Family Hubs Transformation

As part of the Family Hubs transformation programme, Brighton & Hove City Council has redesigned its Early Help Services. The integrated team for families, parenting team, children’s centres and family information service will become a new Family Hub Team from 1 April 2023, working whole family with children aged 0-19 (25 with SEND). The new team will deliver support across tier 1, 2 and 3 of the threshold document, including Information, advice and guidance, long term and short term 1-1 support for families and evidence based intervention groups. The new team will consist of new Family Hub roles as per the structure below.

You can refer to the new family hub team via the front door for families from 1 April 2023. Please look out for the full briefing in March which will include details of the service offer as well as dates for professional workshops to learn more about the family hubs transformation.  If you would like further information or would like to meet one of the team to discuss the transformation, please contact bhfamilyhubs@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Westdene Primary School Celebrations

I was delighted to be able to join some of the recent celebrations at Westdene Primary School which took place to mark the school being one of only two primary schools in Sussex to receive a prestigious Platinum Artsmark Award.  The Award supports schools to develop and celebrate arts and cultural education.  Pupils learnt about Cezanne, drew some still life and described their artwork in French. Fantastic cross-curricular links and learning! Year 3 learnt to weave using eco offcuts and Year 4 had a ball designing and decorating cupcakes, learning lots of new techniques and perfecting their piping. The results tasted delicious too! The celebration event culminated in a grand finale on the junior playground with an appreciative audience of parents and carers to show off Bollywood dancing moves.  It was amazing to see such a presentation of creativity from the children at the school and listen to the pleasure they get from the arts at Westdene.  Well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to all of the team who have been involved in this fantastic award!

BookTrust Represents promotes and improves the representation of people of colour in children’s books so that children read books that reflect them and their wider communities.  Ten schools across Brighton & Hove were invited to take part in this exciting opportunity for Year 5 and 6 pupils, working with some of the UK’s leading authors and illustrators of colour in children’s literature. Authors will visit schools over the next few weeks where pupils will receive a copy of the author’s book, have the opportunity to hear from the author and have their book signed.

Alex Wharton, author of Daydreams and Jellybeans, visited St Mark’s C of E Primary School earlier this month where pupils were transfixed listening to poems being performed and hearing inspirational stories of his writing journey. Pupils commented on how they were now eager to get writing and one Year 6 boy exclaimed, “I am so excited, I might faint!”.  Other schools involved in the project are St Joseph’s, Bevendean, Queen’s Park, City Academy Whitehawk, West Blatchington, St Martin’s, Moulsecoomb, Coombe Road and St Bartholomew’s. 

 Pupils were welcomed into the hall with Alex’s piano playing

Alex performing poems from his book

Pupils excited to have a few words with Alex during the book signing

Brighton & Hove School Games Update

This term, over 30 primary schools have been involved in Indoor Athletics events for years 5 and 6 at BACA, supported by brilliant Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, Varndean College and BACA. 20 female Sports Leaders from PACA and Patcham High also took part in a Netball Leadership course at PACA this month. These students will now support Primary School Stinger Netball tournaments during March.  

A group of Year 6s from Carden and Year 7s from Dorothy Stringer attended a year 6/7 transition event at the K2 Leisure Centre in February, focusing on team building and discovering what it’s like when you move up to secondary school.  All of the students took part in street dance workshops, parkour and team building activities and everyone really enjoyed the activities and trying something new. 

Our City Our World

Our City Our World is the Brighton & Hove sustainability, climate change and environmental strategy.  Currently 30 of the city’s schools are making excellent progress towards developing a culture of sustainability and empowering their young people with the skills, knowledge and solutions they need to address the climate change crisis.  The city’s remaining schools have the opportunity to join the third cohort starting in the summer term.  

