School Games Mark

 

A huge congratulations to 37 schools in Brighton and Hove who have achieved the National School Games Mark Award 2021/22.  The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward and recognise schools’ engagement in School Games against a national benchmark and to celebrate keeping young people active.  Well done to these schools for offering such a varied PE and School Sport programme.   Schools can be awarded a bronze, silver, gold or platinum mark. The platinum mark is a real achievement – to be awarded this, a gold mark needs to have been maintained for five subsequent years. Congratulations to Downs Juniors, Coldean Primary, Elm Grove Primary and Hertford Juniors who have all been awarded a Platinum Mark! 

Apprenticeship Outward Bounds

Apprentices taking part in sailing and climbing

I have enjoyed hearing about the outward bounds activity event organised by the Apprenticeship Team which took place this month. This was an amazing opportunity for 20 volunteer apprentices to take part in two days of activities involving archery, sailing and climbing.  The event ended with learning to build a raft and sail it.  Activities were based around the Council’s values and behaviours and helped build confidence by working as a team, trusting others and communicating.  The event was funded through grants received from ESFA.  One attendee said:- “It was a fantastic opportunity to meet and collaborate with people from different parts of the organisation and learn about their roles at BHCC, which helps to build a better understanding about what the organisation does”. Well done to everyone involved!

Youth Transport Campaign

             Members of the Youth Transport Campaign meeting Geoff Raw and local MPs

I was very interested to hear that Members of the Youth Transport Campaign met with all three local MPs alongside the Chair for the Children and Young People’s Skills Committee this month.  They discussed the issues relating to bus travel that had been identified by the Youth Council, largely focussing around the relationships with young people, the complex ticketing process and the overall cost. They were also fortunate enough to be able to speak to Geoff Raw – Chief Executive of Brighton & Hove City Council, to gain his perspective and ideas.

Secondary and Primary Rugby League World Cup Festivals

Students taking part in tag rugby

Earlier this month, 60 secondary school students from four schools and 225 primary students from 19 schools took part in Rugby League Tag Rugby Festivals to celebrate the Rugby League World cup being held in England.  17 Sports Leaders from the Cardinal Newman Rugby Academy supported the event along with two students from the University of Brighton’s Rugby League Team. All of the students had a great time, many of them taking part in Tag Rugby and representing their school for the first time. 

Anti-Racist Education 

On 15 October, Brighton & Hove City Council held its first anti-racist education in the community event at Lighthouse in Brighton. Bringing together community and voluntary sector anti-racist education practitioners, attendees were able to share their contributions to furthering anti-racist education enabling more coordinated work and increased awareness of the richness our community sector holds.  An anti-racist education survey has been sent to every maintained school and maintained nursery in Brighton and Hove.  This survey is collecting information that will really help us to progress the strategy and to capture some of the brilliant work already taking place across the city so please do take a few minutes to complete this. The survey can be downloaded from BEEM.

Youth Parliament

                                    A focus group discussing health and wellbeing

          

This month, Members for Youth Parliament Georgia and Deneb have been busy listening to young people's voices around issues of Health and Wellbeing in Brighton and Hove. They led focus groups with groups in the city figuring out what health and wellbeing meant to young people in Brighton and Hove.

Children in Care and Care Leavers Awards 

Brighton and Hove Children’s Services held a special ‘Flying High’ Awards Ceremony to celebrate the achievements of our children in care and care leavers earlier this month. The ‘Flying High’ ceremony took place at the British Airways i360 with 50 children and young people invited to receive an award. There were outstanding hip hop music performances from two very talented Brighton and Hove care experienced young people, followed by a complementary flight on the i360 and some in-flight table tennis.  Congratulations to all the award winners!

Congratulations to Bee in the Woods

I was delighted to hear that Bee in the Woods Kindergarten have won the Nursery of the Year at the Nursery World Awards 2022.  Children from all over Brighton and Hove spend their days playing and learning in an amazing outdoor environment, where they are given the freedom to explore and investigate the natural world around them in safety. Very many congratulations to the Bee In The Woods Team on this outstanding achievement!

