Brighton Festival Children’s Parade

 

I was delighted to be able to watch the Children’s Parade earlier this month which kicked off this year’s Brighton Festival.  The theme of the Parade was “one world, learning and growing from each other” and it was amazing to see all of the fantastic costumes and experience the wonderful atmosphere created by the Heads, teachers, children, parents and wider partners who took part from schools around our city.  Well done to everyone involved.

“Leading for Sustainability” Conference

                                                    Attendees at the Conference

             Kelvin Newman, School Energy and Water Manager, presenting at the Conference

19 May was ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ in the UK – the day when humans’ demand on nature in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate.   It was a lucky coincidence that this was the date chosen to host the third ‘Leading for Sustainability’ conference, for schools embarking on the ‘Our City Our World’ programme.

Headteachers, senior project leads and business managers from 14 primary schools met in Brighton Town Hall to explore the global and local context to climate change as well as the process in which they can embed sustainability and climate change into their school curriculum and operations.  In the city, around 50 of our schools are engaged in this transformational programme, including a secondary focused ‘Sustainable Schools for the Future’ group.  The work is gaining much interest from schools and organisations nationally as well as the DfE and National Climate Education Action Plan.  More details can be found at www.ourcityourworld.co.uk.

Interacting or interfering?  Enhancing language, communication, and relationships

Colleagues from our Early Years settings spent a wonderful day with Julie Fisher, Early Years Adviser and Visiting Professor of Early Childhood Education at Oxford Brookes University, earlier this month.  Using the on-line platform Teams, Julie shared clips of nursery and reception pupils that became the focus for rich discussions between colleagues in the breakout rooms.  Julie has a strong background as a practitioner, researcher and advisor which forms the basis of her book “Interacting or Interfering? Improving Interactions in the Early Years”. Throughout the day, she was open to sharing her observations, thoughts and expertise.  At the end of the session, all the participants said the day had either met or exceeded their expectations.  When asked to describe the event in one word they used the words above.

Youth Council Mental Health Convention in the Pipeline!

The Youth Council Health and Wellbeing Campaign has been on a process of listening and formulating their campaign, involving both a national consultation and localised focus groups, to form key priorities. Working with the wider Youth Council to look at solutions, they have agreed to run an education campaign with a Young People’s Mental Health Convention taking place.  This aims to better help young people understand what Mental Health is and looks like, how to identify when you might need support, to improve understanding of different mental illnesses and how they might differ to mental ill health and what support is available. Work is now underway with partners across the city to set up this work and with the aim of holding the convention on Tuesday 10 October 2023 – World Mental Health Day.

Girls Football School Partnerships – Equal Access Survey 2022/2023 

In March, the Government announced a transformational pledge to ensure all girls are given equal access to Physical Education and School Sport in England. We have made significant strides to inspire positive change for girls, all made possible by the thousands of dedicated teachers in schools, for which we are extremely grateful. But as always, we still have more to do and must continue on this journey together.   As we deliver this change for schoolgirls nationwide, it is vital we have an accurate picture on school football provision.  We are reaching out to every school for help, with a polite request to complete the short survey below. This will provide us with the most up-to-date statistics and national picture, enabling us to influence further. Emails have gone out to Schools PE leads with the survey link. If you haven’t received the email or would like more information please email: Laura.Howley@brighton-hove.gov.uk. Also don’t forget that lots of local football opportunities are listed here to share with your school community. 

Youth Council Social Action Project Secures Funding 

Congratulations to a group of youth council representatives, supported by other young people in Brighton and Hove, who have recently been successful in securing £800 to run an event with Migrant Women in the city which they have titled ‘Cooking Across Continents’. The Youth Council held a Dragon’s Den style pitch event at their Youth Council meeting in March, where ‘Cooking Across Continents’ was narrowly selected as their chosen social action project. The campaign team then pitched their project to a panel of judges in Burgess Hill last month. The funding is provided through UK Youth and the Inspire 22 Project, being delivered local by Youth Work Charity – Sussex Clubs for Young People. The judges were blown away by the pitch and the project was successfully awarded the funding. The group was recognised for their detail and dedication to inclusivity. They will now be building connections with local partners around food and working with migrant communities to deliver the day of cooking by August.

