World Book Day

 

Pupils from Rudyard Kipling Primary enjoying World Book Day celebrations

Thank you to all schools who did some amazing and creative work on World Book Day. I really enjoyed hearing more about the celebrations taking part across the city. 

Rudyard Kipling Primary School traditionally have a World Book Day whole school text which all classes enjoy, from Nursery through to Year 6. This year, the school chose “How To Be A Lion” by Ed Vere.  This book highlights the need to speak up for yourself and those less strong than yourself. It features Leonard, the gentle Lion, and Marianne, a poetry loving duck, whose values of respect and kindness should guide us all.  This has led to many creative opportunities for the children to explore the book through art, performances, role-play, research, and poetry to name but a few! The children looked fabulous, and there was a real reading roar around school.  Well done to everyone involved with this brilliant celebration.   I hope that you all had a great World Book Day and would love to hear about what you got up to.

Education Disadvantage Strategy 

School governors came together at the University of Sussex recently for their first face-to-face conference since 2019.  The conference, led by the local authority, was a really great reminder of how engaged our governors are, with lots of questions and debate with the keynote speaker, Marc Rowland.  Marc is nationally renowned in the field, having worked with numerous schools and other organisations, as well as advising the DfE on addressing educational disadvantage.  He is well known in the city and has previous spoken at headteacher and deputy headteacher conferences.  Addressing education disadvantage is a top priority for the local authority.  Leadership and Governance is one of the six themes of Brighton & Hove’s Strategy for Tackling Educational Disadvantage, so it was good to discuss how governors can have an impact in this area and how they can be monitoring the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils in their schools.  I am looking forward to spending more time with governors at the live events organised by the School & Governance Development Team in the summer term.

Hello Future 23

Attendees at the event 

Over 800 students, parents/carers and teachers attended the Hello Future 23 careers event earlier this month.  Led by the Coast to Capital Careers Hub, in collaboration with American Express and Brighton & Hove City Council, 55 local businesses showcased career pathways for the next generation of employees at the event hosted by Brighton MET. This year combined in-person activities for students from 16-18 years old with live-streamed talks from industry experts.  Brighton’s Mayor, Councillor Lizzie Deane opened the event and said, “The response from local businesses to come along and participate in this event has been incredible, and it demonstrates just how committed our local business community is to supporting the next generation”.

Donna Keenan, Apprenticeship and Pre-Employment Manager, Employment and Skills, who facilitated the council involvement said “During the day, students had the chance to talk to careers advisors for impartial, one-to-one advice on their best next steps. There was also a session for teachers and tutors to learn more about local Labour Market Information (LMI) in partnership with the Brighton Chamber of Commerce”.  Post-event digital and printed resources will be shared with students to give them the information they need to access the different routes to employment, including technical/vocational training and apprenticeships.

Youth Council Represents Brighton & Hove at Regional YouthCon Event

Brighton & Hove Youth Council members

 
In February, seven members of the Brighton & Hove Youth Council travelled to Kensington to represent Brighton & Hove at a British Youth Council YouthCon Event. They joined over 150 other young people from around the South East, East of England and London to network and collaborate on building their campaigns. With a morning of guest speakers, training and networking they spent the afternoon developing their campaigning skills and working with other reps from across the region to develop the National Cost of Living and Wellbeing Campaign.
 

Virtual School Annual Foster Carer Conference 

Attendees at the conference

The Virtual School’s annual Foster Carer Conference took place at Sussex University last week.  There were insightful presentations from Louise Bomber (TouchBase) talking through trauma recovery, as well as from Kit Messenger (Changing Chances), inspiring everyone with how we get our dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins! There was a hugely useful post 16 presentation from Sian Edwards from the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers, and Debbie Garrett talked about the great resource that is Youth Participation. A demonstration from Encyclopaedia Britannica drew a very enthusiastic response as attendees came to fully appreciate the benefits of the app that the Virtual School has commissioned for carers as well as schools. A great day and a much appreciated chance to connect/reconnect with our community of foster carers.

Home to School Transport Team (HTST) and the Parent and Carers Council (PaCC) Connect Sessions

Last month, the Home to School Transport Team (HTST) and the Parent and Carers Council (PaCC) met jointly with parents and carers who use the council’s home to school transport services at two PaCC Connect sessions.  The sessions aimed to explain upcoming changes to how the Service is procured and also share with families the way they operate behind the scenes. Central to the presentation was the principle that children and young people’s needs are at the forefront of everything the team does.  A daytime face to face event was held in Brighton and an evening event was held online which enabled more families to be involved, and specifically working parents who aren’t able to attend meetings during council working hours.