Marina Trip

The Children in Care Council and the Care Leavers Forum enjoying their trip

Last month, the Children in Care Council and the Care Leavers Forum enjoyed a joint trip to Brighton Marina - making pizzas, walking along the undercliff and seeing the Brighton shoreline from the vantage point of a boat. A great day was had by everyone, and it has helped to strengthen the links between the two groups.  For more information about the groups, please contact: debbie.garrett@brighton-hove.gov.uk or careleaversforum@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

St Mark’s CE Primary School and Varndean School have both received Ofsted inspections this month and we are awaiting the outcome. 

Welcomes 

We welcome a number of colleagues to the local authority this month.  Welcome to our Lead Teachers for anti-racism Dulani Kulasinghe (Patcham Infants), Elohor Knowles (Middle Street Primary), Flo Sparham (Goldstone Primary), Angela Simmonds (Varndean), Shareen Hone (Cardinal Newman) and Anoushka Visvalingham (St Luke’s Primary).  Along with anti-racist education advisor, Camille Kumar, this team will ensure the work we do under the strategy is both directly informed by teachers and support staff working in Brighton and Hove schools, and also is directly benefiting schools, colleges and nurseries across the city. 

I would like to welcome Katie Eberstein who has been working for the Sussex Wildlife Trust for over 20 years and leading BHee for over a decade. Katie will continue to support the delivery of the ‘Our City Our World’ project which the council is developing to help education establishments address environmental education, climate change, sustainability and bio-diversity issues.

                                                            Katie Eberstein

We also welcome Donna Keenan who has been appointed as the Apprenticeship and Pre-employment Manager.  Donna has worked for colleges and independent training providers in the city for a number of years and has previously worked in partnership with council colleagues to drive the apprenticeship and pre-employment strategy across the city.  

                                                              Donna Keenan

Welcome to Kate Scutt who joins the early years team as the Early Years Consultant, providing us with a strategic lead in expert professional advice, guidance and challenge to private, voluntary and independent (PVI) early years and childcare providers.  Kate has significant experience working in East Sussex and in Surrey leading quality and improvement in early years.

                                                                Kate Scutt

As we move into an exciting new phase of transformation for Family Hubs, we are pleased to welcome Stephen Woodward in his new role as Family Hubs Programme Manager. Stephen re-joins us from an 18-month secondment into the Policy Department of the DWP, where he worked regionally and nationally as a lead in their Reducing Parental Conflict programme.

 

Stephen Woodward

Goodbyes

We say goodbye this month to Alex Wingham who is moving on from his position as Head of St Martin’s Primary School.  Thank you to Alex for all of his hard work and commitment to the pupils at the school and we hope he will stay in touch.  Jane Joshi will be taking over as Acting Head.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Brighton and Hove City Council Apprenticeship Awards 2022

 

         Matthew Fleming , Ewan Brown, Sam Gathern, Geoff Raw, Rehanon Mackenzie, 

                                                     Lynne Rimmer, Aaron Burns

The academic year started positively with the Brighton and Hove City Council 2022 Apprenticeship Awards ceremony.  The event which took place on 1 September was hosted by the Apprenticeship and Pre-employment Team to acknowledge the talent and dedication of our apprentices.  The apprentices were invited to join Geoff Raw, Chief Executive, to a celebratory brunch and were able to discuss their experience of undertaking an apprenticeship, their life after completing it and how the apprenticeship has improved their performance in the workplace. 

