Black Lives Matter

Earlier this month, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Brighton and Hove City Council took two significant steps.  Firstly, a pledge was made to be an anti-racist council.  As part of this pledge, specific commitments have been set out including reaching out to and working with Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to create and deliver an anti-racism strategy and focusing on supporting Black, Asian and minority ethnic businesses through council procurement.

Additionally, a motion was passed at Children, Young People and Skills Committee offering more training for schools, teachers and trainee teachers including building understanding of the impact on pupils and staff of bias, discrimination, white privilege and institutional racism. 

Of course these are currently just words.  I hope that we will be able to work together in partnership, building on good practice in place, but with increased resource and commitment to improving the experience of Black, Asian and minority ethnic members of our school communities. Please feedback to us your ideas for how we can do this work more effectively.  For more information on the steps taken, please see the following links:-

https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/news/2020/brighton-hove-city-council-pledge-be-anti-racist-council 

https://new.brighton-hove.gov.uk/news/2020/tackling-racism-and-bias-schools

Refugee Week 2020 took place from 15-21 June 2020.  It was marked by many schools across our city and I was delighted to learn more about Brackenbury Primary School’s activities during the week.  

Origami boats by pupils at Brackenbury Primary School

Assemblies were held, specific for each key stage, focusing on a story about what it might be like for a refugee.  It helped pupils to think about putting themselves in someone else's shoes to develop empathy and understanding for others.  Classes also imagined what the world could be like and put these messages on origami boats;  imagining a world where everyone really was all different, all equal.  Examples such as “we are all safe, everyone has a roof over their head, everyone was welcome, we are all kind to the earth and everyone is happy” were given.

Messages from pupils at Brackenbury Primary School

The team at Blatchington Mill School has been so impressed with their students’ dedication to completing their school work to an exceptional standard since the start of the pandemic.  They also wanted to ensure that their students aren’t missing out on the variety of extra-curricular activities that would usually be offered in school.  As such, in addition to weekly virtual assemblies and clubs, the School has decided that this year they will host their annual Summer Concert on their website.

Ashley Harrold, Headteacher said “We’ve had a sneak peak at some of the excellent performances already and we can’t wait to share them all with you at 6pm on 30th June at blatchingtonmill.org.uk. Please join us in celebrating the students' musical efforts. At a time when the arts in our city are facing such challenges it is important to celebrate and promote the positive impact artistic expression, including music, has on all of our lives.”

During this period of Covid 19, when many of our pupils have not been in school, they have benefited from high quality home learning across the city.  Schools have worked creatively to meet the needs of their school community and this has been, quite rightly, unique to each school. Provision has included activity packs and resources being sent home, learning platforms, video calls and recorded staff messages - who knew we had such great dancers amongst us?   We are in the process of collecting case studies with several schools across the city so we can capture and share the wide range of distance learning provision that is being offered in Brighton and Hove schools. 

Virtual Sussex School Games 

Over the past seven weeks, 5,151 young people from 11 secondary/FE schools, colleges and 32 primaries in Brighton & Hove have taken part in the Virtual Sussex School Games. 

Congratulations to Blatchington Mill School who have topped the Sussex Spirit of the Games participation Leaderboard for the past 5 weeks! Balfour Primary School, Bilingual Primary School and Peter Gladwin Primary School have also been at the top of the Sussex Leaderboard for their average score in the Boccia and Athletics Challenges.   Also a special mention goes to Saltdean Primary School who are the top Brighton and Hove primary school for their participation numbers.  There are 3 weeks left so it would be great to get more students and schools involved before the end of term.  Please see www.sussexschoolgames.co.uk for more information.

Last week was also National School Sport week at Home.  Resources can be accessed via the following link and used over the summer months https://www.youthsporttrust.org/national-school-sport-week-home

Laptops to Support Homelearning

Following the DfE announcement to provide digital devices and internet access to young people, Education, Standards & Achievement have been liaising with the Virtual School; social care and School’s ICT to identify eligible young people and to arrange for the most appropriate technology to be delivered either to their school setting or to Regency Road.  As an authority, we were allocated over 1100 laptops and nearly 200 wi-fi devices.  Most of these are now with the young person they were intended for and plans are underway to ensure the remainder are with them soon.

