Green, our new Assistant Director for Health, SEN and Disability

I’m happy to welcome Georgina Clarke-Green as our newly appointed Assistant Director for Health, SEN and Disability, who will be starting with us on the 2nd of July. 

Georgina has worked within special needs for 17 years, 14 of which as a Senior Manager or Head of Service. In her previous roles, she has overseen statutory SEN processes and led a wide range of specialist teams such as the Educational Psychology Service, Advisory Teachers, Inclusion Service and Headteachers of Pupil Referral Units. She’s passionate about ensuring that all children, young people and adults with additional needs are given every opportunity to realise their potential in order to enjoy a fulfilling and purposeful life.

Georgina is looking forward to meeting as many colleagues here as possible in order for her to understand more about Brighton & Hove and learn about the good work that we do. 

Best wishes,

Jo

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

Children’s Parade

Woodingdean Primary School and their Mother Fish

The festival is in full swing and I hope you are all taking some time out to enjoy. It began once again with a fabulous children’s parade. I was blown away by the creativity of our children and young people from so many of our Brighton & Hove schools. A massive thank you to all parents and school staff who supported them in putting together such a fantastic display.

Varndean School at the Children’s Parade

It’s also important to remember May and June is SATs and exam time and for us to wish well and provide support all our children and young people during what can be a stressful time.

Elm Grove Primary football tournament

Elm Grove Primary football team winners with their cup

This week the Elm Grove Primary football team represented Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premiere League Schools football tournament. Each Premiere League team has a school team representing them. The children played on Leicester City's football ground, with a Premiere referee and were put up in The Hilton! (all funded by the Premiere League). To achieve this, the team won big city-wide, then county-wide, tournaments. This is the first time a local school has participated in this tournament given Brighton & Hove's new position in the league. The children and Deputy Headteacher Mr Waring were very excited! Well done to Elm Grove. 

Every Child a Reader 

The Every Child a Reader (ECaR) service is working closely with Collected Works, a local organisation, to ensure pupils in disadvantage have the opportunity to take part in local community cultural and festival events. Collected Works collaborate with local teachers to choose a book and provide support for schools and pupils to read the book together with weekly publication of materials to share. Schools use the opportunity to develop a city wide conversation, like a giant book club. This discussion is expertly enriched by the opportunity to attend a heavily subsidised show to meet the authors and share stories. 

Presenting this year’s BIG READ for schools in Brighton & Hove (and beyond) . . .

Greg James and Chris Smith, Young City Reads authors 2018

Young City Reads returns this year with a spoof superhero epic that’s both fabulously funny and heart-warming. The concept is simple – one book, by one author is selected for classes to read, explore, discuss and creatively engage with.

Kid Normal by Greg James and Chris Smith

‘We know that Brighton is full of superpowers: seagull evasion, shingle navigation and dolphin racing, to name but three. And now we’re looking forward to adding a few new ones with the help of your awesome powers of creativity. We hope you enjoy meeting Murph and his friends in Kid Normal, and we can’t wait to meet you all to make up some new stories!’

Pupils entering the beautiful Dome venue for Young City Reads Brighton Festival Show 

Hundreds of local pupils signed up for the big read and Brighton Festival Show. Collected Works gains sponsorship to support pupils in disadvantage with books, ticket and travel costs. Every Child a Reader schools promote the event to include pupils who have worked hard at developing and maintaining reading skill and enjoyment. It was a joy to see all the pupils arriving with much excitement at The Dome. The authors did a great job of entertaining and including, the sold out audience. New characters were created and a Queen’s Park Primary teacher and local pupils showed great acting skills in helping to tell the story on stage. A special moment was meeting three Longhill Secondary Pupils who had been previous Reading Recovery Pupils in Y1 at Primary, they are engaged, enthusiastic and successful readers. There was a very long book signing queue, however a very memorable and enjoyable event. I have met pupils in school this week proudly clutching their signed books and reading them at break time.

You can find more information on Collected Works here: http://collectedworks.co.uk/young-city-reads-2018/ 

West Blatchington new building

Pupils signing the steel beam

It was great to see the first duty performed by the new Mayor Dee Simson was in support of one of our schools. Madam Mayor attended West Blatchington Primary School where she joined the school’s competition winners who signed one of the steel beams forming part of the school’s new building. They then watched it being lifted and secured into place where it will remain for decades to come. 

The signed steel beam being lifted into place 

The Mayor was excited to learn that the pupils will be moving into their new school building during her year in office and hopes she will be able to come back and officially open the site in April. 

