19 December 2019 ESL Briefing
Dear Colleagues
In January the current City Hall UGP area where ESL colleagues tend to congregate is going to be occupied by a new and expanded SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities) team.
23 new colleagues are joining the existing SEND team and desks will be adapted with new telephony kit for their core casework and advice services. As you know, SEND is a critical priority for BCC and for the People Directorate. A SEND Ofsted letter is about to be published and this identifies a number of development areas and strong areas to build which the team are now addressing – including through increased team capacity. I am very happy to able to help by relocating our ESL team work area at City Hall.
After a walk round the building, a few of us agreed that it would work well for ESL colleagues to base themselves on floor 4, Park Street end. This move includes nineteen staff members – including me, Young Careers and Pathways (formerly Post 16 Participation/WORKS) and Employment Support colleagues. Tiffany has already made the move to the 4th floor to be closer to the HR Recruitment Team. Teams located at the Park, Create Centre, Temple Street and Stoke Lodge will not be affected by this development but you may need to know where we are! Regarding this move:
Desk space: I’ve been testing out the 4th floor this week and I’m pleased to report there is plenty of desk space and lovely double screens with good chairs with arm rests. Tea, coffee making and printers are all in supply. The area is inhabited mainly by planners who are a friendly bunch. There is also great light at the top of the house — yesterday there was a lovely mackerel sky first thing in the morning.
Use of stairs/lift: If you need to use the lift and it takes a bit of time to get to the 4th floor – try the other lifts or perhaps take the opportunity for some mindfulness! If you don’t need to use the lift why not use the opportunity to get more steps in – gravity will help you going down – and it’s great exercise going up!
Lockers: There are no lockers on the 4th floor – if you are lucky enough to have one on the UG or anywhere else in the building – my advice is to keep hold of it until we hear otherwise!
Meeting rooms: There seems to be a better chance of getting access to a meeting room on the 4th floor.
I look forward to seeing you there from the first week back in the New Year. Before then, I hope you enjoy a very well earned enjoyable and relaxing break. Thank you for everything you do to change people’s lives.
Best wishes
