Girls' Football in Brighton & Hove

The Goldstone Primary Year 5/6 Girls team 

Huge congratulations to the Goldstone Primary Year 5/6 Girls who have become the Premier League Stars National Football Champions at the finals at Elland Road, Leeds.  The under 11's girls team faced up to some of the best teams in England but finished top of their group. On reaching the semi-final, the team played a very skilled Wigan Athletic, but some superb marking and two beautiful strikes saw them marching to the final via a 2 - 0 win. The final took place against the Manchester United team which included the competition’s top goal scorer so far. However, a 1-0 win by the Goldstone team means they are now the Under 11 national champions!

Opening of Woodingdean’s School Mural

Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Jackie O’Quinn and Woodingdean pupils

The new school mural

The Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Jackie O’Quinn, joined the school council at Woodingdean Primary School to cut the ribbon at the official opening of their new mural.  The project has involved children from reception through to Year 6 creating the 14 endangered animals which represent each class at the school from recycled, unwanted, donated and broken materials which would otherwise have been headed for landfill.  They now take pride of place just inside the main school door where they can be appreciated by pupils, staff and visitors.  Members of the school council were brimming with enthusiasm and pride for the art work and pupils were keen to talk about their favourites and identifying the different objects that are the components of these stunning pictures.

Queen’s Park Primary School’s Performance of Emil and the Detectives

The Queen's Park Year 5 pupils perform 

In June, a member of the education and skills team attended the fantastic performance of 'Emil and the Detectives’ by Year 5 pupils from Queen’s Park Primary School at the Theatre Royal in Brighton.  Not only were the pupils responsible for acting and singing, they also worked alongside the theatre’s lighting and sound technicians to help produce this wonderful show, based on the book by Erich Kastner adapted by Carl Miller.  The props used were based on the children’s drawings, inspired by the artists of the Weimar Republic.  Several of the key roles were shared by different classmates which enabled more pupils to take on the responsibility of a lead character.  The show included several songs which the ensemble sang clearly and loudly accompanied by actions. Altogether a wonderful performance!

Youth Employment Hub’s Second Anniversary 

                                              The Youth Employment Hub team 

The Youth Employment Hub recently celebrated their second anniversary and Deb Austin joined young people, staff and stakeholders to reflect upon and celebrate the achievements of young people aged 16-25, which include qualifications, new jobs, apprenticeships, traineeships, and further education.  Over 1000 young people have registered with The Youth Employment Hub in Kemptown. Staff listen to young people and offer a safe space, with triaged support so the young person doesn’t have to tell their story numerous times and the centre offers everything from learning to cook with Fareshare, yoga, careers advice, interview clothes and job fairs. Food was provided by Team Domenica who offer Supported Internships across the city.  Find out more about the Youth Employment Hub here or keep up to date with events here.

Anti-Racist Education Conference

Speakers at the conference

Brighton and Hove’s inaugural anti-racist education conference took place in June and was a great success, with over one hundred delegates from schools in the city attending. Through hearing directly from young people, through to a variety of workshops, delegates learnt about the work happening in our schools to tackle racism and also reflect on their own role in supporting all children and young people through anti-racist practice. We also heard from Professor Jason Arday, Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge. He explained his journey through the education system and highlighted the people and approaches that helped him to succeed. Thank you to Camille Kumar, Education Adviser - Anti-Racism (Early Years Schools and Colleges), and her team for their excellent work in preparing for and organising the conference for us all. 

Changing Chalk – Brighton & Hove City Council Farm School Project 

Pupils take part in activities

The Changing Chalk Farm School Project got off to a flying start with five of our city’s primary schools visiting different farms on the South Downs. Farm School is part of Changing Chalk, a project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and People’s Postcode Lottery, engaging children living within the city with the farming community on their doorstep. The children have explored themes such as protecting the chalk grassland and increasing understanding around local food and farming through a number of activities including feeding lambs, investigating the life cycle of wheat and even having a ‘Bake Off’ harvest wheatsheaf competition.  Thank you to all the farmers who generously gave their time to give the children involved such a wonderful hands-on experience of farming practices on the South Downs. If you would like to learn more, please contact Hannah Tedman, Farm School Coordinator, at Hannah.Tedman@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Virtual School Conference

Attendees at the conference

The annual Virtual School Conference took place on 20 June at Sussex University and was an outstanding success with a number of enlightening and informative presentations from our guest speakers, including a presentation from one of our own care leavers.  The resounding message throughout the day was that high aspirations and educational opportunities are key to supporting our children and young people to thrive, rather than just survive.  Thank you to everyone involved in creating such a thought provoking and interesting conference. 