Congratulations to all the winners - Sam Gathern (Intermediate Category Winner); Harry Wilson (Intermediate Category Winner) and Rehanon Mackenzie (Advanced/Higher Category Winner).   See more about what our apprentices have to say by watching what the Council think of our Apprentices. For questions about apprenticeships, please contact apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Fourteen schools came together in September to participate in the second cohort of local authority funded Power of Reading training led by the Centre of Literacy for Primary Education (CLPE). The training was delivered CPLE’s Primary Adviser Teacher, Darren Matthews, who left teachers inspired and raring to go. Associate Power of Reading School, Rudyard Kipling, hosted the event with their lead teacher, Lindsay Vaughan sharing how this approach has transformed how teachers teach English and how pupils now engage with literacy in school and at home. John Bond, author and illustrator of the Mini Rabbit collection, also gave an interesting insight on his journey to becoming a children’s author.  If you would like to find out more about Power of Reading, please contact Joyti.Azad@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

               Darren Matthews delivering a whole school approach to literacy teaching

        Teachers enjoy the opportunity to discuss ideas and share practice with colleagues

John Bond shares his journey with teachers

Arts Award Success

         Examples of artwork for Part A of the Bronze Arts Award presented for moderation

I was delighted to hear about the success of the portfolios submitted earlier this year by the Arts Award Youth workers.  All 9 of the portfolios submitted passed the Bronze Arts Award and were given extremely positive written feedback.

The Arts Award Youth Workers from the Youth Participation Team work 1:1 with young people who have been referred by another professional such as a family coach, social worker or educational psychologist.  The work takes place both online and in person with participants using a mixture of online resources and platforms and actual physical diaries/scrapbooks.  For more information, please contact Julia Box (julia.box@brighton-hove.gov.uk) or Sarah Pain (sarah.pain@brighton-hove.gov.uk)  

The Nursery World Awards 2022

Congratulations to Bee in the Woods Kindergarten in Portslade who have been shortlisted for Nursery of the Year at the Nursery World Awards 2022.  Bee in the Woods was set up four years ago on a restored and rejuvenated disused area of woodland which they turned into a magical learning environment for Early Years.  Lucy, Director & Head of Adventures said “We are all over the moon to be shortlisted for this prestigious award! It is such an honour and I am so proud of the team for their dedication, determination and passion for children, families, community and the natural world.”  Good luck to everyone at Bee in the Woods!

Children in Care Art Exhibition

 A.C’s winning piece from KS4

The Virtual School’s art exhibition for children in care and children previously in care took place this month at the Phoenix Art Space in Brighton. The exhibition featured work resulting from the Virtual School’s recent art competition, with the winners having their work framed or put on plinths and all entrants having their work included in the show. A private view was held where the young artists as well as their friends, families and teachers could celebrate their wonderful and inspirational pieces of work. Well done to everyone who took part.

We Move – A Race Equality and Migrant Rights Summit

The We Move summit took place this month.  Organised by the Runnymede Trust, this was the largest race equality and migrant rights gathering in decades.   Brighton and Hove was represented by three of our newly recruited Lead Teachers for anti-racism, Dulani Kulasinghe (Patcham Infants), Elohor Peddy Knowles (Middle Street) and Flo Sparham (Goldstone Primary) who delivered a critical workshop on anti-racist education, sharing the Brighton and Hove journey and pushing participants to imagine a liberated education system. Sharing their personal reflections and key learnings from our city, the educators left participants with a sense of hope and possibility for the future.  For more information on anti-racist education, please contact Camille Kumar (Camille.kumar@brighton-hove.gov.uk) 

Home to School Transport VPAs

The Home to School Transport Vehicle Passenger Assistant team

I am pleased to say that the Home to School Transport VPAs (vehicle passenger assistants) are now a team of seven! The team meet every 6 weeks for themed coffee mornings to talk about the job, the children and young people, its rewards and any challenges they are facing. The team are really enjoying the work.  The team recently received some great feedback from parents who felt the VPAs had gone the extra mile, supporting a child to attend who had previously been refusing. 