Opportunities for Young People in Care and Care Leavers

I was so impressed to hear about the roles that Young Ambassadors have been playing as members of interview panels for positions within Children’s Services.  As care experienced young people who have undergone training in recruitment/interviewing skills, Young Ambassadors can now confidently and meaningfully participate in interview processes; the biggest being the annual recruitment of newly qualified social workers.   It’s been great to hear that this has also continued during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Tom Stibbs, Principal Social Worker said of the Young Ambassadors: “What a positive experience it was having the young people as part of the panel and what a great job they did.  Without exception they were all valued members of the panel and provided insightful contributions to the assessment and scoring of candidates”.

Training Brighton University Students

Training taking place

I was delighted to hear some wonderful feedback following the delivery of a workshop to a group of first year Social Work students from Brighton University by three care leavers who shared their stories and experiences of care and of social workers.   Comments included:

“The most useful session for me yet, thank you. Best of luck to you all, you’re amazing!”
“Thank you for sharing your stories, it is really helpful.”
“Thank you for sharing and speaking with us! I’ve found this very useful and interesting to hear experiences.”

For more information about the Youth Participation Team please go to https://www.facebook.com/BrightonandHoveYouth, or  

https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/...and.../youth-participation-team

Young City Reads, the Brighton based reading project which helps to inspire children to read for pleasure, launched ‘Young City Reads at Home’ earlier this month to offer families across Sussex, and beyond, a reading challenge they can complete together while the schools remain closed, in their own time, and at their own pace.  More than 3,000 children were signed up to take part in Young City Reads before lockdown, and when schools closed the organisers decided to make all the materials available online. 

Sarah Hutchings, Director of Young City Reads commented: “All the resources are on our website and can be downloaded for free. We are also delighted that Brighton & Hove Libraries’ Borrow Box scheme is offering anyone with a library card the opportunity to download the ebook for free, making the project accessible to children from families on a low income”.

For more information, please visit the Collected Works website.

The ASK (Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge for Schools and Colleges Programme) offer has been transformed into a remote service so that support and information can continue to be offered to students, teachers and parents and is now available in Brighton and Hove.  Please see the following link to a short film that explains the offer and how to access it  https://vimeo.com/412287347

Sessions currently on offer for pupils include: “Recognising your strengths”; “How to write a winning apprenticeship application”; “Interview skills” and “Practical ways to boost your employability”.  Sessions are delivered by the meeting/webinar platform of the school’s choice at a time and date to suit.  The programme runs between now and the end of term.

For more information, please see the Ask Brochure: http://wave.brighton-hove.gov.uk/schools/bulletins/Lists/Posts/Attachments/5519/ASK-Brochure-Digital_2020-2.pdf

Reverend Derek Bastide

We were very sorry to hear that Reverend Derek Bastide, former chair of Brighton & Hove Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education passed away recently. He supported Brighton & Hove SACRE for many years developing and monitoring Religious Education and although he retired from the Chair role four years ago his steady, calm and patient guidance and expert knowledge was greatly appreciated by all who were fortunate to work with him. 

If you would like to find out more about Derek please see the link to his obituary in the Church Times. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/12-june/gazette/obituaries/obituary-the-revd-derek-bastide . 

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Eid Mubarak

Eid al-Fitr took place from 25-27 May this year.  I understand that this year’s Eid was a very different experience for Muslims, who could not be with family and friends to end the Ramadan fast because of COVID-19.  Muslims celebrated in their own households, but not being able to share the festivities together was a great loss.  It was lovely to hear how different schools celebrated virtually with their communities though and I would like to wish everyone who marked it ‘Eid Mubarak’. 

Young City Reads

Children across the city have been reading Malamander by Thomas Taylor as part of the Young City Reads BIG READ for school children across Sussex, promoting the joy of reading for pleasure and developing literacy. It has been great to hear that this has continued during distance learning and schools and pupils have been accessing the weekly resources on their website.  Thursday 21 May would have seen the celebration event at the Theatre Royal where pupils would have the chance to meet the author and have their questions answered. Thanks to technology, the event was still able to take place online with Thomas answering questions as they were tweeted and questions that were sent in by pupils. If you missed the event, you can still access it on the Collected Works website.