Building a Child’s Resilience Courses 

I was so pleased to hear more about the positive feedback for the Adult Education Hub’s online courses for parents whose children (aged 4-18) are struggling with anxiety and building resilience. The courses focus on helping to build self esteem and are free to anyone on a low income or in receipt of means tested benefit.  Comments have included: “Thanks so much for the course – it’s been really helpful, particularly techniques to ease my daughter’s worrying. It’s been so useful thinking about my approach as a parent” and “I was really impressed by the quality of the course and the way it brought out such key points. Since doing the course I’ve held back from over-complicating things at home and it’s helping.”  For more information about course dates and how to join please see here.  

Virtual School Summer Education Conference

On 20 June 2023, Brighton and Hove Virtual School will be hosting its annual Education Conference, “Mind the Gap” aimed at headteachers, designated teachers, governors and other education and social care colleagues working with young people in care/ previously in care. This year’s theme, ‘Mind the Gap’ looks at how we go about addressing the gaps that exist for children in care and young people of socio-economic disadvantage, be it the need for quality first education, or the gaps in mentoring and relationship coaching. 

Speakers include educational expert Victoria Flynn; care-experienced Ashley-John Baptiste, now a senior reporter at the BBC; and a Brighton and Hove young adult in care will share her personal experiences.  Tickets are free and can be booked via the Eventbrite website using the link here.

Shifting Cultures: Embedding anti-racism in the heart of education settings

Now entering its third year, the Brighton and Hove anti-racist education strategy is shifting the conversation around racism in education in our city and across the country. On Friday 23 June, an anti-racist education conference for support staff and pastoral leaders in schools, nurseries and colleges will be taking place at the BMECP Centre in Brighton.  

I do hope you will be able to join us for this exciting day of learning, networking, skills development and valuable conversations. Workshops and panels throughout the day will provide delegates with the opportunity to further knowledge, skills and understanding around anti-racist education practice and will leave all attendees with a clear sense of purpose and direction to affect change in your own education setting.  To register your interest, please email camille.kumar@brighton-hove.gov.uk. A registration link and full programme will be circulated after half-term. 

Ofsted has visited Cardinal Newman this month. We look forward to seeing the result of their visit. Congratulations to Cottesmore St Mary’s Primary, Woodingdean Primary and Westdene Primary who have all received Good gradings for their previous results. 

 

The Westdene Primary School report said: “There is an incredibly strong sense of family and community in Westdene Primary School. All staff have high expectations of pupils, and pupils rise to meet these exceptionally well” and also “there is enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged outstanding if we were to carry out a graded inspection now”.

At Woodingdean Primary School the inspector reported: “Children in the early years get off to the best start with endless opportunities to ‘discover and do’. Children adore the well-thought-out and ever-changing learning environment that enables them to investigate, be curious, get creative and explore”.

The Cottesmore St Mary’s report said: “Leaders have high expectations for pupils at this school. Pupils are supported to believe in themselves and to become resilient and curious learners.”

Well done to all at BACA who have moved from Inadequate to Requires Improvement.  A positive report to read with many areas now good.  Ofsted said “This is an improving school. Dynamic leadership in the school has raised expectations of pupils’ education and behaviour since the last full inspection”.

We are awaiting reports for Patcham High School and St Paul’s CE Primary School but hope to have these soon.

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

Summer Sports

 

                               The team from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary

                                                           Year 5/6 netball 

The Sussex School Games Spring Finals took place just before the Easter break at the University of Brighton. Huge congratulations to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary who won the Sussex School Games Year 5/6 Stinger Netball Finals!  Well done also to Goldstone Primary who came 2nd in the Year 5/6 Indoor Athletics and Hertford Juniors who came 3rd in the Year 3 Multi Skills Finals!

In the secondary Indoor Athletics finals Dorothy Stringer Year 7 Boys came 5th, Year 7 Girls Blatchington Mill came 4th, Patcham High Year 8 Girls came 5th and Kings Year 8 Girls came 5th.    Sports leaders from Patcham High, Dorothy Stringer and PACA also supported the event. Schools from around the county commented on how great the leaders were in supporting the primary school students.  Congratulations to everyone who took part in such a brilliant day for Brighton and Hove Schools.