Recent work across the city has focused on a termly themed approach to integrate biodiversity, energy, water, food, travel and waste across school assemblies, individual and family actions and school audits. Work in Brighton & Hove is being recognised nationally, in the DfE "Climate in Education Snapshot" and Local Government Association website.  There has been significant interest from other local authorities and academy trusts and we are looking to introduce the work to the University of Brighton Initial Teacher Education staff and students.   For more information visit www.ourcityourworld.co.uk or contact katie.eberstein@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Spring Primary PSHE Network

The recent spring Primary PSHE Network brought together the PSHE leads from across the city. The session helped leaders to reflect on their school’s “PSHE story, with leads who have recently experienced an Ofsted inspection sharing their thoughts. This included revisiting how central the PSHE curriculum is to the school inspection process on many levels. Some great examples of PSHE recording were also shared – for example creative “floor books” and PSHE reflective writing.

Let Girls Play Day

An initiative from England Football celebrating girls’ football in schools and the community will be taking place on Wednesday 8 March.  Cardinal Newman and Longhill High will be running events for local primary schools and Patcham High and PACA are hosting year 7 tournaments. Many other schools across the city will also be celebrating with assemblies and girls football events.  At Goldstone Primary and Balfour Primary, every girl will have the opportunity to take part in a football session during the day. If you would like to get involved or to find out more, please go to girlsfootballinschools.org  I look forward to hearing more about the exciting activities taking place across the city.

This month, three more Ofsted inspections have taken place: Coombe Road Primary School, St Martin’s CoE Primary School and Cottesmore St Mary’s Catholic Primary School. We look forward to seeing the results of the inspections.

We were absolutely delighted to hear that BHASVIC received another Outstanding grading at their last Ofsted inspection. The inspector said: “Students are courteous and highly respectful of their peers and teachers and enjoy the college community environment. Students understand very well how these values contribute to the positive and inclusive culture at the college…. They are well prepared for life in the diverse local community.” Congratulations to all the staff and students at BHASVIC on this fantastic achievement.

Best wishes,

Jo

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

Your City Your Future

 

Brighton & Hove City Council will be launching a Virtual Work Experience Programme during National Careers Week 2023 which takes place from 6th to 11th March. This programme will raise awareness of the different careers across the directorate areas.  The Council’s pre-employment team have been working with service areas and have created some great video content to raise the profile of the many different jobs people do. There will also be live webinars taking place with speakers from the council talking about their role and what this involves with a focus on the following:

• A healthy and caring city - Caring for Children and Families Health and Adult Social care/ Families, Children and Learning

• A sustainable city - Green Futures/Sustainability/Environment

• A city working for all - Governance, People and Resources

• A city to call home - EEC/Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities

For more information, please follow this link.

Primary Headteacher Meeting

I was delighted to see so many headteachers at the primary headteacher meeting earlier this month.  It was great to have an opportunity to welcome new heads and heads of school and to take part in a “getting to know you” activity with colleagues too.  Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting.

 

Stephen Woodward, Programme Manager - Family Hubs Transformation, talked about Family Hubs and headteachers were then invited to share their ideas about what would make these effective for schools and communities. There was also a lot of excellent input from headteachers during the morning with Maddie Southern sharing her experience of getting the Inclusion Quality Mark In Hove Junior School, Damien Jordan updating us on his work with the Albion Football Club on a variety of projects in school and Stuart McConnachie, Louise Willard, Andy Richbell and Jane Fendley detailing their experiences of recent Ofsted inspections, including aspects that the Ofsted inspectors really liked and some of the challenges. 

 

Natasha Marris, Primary School Teaching Learning & Assessment Consultant, shared some important information relating to assessment and moderation (which has been shared in the bulletin and separate email to KS1 and KS2 headteachers) and Richard Barker, Head of School Organisation, spoke briefly about attendance and moving forward with a city wide attendance strategy. Stuart McConnachie is organising a working party to lead the schools in discussion about support and challenge to improve attendance within primary schools.  I look forward to seeing everyone again at the next meeting.