Keeping in Touch

Once again, it has been wonderful to see and hear about the different ways our schools are keeping in touch with their children at the moment.   I look forward to hearing more about how school communities are coming together at this time.  These are just a few examples of some of the great things which have been happening:-

The following video was created by Cardinal Newman Catholic High School to help their students feel Brave…. https://www.cncs.co.uk/from-all-of-us-to-all-of-you/

Benfield Primary School have created this video of their staff reading “Who Will Comfort Toffle” by Tove Jansson  https://benfield-brighton-hove.secure-dbprimary.com/brighton-hove/primary/benfield/site/pages/learning/homelearning/whowillcomforttoffle

And finally, City Academy Whitehawk have curated family and individual activity packs for their pupils and school community.  These have created a great buzz and the staff were thrilled to see so many families and pupils collecting packs.

Hospital Teaching Service – Access to Education

Year 6 pupil Henry, celebrating VE Day with the Winston Churchill ‘V’ for Victory sign

It’s good to hear that the Hospital Teaching Service at The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital has continued to function during the Covid-19 lockdown.  Families have been very grateful for a visit from the Hospital Teacher, who has been able to provide activities to aid recovery, make their stay more enjoyable and to help with ‘Home Schooling’ tasks.  

To mark VE Day earlier this month, the teacher, nurses and patients had a lot of fun making bunting to hang up around the hospital and in-patient rooms.  One patient, Henry, was an in-patient for over a week earlier this month.   He hung the VE Day bunting above his bed, but he had to replace it with birthday bunting three days later to celebrate his 11th birthday.

Adult Learning Courses  

I’m pleased to say that house our adult and community learning offer will be brought in house as of 1 August 2020.  Brighton & Hove Council is committed to ensuring inclusive and high quality learning is available for all adults in the city.  We will focus on supporting those with few or no qualifications, people on low incomes and unemployed or low or semi skilled people to develop the confidence, skills and qualifications to progress.  If you would like to know more about this big change in our service delivery, please see the Council’s website here.

The Youth Employability Service has quickly moved to adapt their working practices to deal with the challenges of lockdown. They are now providing video, telephone and messenger career appointments, alongside offering AQA Unit Awards so young people can gain accredited certificates whilst they are at home. This has proved popular and course offers have included gardening, safeguarding, youth work, well-being and more! The Service’s Facebook Fanpage has seen a huge increase in traffic and a named adviser takes over the page each weekday, with clients tuning in to watch their live videos and posts.

Every Friday the service has a live Employability Drop In hosted by two advisers and Elle’s most recent publication The Youth Employability Service Lockdown Guide to Life has been seen by over 11,000 people and has kept children and young people entertained during Lockdown.

Brighton & Hove City Council are currently reviewing youth services for young people in the city and are working closely with youth organisations across the city to make sure as many young people as possible participate and give their views.  We are very keen for to hear from young people living in Brighton & Hove aged 11 to 19, or up to 25 years with special educational needs via an on line survey. Please do encourage any young people you know to complete the survey. The survey only takes about 10 minutes to complete and ends on 28 June. The link to the survey is here To give your views via the survey please visit brighton-hove.gov.uk/youth-survey. The feedback from the survey will inform recommendations for future services.

The Virtual School

The Virtual School is continuing to offer a range of services to support children in care & previously in care and really appreciate all the support being provided to them by our colleagues in schools.  This support is so vital during this unsettling time and especially for our children who have already experienced such great challenges in their lives.   In this context, the Virtual School are prioritising supporting the statutory PEP process for children in care and also promote the provision of PEPs for children and young people previously in care.  They have shared widely a School Transitions resource to assist school staff with examples and ideas for transition planning, delivery and review and have a range of other useful resources on their website for school staff, parents and carers.

Staying Active at Home

I was delighted to hear that so many students and families have taken part in the Specsavers Virtual School Games.  A big well done to Blatchington Mill and Saltdean for topping the Brighton & Hove participation leader boards for three weeks in a row!   There is still time to get involved -  head to www.sussexschoolgames.co.uk to learn more.

National School Sport Week at Home 2020 takes place from 20 - 26 June. Register through the following link to gain access to resources to use https://www.youthsporttrust.org/national-school-sport-week-home.  Finally, a YouTube channel has been set up by the Healthy Lifestyles Team to help the whole family to keep healthy during this time.  Please see https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3UDPP981RoXR5_EUUhmSRQ
for more information.