“The VPAs kept in touch with us over the summer holidays in a variety of ways, [which] has been such a godsend to ensure that on return [my daughter] hasn’t felt like a gap of 7 1/2 weeks. She’s felt ‘kept in mind’ and that’s so important.  It’s made all the difference to be able to feel that [my daughter] is in safe hands, and that she feels safe too.”

It is always great to hear comments like these.  Well done to all of the team for their hard work.

Welcomes

I would like to welcome a number of colleagues to the local authority this month.  Hannah Kinchin-Frost is a teacher at Patcham High School and has taken on the role of lead PSHE teacher for the local authority.  Angela Simmonds is a teacher at Varndean School and is working as a lead teacher for equality and anti-bullying.  Alex Graham has taken up the role of Education Safeguarding Officer.  I look forward to working with all of our new colleagues over the coming months.

Alex Graham

It was a pleasure to also welcome our new and acting headteachers and heads of school to our annual council induction to welcome them to the city and support them all in their new roles.  

Scott Haywood, Head of School, St Peter’s Primary

Mark Dally, Head, Bevendean Primary

Stuart Scrase, Head, Coombe Road Primary

Amanda Meier, Co-Head Teacher, The Connected Hub

Nicola Ryan, Head of School, St Mary’s Catholic Primary

Russell Brentnall, Head, West Blatchington Primary

Alan Gunn, Head, Balfour Primary

Anne Gibbs, Head, Goldstone Primary

and 

Gemma Nunes, Head of School, St Mary Magdalen Primary

Best wishes,

Jo

 

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

End of Another Academic Year

With the end of the summer term fast approaching, I would like to thank you all for the hard work and dedication you have shown towards the children and young people of Brighton and Hove over the past twelve months.  This has been a challenging year for everyone but the resilience and commitment you have demonstrated over recent months has been really inspiring to witness.  I hope you are all able to enjoy a well earned rest in this beautiful weather and that you have a very happy and safe summer.  I look forward to working with you all again in the Autumn term.

Upcoming Young Artists of Brighton & Hove

Earlier this year, the Virtual School ran its first ever art competition welcoming all Brighton & Hove children in care, children previously in care and care leavers. All entrants have now been invited to participate in a live art exhibition held in an established local arts organisation.  The exhibition, which hopes to raise the profile of this group of children in the city, is titled Upcoming Young Artists of Brighton and Hove, and will take place at the Phoenix Art Gallery, Brighton. It will feature the work of all the competition entrants, including five winners of the Virtual School’s art competition. The exhibition starts at 12pm on Saturday 3 September and ends at 5pm on Sunday 11 September 2022.  

PSHE Co-Ordinator’s Development Event

It was great to hear that the PSHE team held their first in-person training since the pandemic on 30 June. Over thirty PSHE leads from across KS1-4 attended the event at the Jubilee Library.  Ashley Seymour-Williams led a session on PSHE and Ofsted, followed by Dr Polly Haste's workshop, helping PSHE leads to prepare their narrative with Ofsted or any visitors to schools.  Secondary leads and their feeder primary colleagues then discussed the impact of Primary RSE on Y7 learning. 

The afternoon was rounded off with a formal goodbye to Sam Beal who has led the PSHE team for so many years.  It was also a chance to say goodbye to Hugh Garling who has worked with the PSHE team since 2009. It was fantastic to that so many dedicated PSHE leads came together, including the new secondary PSHE leads, to consider where this curriculum work can be developed over the next year. 

Sussex Speak Out Challenge

                               Alfie introducing himself to the finalists and audience

Congratulations to Alfie Douglas, chair of the Youth Council, who was invited to be a judge at the Sussex Speak Out Challenge on the 29 June at the Old Market Theatre.  The Challenge is a programme designed to develop young people’s confidence and communication skills, giving them the opportunity to speak out on issues important to them.  Over 200 young people had taken part in the challenge, culminating in a schools Sussex final with eight finalists.  Alfie was joined by other invited judges, including Councillor Alan Roberts and Atiya Gourlay, Strategic and Partnership Lead for East Sussex Children’s Services.