Westdene Primary School Receives Platinum Artsmark Award  

Congratulations to all of the pupils and staff at Westdene Primary School who are celebrating after receiving a prestigious Platinum Artsmark Award.  The Artsmark Award is the only creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It supports schools to develop and celebrate arts and cultural education, putting creativity and wellbeing at the heart of the curriculum and ensures every young person can be creative and access a diverse, high-quality cultural education. 
 
In order to achieve their Artsmark Award, Westdene Primary School had to develop their arts and culture provision to embed a broad and ambitious curriculum. This was achieved by creating an overall plan that was committed to and delivered across the whole school.  Westdene Primary School was supported by Artswork in planning and developing their objectives, working alongside the school at various stages to support their Artsmark Award achievement.   Well done to everyone involved in this fantastic achievement!

Youth Council PSHE and Health and Wellbeing Reports now Live!

Towards the end of 2022 the Youth Council’s campaign groups had been doing some consulting through focus groups and workshops around Health and Wellbeing and Young People’s experience of PSHE. Two reports were compiled and signed off by the Youth Council and will be underpinning their work in these two areas in the coming months, alongside other research they have been reading. For more information, or to access the reports, please contact John Lewry, Lead Youth Participation Worker at john.lewry@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Brighton Chamber Partnership

Brighton & Hove City Council and Coast to Capital Careers Hub are supporting a brand new, first of its kind project in Brighton with Brighton Chamber, aiming to raise career aspirations and opportunities for school and college students in the city.   

The new partnership will run until September 2023. It includes a membership to Brighton Chamber for all local secondary schools and colleges and an exciting programme of events and initiatives, all designed to help careers leaders and their students connect with local employers.  The joint programme of work will include connecting teachers with industry leaders, offer students the chance to visit local employers and hear from inspiring business leaders and find and create quality work experience opportunities for students across the city.  

One of the areas that the schools will be able to tap into with the business community is the growth of jobs and careers in the green & circular economy. There are an estimated 15,000 small and medium sized businesses in Brighton & Hove and many offer valuable training and work experience opportunities and are looking for future employees.

Elm Grove Primary School received an Ofsted inspection this month and Brighton Aldridge Community Academy has received a monitoring visit.  We are awaiting the outcomes from both visits.  Congratulations to St Nicolas CE Primary and Patcham Infant School on receiving Good grades in their inspections.

The inspection report for St Nicolas said: ‘Pupils are happy and enthusiastic ambassadors for their school.’ and ‘The ethos around school is inclusive and nurturing. Staff are relentless in their ambition for every pupil to achieve as well as they should.’   The inspector at Patcham Infant School reported: ‘At Patcham Infant School there is a strong culture of appreciating and embracing individual liberty.’ ‘The provision for pupils’ personal development is a strength in this school’ and ‘the curriculum from early years upwards is interesting, engaging and ambitious. In all subjects, leaders have precisely identified the order in which pupils should learn’.

Welcomes

There have been several new and acting headteachers across the city at the start of this term.  We look forward to working with them over the coming months and to supporting them all in their new roles. I would also like to say thank you to Kirsty Murray who has returned to her role as Deputy Head at Queen’s Park Primary following her time as Acting Head.

Emma Gale, Head at Queen’s Park Primary School

Bill Holland, Acting Head at Longhill High School

Laura Sibley, Acting Head at Carden Primary School

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Happy Christmas

 

Wishing you a Happy Christmas

and good wishes

for the New Year

 from

 Jo Lyons

and the

Education & Skills team

As we approach the end of term, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and new year.  Thank you for your ongoing commitment and dedication to the children, young people and communities of Brighton & Hove. This has been another extremely challenging year but there have been many successes and I have been so impressed by the strength, resilience and leadership you have shown to support the children and families of the city.  I’d like to wish you all a very restful and well deserved break and look forward to working with you in the new year.

Hove Junior School

Congratulations to Hove Junior School for achieving Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.  Well done to Executive Headteacher Maddie Southern and the team on this amazing achievement.  Read more about the amazing work they are doing here.