Supported Employment Team

There is some excellent work being undertaken by the Supported Employment Team who support residents of Brighton & Hove over the age of 18 with disabilities into work.   One of the SET Officers, Iain, worked with Evan to identify his goals and preferences, evaluate his skills and explore possible roles that would match his experience.  Following a successful meeting with Sue Weight at Design Print & Sign (DP&S), a trial was arranged.  Iain worked closely with Evan to prepare him.  With the support of Sue, and the DP&S Team’s mentoring and guidance, Evan has grown in confidence and developed new skills, now undertaking most aspects of the role of Design Print & Sign Technician.

Evan says, “I have worked for two different teams within BHCC and have very much enjoyed my three years or so at both teams and feel proud to work for the Council where I have grown up. Iain has been incredible in supporting me in many different ways”.

If you would like to learn more about the service contact SET@brighton-hove.gov.uk

The Ofsted inspections are now on hold due to Covid 19 (official link to information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ofsted-coronavirus-covid-19-rolling-update).  Although all routine inspections are suspended at this time, the inspection reports for Downs View and the Jeanne Saunders Centre have now been published. 

Huge congratulations to Downs View on retaining their Outstanding Ofsted grading.  The inspector said:  “The curriculum starts highly effectively in the early years, where pupils begin to learn essential life skills. This exemplary start continues through all other key stages of the school.  Pupils are exceptionally well prepared for their next stage of education, employment or training” and …“pupils are incredibly well supported by highly skilled and knowledgeable staff.”  Congratulations to the school leaders, staff, pupils and governors.

Congratulations also go to the Jeanne Saunders Centre who have received an Outstanding Ofsted grading.  This exceptionally positive Ofsted report describes the leadership and staff as “inspirational” and as going “above and beyond for all children and families”.   The report continues that staff “use their wealth of knowledge to provide a meticulously organised curriculum, where every child thrives”.   Very well done to all of the staff and everyone involved in achieving this result.

Goodbyes

We said goodbye this month to Pinaki Ghoshal, Interim Executive Director for Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities and substantive post holder as Executive Director for Families, Children & Learning.  Pinaki is moving on to Lewisham Council where he is due to take up the position of Director for Children and Young People.  We would like to thank Pinaki for all his hard work and commitment during his time with us and wish him the best of luck in his new post.

Pinaki Ghoshal

Best wishes,

Jo

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



Thank you

I would like to say an enormous thank you to all school, college and early years leaders, teachers and staff for their amazing work since the lockdown began. I have been very impressed with the way solutions have been found to provide childcare, home learning and support for the children of key workers and the most vulnerable in our city.  The challenges are continuing and I applaud you all for the work that you are doing.  I would also like to thank the parents, children and young people of Brighton & Hove who have managed a massive change in their lives so positively. It’s great to see the creative ways they are learning and playing across the city.

Although this year’s Children’s Parade is sadly unable to go ahead as usual, organisers Brighton Festival and Same Sky are inviting everyone to come together this year in a different way to celebrate children, their creativity and incredible imaginations by holding mini parades at home. 

The 2020 Children’s Parade will take place virtually on Saturday 2 May at 10.30am for five minutes.  To help with this, Same Sky artists have created free and easy tutorials to make something fun from recycled materials found around the house such as a broom puppet, trumpets, masks and hats. Follow this link https://brightonfestival.org/childrens_parade_at_home_-_artist_tutorials/ for more information.

2019 Children’s Parade. Photo Xavier Clarke

Ramadan has started.  It will be a very different sort of Ramadan for those marking it. Mosques are closed and gatherings not permitted, but I would like to wish Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Kareem to those who are fasting. I recognise and understand that the marking of Ramadan may also mean changes in routine and create more challenges with home working and home schooling and hope this goes as smoothly as it can.  Here is the link to the Muslim Council of Britain’s guide on celebrating Ramadan at home http://ow.ly/ZCzw50zlrbu



Just a reminder of life in school before lockdown, in March schools in Brighton and Hove celebrated World Book Day. Activities included dressing up as a favourite book character, sharing a much loved book and more.  Here are what two of our Reading Recovery schools got up to. 

At Middle Street Primary School, activities were based around Julia Donaldson's 'Charlie Cook's Favourite Book' with staff dressing up as characters from the book.  This was followed by making their own whole school book about favourite books and a free book giveaway of some second-hand books.

Staff at Middle Street Primary School

Woodingdean Primary School pupils enjoyed the theme of ‘Sharing Our Own Stories’ and all children made a book of their complete autobiography or an autobiographical story to enter into a writing competition. Money was raised for Dementia Awareness in a pre-loved book sale and characters were put into their correct settings with use of a green screen.