Racial Literacy Training with Headteachers

On 14 June, at our half termly primary headteachers’ meeting, John Lynch and Beth Thomas-Hancock led a training session for headteachers and members of the education team looking at unconscious bias and the lived experiences of racism that still exists in society and education. With a focus on understanding why it is important for school leaders to highlight this issue, to have a clear strategy and to take an anti-racist stance, John shared a wide range of examples drawing on his experiences as a school leader. He shared what young people currently at school are saying about their experiences and what the consequences of not doing anything about this will be for their lives. Beth followed on by exploring the concept of unconscious bias in more depth. We learnt how to identify our own biases, and how by developing more awareness we can adopt practices and approaches that are fairer and more equitable. 

Eat Your Veg at Rudyard Kipling Primary School

Pupils plant their seeds

We all know that getting children to eat their vegetables can be a hard task but it’s great to see Rudyard Kipling working hard on creative ways to get their pupils more interested in eating their veggies. After taking part in the 2023 Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign, Rudyard Kipling Primary School were lucky enough to secure funding from the local authority to receive a whole class tomato growing kit from Veg Power. The Year 6 children enjoyed planting the seeds as part of their WWII topic and were filmed by the Veg Power team. Veg Power’s mission is to get more children eating more vegetables. Using play and creativity, they inspire and empower children to make positive food choices.  If you’re interested in taking part in this programme visit their website, Veg Power, for more information or email Stephanie Douglas at stephanie.douglas@vegpower.org.uk 

Putting the Wheels in Motion

Attendees on the course

With a sharp focus on the road ahead and encouraging children into a healthy and active lifestyle, ten teachers from Brighton & Hove schools attended the city’s first cycle leader course, delivered by British Cycling in mid May. Completion of the course resulted in a British Cycling Ride Leadership (Level 1) Award - the minimum requirement for taking out pupils onto the city’s roads, which allows teachers to take out ten riders (KS2 upwards) with another adult. Kelly Mitchell, Central Hub, commented: “Perfectly pitched, challenging, informative and it has armed our provision with fantastic skills to improve our PE offer and, in turn, improve the mental health and well-being of our students.” Another course is planned for the Autumn term. If you’d like to be included, or know someone who is interested, please contact: paula.greening@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

Ethnic Minority Achievement Service Art Celebration

Some examples of the artwork created

EMAS (Brighton & Hove Ethnic Minority Achievement Service) has created a celebrational display of artwork by primary aged refugee children in Brighton & Hove schools. The children are all newly arrived refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine and have varying prior school experience and levels of English acquisition. They have produced a variety of artwork based around themselves, their families and their countries and culture which gives them a chance to talk and share experiences in a safe space and feel proud of what they contribute to the wider school community. EMAS has been working in schools using the principles of the IRCs (International Rescue Committee) healing classroom interventions which are: sense of self-worth; sense of belonging; sense of control; positive relationships and intellectual stimulation.  EMAS specialist teacher Suzanne Fisher has led on this work and is speaking about the impact of the healing classroom approach in this video. Healing classrooms training is free.  For more information please see this link.

Check out Brighton & Hove's Holiday Activities and Food video!

On Monday 12 June bookings for Summer HAF 2023 went live on our new central booking system here. To help us launch our biggest offer yet, the fantastic Brighton Table Tennis Club have helped us to produce this fantastic video that helps epitomise what HAF is all about. Please look out for social posts coming out from Brighton & Hove City Council from Monday and help show our film some love!

Inspection reports have been published for Cardinal Newman Catholic High School, Patcham High School and St Paul’s CE Primary School. Congratulations to Cardinal Newman Catholic School which continues to be a good school. There is enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged outstanding if we were to carry out a graded (section 5) inspection now.

 

Cardinal Newman's report also said: “Leadership across the school is purposeful and effective. Leaders work untiringly to provide a high-quality education which fully embraces the Catholic ethos” and “teachers are experts in their subjects and ensure that pupils master content and develop their thinking skills”. 

 

Congratulations also to Patcham High School who continue to be Good.  The inspection report at Patcham High said “Patcham High School actively encourages all pupils to experience and value each other’s differences, cultures, backgrounds and abilities. It provides a wide range of opportunities through an ambitious academic curriculum that is supported by careers, enrichment and personal development”. 

 

St Paul's CE Primary School also received their inspection report and received a grading of Requires Improvement. There were many positive aspects to the report that highlighted the good practice across the school including “pupils benefit from a supportive and nurturing environment”, “leaders ensure that children have a strong start in school. The children in the early years benefit from a well-planned curriculum”, “pupils learn in a calm and purposeful environment” and “leaders know exactly what work still needs to be done to strengthen the quality of education”. We are looking forward to continuing to work in close partnership with the school on their improvement journey.

Welcomes

Dermot Farrell

I would like to welcome Dermot Farrell who has recently joined Brighton & Hove City Council as Multiply Adult Numeracy Programme Manager.  Dermot previously worked within the educational environment supporting students, staff and members of the public and recently at a large Further Education college managing adult education courses on the set-up of new opportunities such as programmes for the unemployed. Dermot is based at the Adult Education Hub and we all look forward to working with him over the coming months.

 

Best wishes,

Jo

Keep in touch and follow me on Twitter @JoMLyons

Find details here.

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

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