In December Patcham Infant School, Coldean Primary School, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School and BHASVIC received inspections.  Brighton Aldridge Community Academy also received a monitoring visit. We look forward to reading their reports and sharing their outcomes.

St Mark’s CE Primary School have received Requires Improvement grading in their last inspection.  The report notes many improvements since the last inspection including a good judgement for leadership and management. The inspector comments included: “Pupils beam with happiness to learn in a place where staff ensure that all pupils show care and respect for each other. Pupils are proud of the inclusive culture of their school”.  We will continue to provide significant support to the school alongside support from the wider education partnership.

Goodbyes

We say goodbye this month to Helen Longton-Howorth who is stepping down as Headteacher at Carden Primary School.  Helen has been a very valued colleague within the Brighton & Hove Education Partnership during her long service and will be much missed across the city.  We wish her the best of luck for the future.

We also say goodbye to Kate Williams who is moving on from her position as Headteacher at Longhill High School and moving back to her home in Wales. Kate has always shown incredible commitment and determination to provide a good education to the students of Longhill, as well as being committed to partnership with colleagues throughout Brighton and Hove.  We wish Kate all the best for the future and hope to keep in touch.

Kate Williams

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

 

Anti Bullying Work

 

                                Some examples of work at St Luke’s Primary School

It has been great to hear more about how schools across the city have participated in anti bullying week activities this month.  Children have really enjoyed making “stop-start plates” about the mean and bullying behaviour they would like to stop and the behaviour they would like to start and see more of.  They have been exploring the theme 'reach out to stop bullying behaviour' and making their own ‘reaching out’ statements and arms. These are images from work that took place at St Luke’s Primary School.

Education Leadership Conference 

                                                   Attendees at the conference 

Earlier this month we held our Education Leadership Conference, which focused on “Education Trends: What to watch on the horizon”.  It provided a timely opportunity for school and college leaders to reflect on the issues and challenges facing the education sector at this time. Keynote speaker Laura McInerney - an education journalist and co-founder of the daily survey app, Teacher Tapp - led the thinking, exploring national developments and discussing some of the key drivers of change. Using the latest news stories and data, Laura explained some future education trends and their implications for pupils, staff and education leaders. It was great to see so many leaders from across the phases of education represented.

Primary Schools Cross Country

Mayor Lizzie Dean presenting the medals

Even the mud and rain didn’t put a dampener on the Primary Schools Cross Country competition which took place earlier this month at Waterhall.  Over 1,000 year 5 and 6 children from 40 primary and junior schools across the city took part in both individual and team races at the event with overall winners coming from Westdene Primary, Goldstone Primary, Balfour Primary, Aldrington Primary and Hangleton Primary. 

The event relies on the Active for Life team – who are part of the Healthy Lifestyles Team - as well as a number of volunteers and sports leaders from local colleges and secondary schools.   Thank you to the Sports Leaders from Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer, BHASVIC and Varndean College who all went above and beyond in the muddy conditions and to Phoenix Athletics club for their support for the event.  Mayor Lizzie Dean presented the medals to the top 3 finishers in each of the races. Congratulations to everyone involved!

UK Youth Parliament Reps – House of Commons Debate

                                     Deneb and Georgia at the House of Commons

On Friday 4 November Deneb and Georgia, our Members for Youth Parliament for Brighton and Hove, travelled to sit in the House of Commons with over 250 other UK Youth Parliament Reps from across the UK and also, for the first time, from British Overseas Territories. They debated five key topics relating to Health and Wellbeing, with health, wellbeing and the cost of living being voted the number one issue nationally. This will be the focus of their work and the work of the UK Youth Parliament for the coming year.

