Open, inclusive and hardworking

Hello everybody,

Starting my week at West Hove Infants School on the Connaught site was a really uplifting experience. Before I had even met the head, Wendy Harkness, I observed parents coming to help in the school and another parent dropping off packed lunches and all of them being warmly greeted by staff who knew them well. Once inside the school I was taken round to see at first hand hard working children in red tops participating in very structured learning using a learning cycle that Wendy explained to me is absolutely key to this being an outstanding school.  The cycle works with the brain development of young children and stops them for brain gym exercises two or three times each lesson. I heard about the range of languages spoken in the school and observed the induction of a new pupil on his first day and in his first class. I was introduced to teachers who had been rated by Ofsted as outstanding individuals and I left after my visit absolutely encouraged by the open, inclusive and hard working approach of this school.

Open, inclusive and hardworking are words that could also describe our approach to finalising a City Deal with government which has seen the birth of the Greater Brighton region which will have as part of it a Greater Brighton Economic Board. Our City Deal was formally signed on Tuesday morning and the Minister Greg Clark came and joined with Leaders of Adur & Worthing, Lewes, Mid-Sussex as well as Jason Kitcat, our own leader.  Also involved were both our Universities and a number of our businesses including The Fuse Box and Ricardo, both of whose chief executives were present. The signing took place at The Fuse Box in New England House, which is going to benefit from funding as part of City Deal to really help inject even more energy and resource into our growing digital industry in the city. The work that has gone on behind the scenes led by Nick Hibberd, head of regeneration and involving colleagues across the council, has been first rate and I hope they felt justifiably proud and pleased at the signing of the City Deal. I know I did.

The hard work now begins to deliver on its aspirations and I have every confidence that we will do that with continued spirit and enthusiasm. Some of those same colleagues were part of the team of us who went to LGC Awards on Tuesday night and while we didn’t win the National Award for Economic Growth, which was a prize taken by Hackney, we should take heart at having been shortlisted and being among a worthy list of authorities. I hope we will fare better on future occasions.

I have mentioned before that partnerships are absolutely key to the work that the council does to deliver for the city and this week the Leader Jason Kitcat and I attended our regular meeting of the South East 7 group of authorities to take forward the work together that we are combining on in areas as diverse as IT, Waste and Highways. One of the outcomes of this week’s meeting was that we agreed we should be working together more in other areas for example sharing our approaches and cooperating in the areas of Health & Social Care Integration and service improvement right across the board. Those discussions are yet to be held but I hope that we will continue to work well with our partners in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Medway.

Just a small reminder that I am now well on with the end of year reviews with ELT members, both recognising this year’s achievements and planning objectives for next year. I hope that for all of us, these end of year reviews and PDPs will be a good opportunity to reflect, celebrate, learn and plan; and if yours isn’t in the diary yet, please take this as a prompt. 

Finally, its World Social Work day on Tuesday 18 March. I will be meeting our principal social workers of Children (Ellen Jones) and Adults (Richard Cattrell) on Monday, in preparation for a celebration of one of the toughest and most valuable professions we have (no bias there, really!).

Here’s hoping the fog lifts.

Best wishes

Penny