Agenda item - Chair's Communications

56.1    The Chair gave the following communication:

I’d like to inform those present that this meeting will be webcast live and will be capable of repeated viewing.

I was very pleased to open the annual governors’ conference on Saturday at the University of Sussex. Once again it was a very well attended event and the focus was on how schools can meet the needs of some of our more disadvantaged children. As ever I’m hugely impressed by the commitment that unpaid governors give to schools across the city and I would like to thank them for the time they give, the support they provide and at times the scrutiny they give to all of our schools – which contributes to the great results we have and the positive Ofsted inspections which we will hear more about in a moment.

Last week I also attended the cross party youth group meeting which I co-chaired with Josh one of our young people on this committee. Alex and Vanessa were also in attendance and we had a good meeting looking at priorities and potential areas of investment following the decisions at the recent budget council. Josh showed excellent chairing skills and could well one day be sitting in this seat – but not yet!

I’m pleased to announce that recently the music service, which is now part of the Festival and Dome was successful in bidding for a Youth Music grant from the DfE. It has been awarded a total of £640k over 4 years with 40% of this grant to be directly invested in work with young people in the city. The bid was in partnership with neighbouring music hubs.   

Members will be pleased to hear that after the most recent recruitment process the three SEND hubs previously agreed by this committee have now all appointed their new Executive Head teachers who will be starting in the role from September. They are Rachel Bustow, Adrian Carver and Louise Cook.

On 25 January I presented an award at the Young Carers Award Ceremony for young carers and their families in Brighton Town Hall.  The event was hosted by the Mayor and organised by the council, the Carers Centre, Young Carers Project and Sussex Community Foundation NHS Trust to mark national Young Carers Day.  It was an opportunity to acknowledge the challenges young carers and their families face in addition to celebrating their achievements. The event highlighted the importance of the support young carers and their families receive from work carried out by the Young Carers Project, council and health services.

Finally, I would like to welcome Nancy Platts to the committee; this is her first committee and will be learning the ropes today.