KS2-KS3 City Maths Project 2022-23

                                   Teachers work together on sharing strategies and approaches

The Local Authority team and the Sussex Maths Hub have collaborated to offer schools an exciting opportunity to work together to support pupils across the city.  This new combined offer will meet the objectives of both the 5 – 8 Continuity project and the LA’s commitment to improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.  In addition, it will strengthen the links between primary and secondary schools further supporting transition between the phases.  Teachers came together for the launch event of this programme earlier this month and will continue to work and learn from each other over the year. It will be great to hear more from teacher colleagues and pupils of the impact of this project.

Year 5/6 Girls Football Festival at Longhill High School

42 girls from Woodingdean Primary, City Academy Whitehawk, Our Lady of Lourdes Primary, St Margaret’s Primary and Saltdean Primary attended the Year 5 and 6 Girls Football Festival this month.  Run by a group of Longhill High’s female sports leaders, the event was part of the girls’ football legacy work with the FA Barclays Girls’ Football School Partnerships. A great afternoon was had by all!  Woodingdean Wanderers FC also attended the event to promote their local Wildcats session and later fed back that to say that five girls came along to the session on the following Saturday morning, after talking to the club and picking up a flyer at the festival! 

Disadvantage Newsletter

The Tackling Educational Disadvantage Strategy newsletter is now available and can be accessed by following this link.  The newsletter gives an update on recent activities around the Disadvantage Strategy which aims to encourage and support every disadvantaged pupil in the city to achieve their academic potential and leave school or college with a positive relationship with education.

A number of schools recently received training from Children North East in preparation for the ‘Poverty Proofing the School Day’ audits we will be conducting after Christmas. We learnt about poverty across the UK, the impact of poverty on families and especially children and young people and we had time to begin to consider strategies and changes to plans and systems that would help.  Schools in Brighton and Hove have been taking part in Poverty Proofing the School Day for over five years now and the majority of schools have engaged with at least one audit. With this latest round, we hope to build on the work that has already taken place, and support schools to consider how best to support members of their community struggling with poverty.

Youth Council Kickstart Work on PSHE with Focus Group in B Fest

Youth Councillors taking part in the focus group

 

In partnership with Brighton Youth Centre, following the success of the YouthWise event earlier this year, the Youth Council has designed and facilitated a PSHE Focus Group as part of the B Fest Youth Arts Festival. The hope was to better understand young people’s experience of PSHE learning through school and external organisations with a view to working towards improving the experience of PSHE for young people. The interim report for this listening event will be available shortly on the Youth Council website. They will be running two more events in 2023 with the results being captured and presented in a ‘zine’.

Ofsted inspections have taken place at St Nicolas CE Primary School and Patcham Infant School this month and we are waiting for the outcomes of those inspections and that of St Mark’s CE Primary School whose inspection took place just before half term. 

Congratulations to Varndean School on retaining their Ofsted Good grading in their inspection last month. The report stated that the school was outstanding in many areas including Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development and Leadership and Management. The inspector wrote: “School leaders are passionate and ambitious about what pupils will learn. Highly experienced, knowledgeable governors share and shape this mission”, “teachers are real experts in their subjects” and “pupils are impressive and incredibly proud of their school.”

Welcomes 

We welcome Emma Remnant this month who is taking on the Interim Head Teacher role at Stanford Infant School whilst Madeleine Denyer is on adoption leave.  We look forward to working closely with Emma in her new position.

                                                                      Emma Remnant

I am very pleased to also welcome Jane Joshi who has stepped into the role of Acting Headteacher at St Martin’s CE Primary School this month and look forward to working with Jane over the coming months.

                                                                Jane Joshi

We also welcomed several new colleagues to the Skills and Employment Service this month. Michael Price is the new Senior Employability and Project Officer, managing the Supported Employment and Employment Hub teams and Holly Stockley has taken up the role of Employment Hub Coordinator as the new face of the Youth Employment Hub.  Welcome to both Michael and Holly.

Michael Price and Holly Stockley

Welcome also to Hannah Reed who joins the Skills and Employment team this month as the Post 16 Consultant and will be working with all the 16 – 19 providers in the city.  

Hannah Reed

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

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.