Youth Participation Team Arts Workers…another great success for young people!

                         Young woman sharing her Robe a la Anglaise at the Royal Pavilion

I was delighted to hear that 8 Bronze (level 1) and 1 Silver (level 2) Arts Awards national qualifications have recently been passed with flying colours by young people who are out of education due to mental or physical health needs. One young woman who focused on her passion for historical fashion for her Silver Arts Award found that the award has given her a focus, enabled her learning and confidence and encouraged her to think more positively about her future. She created an 18th Century Robe a la Anglaise from scratch and felt confident enough to share it at the Royal Pavilion!  The Youth Participation Team also received excellent feedback from the Trinity College Moderator who said “it is clear that the young people have been well supported to undertake the award, explore their own creativity and express their individuality.”  Well done to everyone who has been involved with this excellent achievement.

National Supported Internship Day 

                                                       Attendees at the event

National Supported Internship Day took place on Monday 27th March.  A networking event was held at Jubilee Library where interns from Team Domenica served refreshments. Presentations were given by Team Domenica and DFN Project Search celebrating the achievements of the supported internship programme in Brighton and Hove and beyond. 

Discussions took place around the challenges faced by young people with additional needs and how support can be given to overcome these challenges. The aim is to double the number of supported interns in the city and I look forward to celebrating the progress made to achieve this at next year’s NSID events.  Many thanks to representatives from supported employment, the employability service, Downs Link college, Team Domenica and DFN Project Search.

Free Swimming for under 18s in Brighton and Hove

I’m very pleased to let you know that from 1st April 2023, the Free Swimming Scheme which is operated in partnership with Freedom Leisure will include children and young people aged 18 and under in Brighton & Hove. More information can be found on the Free Swimming Scheme and how to register on the Freedom Leisure website: www.freedom-leisure.co.uk/freeswimmingbh.  You can also ask at reception in your nearest pool.

'Positive Masculinity' Workshop Pilot Project

The Secondary PSHE team have been working with Groundswell Project UK to run a pilot project of classroom based workshops on 'Positive Masculinity'. The pilot will involve mixed gender PSHE classes of year 9 and 10 students at Blatchington Mill, King's School, Cardinal Newman Catholic School and Patcham High. The focus of the workshop will be on positive masculinity from the male perspective in order to highlight misogyny as an extremism issue, not just violence against women and girls. It is hoped that this opportunity for some of the young people in the city to hear from experts in the field will help open up the much needed discussion surrounding this issue and enable the good work already being done in PSHE on gender, consent, relationships and extremism to continue with confidence.

Patcham High has received an inspection this month.  We are awaiting the outcome and look forward to hearing the results once ready.

Congratulations to Coombe Road Primary School who continue to be a Good school. The report was particularly positive and Ofsted said that “Pupils happily attend this inclusive school. They show joy in their lessons and talk about what they know with enthusiasm. Leaders and those responsible for governance have an ambitious vision for the school. Leaders prioritise staff well-being and are effective in making sure that workload for staff is appropriate and manageable.”

Also well done to St Martin’s C of E Primary who also continue to be Good.  Ofsted reported that “The school has a clear Christian ethos that underpins the personal development programme. Leaders want all pupils to understand the Christian faith and to learn how to take care of each other, their community and the wider world. Leaders engage with staff very well. Staff say they would not want to work anywhere else. Senior leaders, and governors, are highly committed to the school and its pupils.”  

Welcome and Congratulations 

I am very pleased to welcome Helen Emerson who has recently taken up the position of Education Adviser: PSHE, Anti-bullying and Equalities.  We all look forward to working with Helen over the coming months.

                                                              Helen Emerson

I would also like to congratulate several acting head teachers across the city who have recently been appointed as substantive head teachers.  We look forward to continuing to work with them closely and supporting them in their roles.

                            Jane Joshi, Head Teacher at St Martin’s C of E Primary

                                      Laura Sibley, Head Teacher at Carden Primary

                               Mark Dally, Head Teacher at Bevendean Primary

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here Twitter accounts across all council services.

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.