Mia Bryden, Head of Home to School Transport, Pippa Hodge, PaCC Representative and Becky Robinson, Chair of PaCC said of the events; “The Connect sessions really demonstrated that the value of bringing families together and helping them to understand the inner workings of a service cannot be underestimated. The sessions gave families the opportunity to see the people behind the service, so they can be more than a name on an email or a voice on the phone.  They were also an opportunity for the team to meet families face to face and understand more about their daily lives as parent carers.”

Leading Anti Racist Practice in Education: A Moment of Praxis

                                                      Delegates at the conference 

                                                                Dr Yaa Asare

                                                            Camille Kumar

This year’s Aspiring Leadership Conference: Leading Anti-Racist Practice in Education: Curriculum Inclusion and Leadership, took place at the University of Sussex on Monday 13 March.  The Conference was attended by 65 school colleagues representing 45 schools across the city and led by Camille Kumar, Education Adviser: Anti-racism. The event included keynote speaker, Dr Yaa Asare, Senior Lecturer of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Brighton. Yaa shared her research on race and ethnicity in the field of education and investigations into racialised experiences. 

Anti-racist lead teachers from across the city provided thought provoking conversations with Yaa and each other on how they have led anti-racist work in their schools; what challenges can hinder this work as well as their own personal journeys to a better understanding in this area.  Staff from Patcham Junior School provided an insightful film screening of students sharing their experiences as pupils of colour in a Brighton & Hove school.   The day allowed delegates the opportunity to reflect on where they are personally and professionally and how to build and maintain momentum and optimism in ensuring all children and young people have the best possible experiences in our schools.

More Pupils Inspired by Author Visits

                              Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock – “Am I Made of Stardust?”

                                Alex Falase-Koya - “The Breakfast Club Adventures”

                                Janelle McCurdy – “Mia and the Light Casters”

Six schools have received visits from inspirational authors this month as part of BookTrust Represents’ programme to promote and improve the representation of people of colour in children’s books so that all children read a range of books that reflect them and their wider communities. Students from St Martin’s Primary School were visited by Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, author of “Am I Made of Stardust?” who shared her vast knowledge of space and beyond. She seems to have left an astronomical impression on them with really positive feedback from the pupils including:- "Meeting Dr Maggie was very inspiring to me and for other young kids," "it really made me love space” and "Dr Maggie describes things really carefully but it was so easy to understand." 

Youth Council Health and Wellbeing Campaign 

The Brighton & Hove Youth Council Health and Wellbeing Campaign

Last month, the Brighton & Hove Youth Council Health and Wellbeing Campaign group set key priorities for their work. After carrying out focus groups and listening exercises, then drawing from previous research around what matters most to young people in Brighton & Hove they identified the following four key themes:-

• Improve knowledge of mental health services available for young people;

• Better understanding for young people about diagnosis and treatment;

• Better education on being aware of your own mental health; and

• Detrivialising mental health and labels people use.

They have started to explore and develop actions to meet these priorities, possibly including young person led workshops, a Mental Wellbeing Convention and a possible lived experience podcast.  I look forward to hearing more about this work in due course.

On Monday 13 March we received notification that the Brighton & Hove Local Area would be inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commissioning in the arrangements for children and young people with SEND as part of a three week inspection process, due to finish on 31 March.   The Inspection Team will be considering outcomes for Children and Young People, the impact of Leadership and Management and will also be looking at the local authority’s oversight of Alternative Provision.   The team are taking a child focussed approach and will be tracking some individual cases, visiting some services and provisions and doing some case sampling with health and local authority practitioners.  Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the process and provided feedback so far. I look forward to updating you on the outcomes of the inspection as soon as we know more.

This month has been very busy with schools inspections taking place at Westdene Primary, St Paul’s CE Primary and Woodingdean Primary and a section 8 monitoring visit at Brighton Aldridge Academy (BACA). We look forward to hearing the results from all the inspections.

Congratulations to Elm Grove Primary School, Coldean Primary and St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School who all retained their Good grading at their inspections. The report for Elm Grove said "The school’s curriculum is successfully designed to enable all pupils to be included in learning. This is underpinned by the school motto of 'Everyone Included, Everyone Valued, Learning and Thriving Together'".  St Joseph’s report said: "Leaders have created a school that truly sits at the heart of the community it serves. They ensure that pupils learn a broad and engaging curriculum. Pupils look forward to learning." Coldean Primary School received a very positive report, particularly around their early years and personal development provision which were graded as outstanding. The report said: "Pupils are proud to belong to this vibrant, inclusive and happy school. Leaders ensure that the school values of ‘kindness, resilience, trust and pride’ are at the heart of everything they do." 

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

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.