Virtual School Summer Conference – ‘Empowered Teachers Empower Young People’

The Virtual School Annual Summer Conference was held on 30 June to great success. In a packed programme, Kit Messenger from Changing Chances talked about the benefits of moving from a more behaviourist approach, to one which is more trauma-informed and attachment aware.  Senior leaders from The Weald Community School in West Sussex also shared their experiences about coaching with kindness and support, whilst still maintaining high standards of behaviour and achievement.    There were also presentations from Brighton & Hove’s Anti Racism Advisor, Camille Kumar and from the Brighton & Hove Young People’s Project founder and manager Vannessa Crawford.  Two care leavers and an educational psychologist also spoke about the power of language when talking about SEND, children in care and care leavers. 

Hove Park Wellbeing Work

It has been great to learn more about the important work that Hove Park School is doing with students to embed emotional wellbeing support into their school and ensure that every student feels safe, happy and cared for.  A skilled pastoral team and fully integrated counselling service work together to support students, parents and teachers across the school in a variety of ways.  This could be through working with parents, advising and training teachers on how to support students in the classroom or delivering therapeutic intervention in school.  Feedback from students and their families is showing that a whole school approach to wellbeing is making a real difference. Further mental health resources and guidance can be found here. 

Anti Racist Education 

Work under the strategy is gaining momentum and I am proud to announce that we have recently recruited a brilliant team of seconded teachers and support staff who will be working alongside our Education Advisor, Camille Kumar, to progress this work. Congratulations to Angela Simmonds (Varndean School), Anoushka Visvalingham (St Luke’s), Dulani Kulasinghe (Patcham Infants), Flo Sparham (Goldstone), Peddy Knowles (Middle Street) and Shareen Hone (Cardinal Newman) who will be supporting the strategy and ensuring schools and colleges across the city are provided with guidance and support to take this vital work forward.   A special event will be taking place on Saturday 15 October bringing together everyone who can contribute to anti-racist education in Brighton and Hove. For more on this event, please contact camille.kumar@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Congratulations to Hill Park School on retaining their Outstanding Ofsted grade at their inspection in June. The report noted “The school’s curriculum is highly distinctive. Based on the national curriculum, it has been tailored to meet the very specific needs of the pupils it serves. All pupils follow bespoke pathways of learning” and “staff are skilled at designing learning that engages children well.”  Well done to Hill Park staff, governors and pupils - what a lovely way to end the academic year.

                                                      Children at Hill Park School

Goodbye and Thank You

We have reached the time of year when some of our headteachers and principals across the partnership retire or move on to other exciting things. We would like to thank them all for their commitment to the children, young people and families across the city and wish them all the best for the future. We will miss them all and hope they will keep in touch.      

Andie Wilson, Head at St Mary Magdalen’s Catholic Primary School

Kate Schofield, Co-Head at the Connected Hub and PRU

                                               

Michele Lawrie, Head at St Peter’s Community Primary School           

                                                                                             

Simon Davies, Head at Balfour Primary School

Wendy Harkness, Head at West Hove Infant School

Vicky Phillips, Head at Coombe Road Primary School

         

Chris Pearson, Head at Goldstone Primary School 

                                         

Louise Smith, Head of School at West Hove Infant School                      

 

Martyn Giddens, Head at Bevendean Primary School

We also say goodbye this month to Shiromi Cabraal, our Post 16 Education & Skills Officer.  Shiromi has been a dedicated public sector employee for many years and has spent the last 12 years at the council in Education and Skills.  I would like to thank Shiromi for all of her hard work, including being instrumental in achieving a good Ofsted result for Adult Learning provision and driving the Post 16 Standards and Curriculum Partnership.   We wish her all the best for the future.

      

                                                              Shiromi Cabraal

Our next news will be in September when we will welcome new faces to the Brighton & Hove education partnership.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.