Never a dull moment

I’m covering for Penny this week in an allegedly quieter time of the year. 

 

Challenging work for a small team

So I found an all too rare opportunity to meet with a special team – the Traveller Liaison team. This small team has in my view some of the most challenging work in the council. For many, the romantic image of travelling communities is long gone and sadly too many times this nomadic lifestyle becomes the focus to community conflict and tension. 
 
The team has to tread the careful path of working with different communities – some increasingly desperate to find a place to stop and ensure their children are educated, others angry and upset with incursions on to environmentally sensitive sites. With much hard work, the team has had a terrific year keeping councillors and residents  informed and responding to their concerns; building a productive working relationship with our police colleagues; and, most recently opening up a far more practical and open dialogue with our neighbouring authorities in Greater Brighton.
 


Horsdean Traveller Transit site

 

Planning ahead

A frenzy of forward planning was in hand for the Staff Roadshows scheduled to take place this Autumn.  I took part in my department working group think through how we might engage, entertain and inspire you. It was really interesting to hear from different people at all levels of the organisation discuss with some passion what they would like to do. Obviously the content will remain a closely guarded secret until the first roadshow.
 

Colleagues planning the Environment, Development & Housing roadshows

 

Testing times

After recent floods and lightning strikes of biblical proportions which knocked out computers, phones and fire alarms in King’s House, a new fire alarm system was put to the test on Thursday. Thankfully in very pleasant weather, the system and evacuation worked well. Congratulations to all the team who have been working to install the new system and all the staff who work as wardens and keep us safe.
 

Lee Beckham, facilities and security manager, and colleagues during the test

 

Final set of results

School may be out for summer but this week saw many young people in the city getting their GCSE results. From the initial results it looks like our students, teachers and our schools have exceeded the national average in achieving A-C in English and Maths, and some schools are reporting their best ever haul of A and A* grades.
 

Samantha and Jamie opening their results at Patcham High

 

Ernest with his results at Patcham High

 

Maisie and Holly with their results at Patcham High

 

There are also some very encouraging results for pupils in receipt of free school meals – a recognised indicator of deprivation. Closing the gap in achievement between those in receipt of free school meals and those who aren’t is our secondary school partnership’s top priority, so this is great news. We’ve yet to establish the impact the wider impact of the huge changes nationally in GCSEs this year, but there is no doubt that educational success remains an important factor in the reputation of our city. The personal anxiety as pupil or parent can be quite something and I’m glad I’m through it!
 

Have a good weekend
 
Geoff  
Executive Director Environment, Development & Housing