Woodingdean Primary School pupils using the green screen

March also saw the launch of Young City Reads Annual Big Read.  I hope that you all had a great day enjoying a book or two.  So many more amazing things went on across the city for World Book Day, thank you to everyone for your contributions.  Happy reading!

I would like to thank those schools who are supporting their apprentices to continue learning.   In particular this support means that those following the Post Graduate Teacher Apprenticeship route will be able to complete their apprenticeship and gain their PGCE and QTS. 

The recruitment for next year’s teaching apprenticeships is continuing.  Thank you to schools who are participating and also the University of Brighton for looking at alternative ways of interviewing applicants.  BHCC is still recruiting apprenticeships across services and there are currently vacancies for 10 Apprentice Plumbers in the new Housing Repairs Service.

The Apprenticeship Team has produced a video including interviews with current apprentices, post graduate teachers, senior leaders and customer service apprentices.  Please follow this link to see what they have to say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEnB_ZrwiXQ

For information regarding Apprenticeships please contact Gavin Graham in the Apprenticeship team 01273 293320 or apprenticeships@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Keeping in touch

It has been wonderful to see how our schools are keeping in touch with their children at this time.  I have really enjoyed seeing these videos and I look forward to hearing more about the different ways school communities are coming together at this time. 

These are just a few examples of some of the great things which have been happening:-

Benfield Primary School produced the following Moana mash-up which they sent to all families in the school.  https://benfield-brighton-hove.secure-dbprimary.com/brighton-hove/primary/benfield/site/pages/learning/homelearning/moanadance%21

Coldean Primary School put together this video to bring some cheer to the Coldean community https://youtu.be/HdCWXO1w30k

And Middle Street Primary School created the following video with inspirational messages for their pupils https://www.middlestreet.brighton-hove.sch.uk/for-parents/general-news

I’m not going to let a global pandemic stop me!



Wren with an example of his work

Wren, a young trans person who also has autism, is continuing to work on his Silver Arts Award - a national Level 2 qualification - despite the Coronavirus pandemic.  With his GCSE exams cancelled, completing the Award is particularly important to him.  The council’s Youth Participation Team has been working with Wren remotely via phone calls, emails and social media to complete the parts that are still unfinished.

“I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do my arts leadership at all,” said Wren.  “But my organisational skills have actually improved, because I had to write a plan and refer to it in the sessions. Finding a balance between having fun and being professional is not always easy!”

For further information about the support available to young people in the city during the Coronavirus restrictions please see Facebook: brightonandhoveyouth or www.bhyap.org.uk (and click on the contact tab).

New ways of supporting learning in lockdown 

I am delighted that Brighton & Hove has been chosen as a pilot city for a new programme which is now supporting schools’ efforts to provide continuity of learning in these times.

The Cities of Learning programme, led by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and funded by Cities & Guilds Group and Ufi Charitable Trust, uses digital innovation to widen access to meaningful, connected learning.  By focusing on learning outside the classroom and employability/life skills, Cities of Learning bridges achievement and skills gaps to improve social mobility, working with young people, aged 14-24 as part of the funded pilot.

Brighton delivery partners are Future Creators and have been working with local learning providers including Varndean Secondary School and Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC), and employers to create a range of badges that can be issued to Year 11 students to recognise their work as they continue their studies independently from home. Patcham High School, and Blatchington Mill School are now on board, considering ways to recognise efforts of their young people in these challenging times.

For more information on the Cities of Learning programme, please contact Rachel Carter, who is the city lead Rachel.carter@brightondome.org or see https://www.youracclaim.com/organizations/our-future-city/badges



Lockdown food deliveries

The BACA and the Bevy team

It was so positive to hear that staff from the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) and the Bevy community pub have been preparing hundreds of meals a week to feed some of the most vulnerable children and families in the community while the school is closed during lockdown.

BACA’s kitchen is used to prepare the meals from food delivered via the Bevy from FareShare Sussex, Brighton Food Factory and other local organisations.  The team then run a contact free delivery service of meals, tinned food and other essentials to families in need.

Bob Speight, Principal of BACA said: “There are many unknowns in the coming weeks and months but we are keen to do everything we can to support this project and help the community get through this challenging period.”

Well done to everyone involved on this fantastic scheme.  This is just one example of the great community work that schools are doing to support the most vulnerable during this challenging time.