Hidden Children

The Council has been developing its strategy for ‘hidden children’; those who are on the roll of a school but not attending full-time. Often the attendance of these children and young people at school is a protective factor in reducing risk to their welfare. We have shared our developing thoughts with primary headteachers and school governors at our termly meetings in the last couple of weeks and we shall be providing more information after half term. It is key to the success of this strategy that the Council is informed of all pupils who are in receipt of a part time timetable. Watch this space for more information. 

Moulsecoomb Primary Space Training

Moulsecoomb Primary children working on a space training project

Little Green Pig took up residency in Moulsecoomb Primary School to create BrightSTAR- Brighton Space Training and Research, the city’s first academy for astronauts.
Over four months they worked with every child in the school, from Nursery up to Year 6, helping the pupils expand their imagination and take delight in creative writing while training to blast into space.
We’re very proud to present a film showing the project, which you can watch here. https://www.littlegreenpig.org.uk/blog/watch-a-transmission-from-brightstar/

Mental Health Provision at Hove Park School 

Jim Roberts, Headteacher at Hove Park School, shared the DfE report published this month which highlighted the work the school has done supporting mental health provision. This forms part of a series of case study documents aimed at sharing best practice. Take a look: 
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/705083/Supporting_Mental-Health_pen_portraits.pdf 

Congratulations to Downs View 

Downs View School and Link College has been given approval by the DfE / ESFA to be an independent provider of post 19 education from this September. I am delighted that the hard work of the staff has paid off after what has been a protracted application process to become an ISP (Independent Service Provider). I look forward to continued successful working with the local authority on this important project for the city.

Queens Park Primary Tapestry – awe and wonder at assembly

Mother and child from Queens Park Primary School with tapestry 

Queens Park Primary School recently used the International Womens Network’s tapestry at a KS2 assembly. The tapestry shows the diversity, creativity and skills of the many women from different cultures, who live in Brighton & Hove. Each square represents the personal vision and work of the women, who come from more than 25 different countries. The group sit and sew together on a weekly basis at Jubilee Library, as they make new friends.

Kate Harvey, lead on School of Sanctuary at Queens Park School said ‘I had no idea of how powerful the quilt was going to be, but the discussions and comments it provoked from the children were incredible. Some of the children recognised their mum’s squares (work) and were so proud.’ Discussion included conversations on moving away from a home and making a new one and how sad or happy the women felt.

If your school or centre would like to borrow the tapestry or find out more about the International Women’s Network, please email lindabeanlands@gmail.com

There are also a number of family learning opportunities in the city delivered by BHCC Adult & Community Learning through the Friends Centre. Email  Kirsty.Cregan@brighton-hove.gov.uk for more information.

St Bartholemew’s Primary had a monitoring inspection this month as a school graded Requires Improvement. The Ofsted inspector said positively: ‘Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order for the school to become good.’ Well done to St Bartholemew’s. 

I would also like to congratulate Julie Plumstead and her team at Tarnerland Nursery on the retention of their Outstanding grading. The inspector states that Julie is ‘an inspirational leader’, who demonstrates ‘a vision for excellence, not only in your own school but for the wider community’. The report reflects the outstanding work the nursery does in providing excellent care and development. Congratulations to all involved. 

Brackenbury Primary, Carlton Hill Primary and the Connected Hub have recently been inspected and I look forward to reporting on their results in the next blog.

Welcome, Goodbye and Thank You  

Gavin Graham, our new Apprenticeship Adviser

Welcome to Gavin Graham, our new Apprenticeship Adviser in the Apprenticeship Team. Gavin’s role within the Apprenticeship team is to offer a support service for all council staff including schools. This includes advice and support on recruiting an apprentice and to use the Apprenticeship Levy funding to develop existing staff. Gavin has extensive experience having previously worked for the National Apprenticeship Service and most recently supporting NHS trusts with apprenticeships, whilst working for a training provider. Gavin’s email address is gavin.graham@brighton-hove.gov.uk tel: 01273 293320. 

Trevor Cristin

Congratulations to Trevor Cristin, currently head teacher of St. Andrew’s Church of England Primary School, Hove, who has been appointed as the new Diocesan Director of Education for the Diocese of Chichester. Mr Cristin, who has been a head teacher for 16 years and a teacher all his working life, will now oversee the work of the Diocese with its 157 church schools and academies. Mr Cristin will begin his duties in September.
Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons
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