 

Sussex Virtual School Games

On Monday 27 April, the ‘Virtual’ Opening Ceremony took place for the Specsavers ‘Virtual’ Sussex School Games, kicking off a term of sporting challenges giving children the chance to represent their schools and compete to be Sussex champions.

Medals will be awarded to the best scoring schools in each sport, with separate Primary and Secondary competitions. There will also be an Active Adults category so parents, teachers and carers can get involved and represent the school too.  Overall Sussex Champions will be crowned at the end of the summer term.

Every week a different sport will take place, made up of four personal sporting challenges which can be completed from home or at school.  Anybody can take part, and participants simply need to upload their training videos and pictures to the social media links below, including the hashtag #SussexSchGames. 

Twitter: @SussexSchGames
Facebook: Specsavers Sussex School Games
Instagram: @SussexSchGames
TikTok: @SussexSchGames
 
For more information, please contact Emma Greenough at Emma.Greenough@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Tarner Children’s Centre Food Bank

Higgidy pies ready for distribution

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, Children’s Centres set up a no contact Food Bank and emergency supplies delivery service for families with children aged under five operating from Tarner Children’s Centre in central Brighton.  The service is part of a city wide BHCC Covid -19 response for our most vulnerable residents. Children’s Centres are taking referrals from the main BHCC Food Hub, as well as from Health Visiting, Social Work, ITF and parenting, Family Information Service, and our council nurseries.

Food is being supplied by Fareshare and The Brighton and Hove Food Partnership alongside donations of food from Higgidy pies, the Salvation Army and Muirs fruit and veg.  400 food parcels have been delivered this month to families in need by the City Parks team, a volunteer from the Transport team, and Children’s Centre staff and managers. Housing, the Welfare Rights team and the Discretionary Support Fund team are also providing financial advice to these families if this needed.

This really has been a fantastic effort by everyone involved and from so many teams across the council. The staff have gone above and beyond to get food and emergency supplies to families who are self isolating, in financial crisis or unable to leave the home due to other health reasons.

Wellbeing during this time

The PSHE Service is working hard this term to continue to develop relevant and safe to use resources for this term and when schools reopen.  The following link provides a range of resources that schools can use with pupils and students in school and send home to families including weekly wellbeing materials http://www.beem.org.uk/Page/16930.  For more information, please email pshe@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Unfortunately families in our school communities will be experiencing bereavements as a result of COVID-19. An example bereavement policy is available on the BEEM page here http://www.beem.org.uk/Page/16160 along with template letters that can be sent home. For support in dealing with bereavement issues please contact BHISS.

The Ofsted inspections are now on hold due to Covid 19 (official link to information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ofsted-coronavirus-covid-19-rolling-update)

All routine inspections are suspended at this time and reports will not be published until schools are back properly.  This means that results for Hertford Junior School and Downs View Special School may take some time to be published.

Prior to the lockdown the following schools did receive their inspection reports in March and the beginning of April.

Congratulations to Hove Junior School on retention of their Good Ofsted judgement. The inspection report said: “Staff are utterly committed to the school and its pupils.”

Also congratulations to St Margaret’s Church of England Primary School who have also retained their Good Ofsted judgement. The inspection report said: “This is a school where every child is nurtured and cherished.”

Moulsecoomb Primary School had a successful monitoring visit and the inspector reported that the school are taking effective action to improve the quality of education at the school and that the plans and support in place are appropriate.

Balfour Primary School had an inspection and has been graded Requires Improvement. There were many positives to the report including this from the inspector: “Pupils enjoy coming to this school, where they are well cared for” and “children get off to a good start to their education in the early years.” 

Welcomes and Goodbyes

Mark Church, Headteacher at City Academy Whitehawk is moving into a different role with the Aurora Trust and we would like to thank him for all his work at the school and in partnership across the city.  Thomas McMorrin, the Deputy Head has been appointed as the new Headteacher.  Many people will have met Thomas at Headteacher meetings in the past and I am sure everyone will welcome him in his new role.

Mark Church

Thomas McMorrin

John Maxwell has started in his new role as Head of Saltdean Primary. I hope that we will all be able to meet John in person soon, but in the meantime please do say hello.  Our thanks go to Wendy King for her leadership as Interim Head of Saltdean.

John Maxwell

Wendy King



Best wishes,
Jo

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