Advice on energy saving during the spring and summer months – as well as a free energy-saving light bulb – will be the subject of a session at the Moreton Area Centre next month.

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Tags: moreton | climate | education | gloucestershire

From storytelling to life in Roman Corinium workshops, there is something for all the family at the Corinium Museum, Cirencester over the Easter school holidays.

The Park Street museum will host several family drop-in sessions during the holiday break, including attempts to recreate crafts and characters from both the Victorian and Medieval eras, as well as workshops were children can explore household items and their uses through history. Read the rest of this article »

Tags: cirencester | museum | education | crafts | history

Children in schools across the Cotswolds have found a voice for their views through the ‘Memorable Manifestos’ of Councillors Paul Hodgkinson and Sally-Anne Morrissey.

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Tags: education

The anxious wait for news of secondary school places is almost over for pupils and parents.

On Monday 3rd March, parents of pupils transferring to secondary school in September 2008 will receive an allocation letter from Gloucestershire County Council. All parents throughout the county will be offered one school place on the same day. Gloucestershire parents will have until 20th March to return their reply form. Read the rest of this article »

Tags: gloucestershire | education

The recent Ofsted inspection of services for children and young people shows that Gloucestershire is on the right track.  The multi-agency inspection, known as the Joint Area Review, confirms that children and young people in Gloucestershire are doing well and the organisations that support them are working together effectively.

This is the first year that Gloucestershire has had a Joint Area Review (known as a JAR). The agencies being inspected included Gloucestershire PCT and NHS Trusts, the Police, Learning & Skills Council, Connexions, voluntary and community organisations, district and county councils.
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Tags: education | gloucestershire

‘The Olympic challenge, do the benefits outweigh the environmental impact?’, ‘Aids - is this a disease of the uneducated?’, ‘The Sticky Truth? Unfair trading using ethical labels.’  These are just some of the topics being discussed at the “Talking about places faraway” competition being held at Shire Hall in Gloucester on Wednesday 6th February.

This event provides an opportunity for young people to share their views, concerns and knowledge about global issues.  Teams of up to 10 students aged 15 and 16 from ten Gloucestershire schools are taking part in the annual global competition run by Gloucestershire County Council’s International Education Office. 

Each of the schools taking part has been asked to prepare a 5 - 7 minute presentation on a topic of their choice. The presentation can take a variety of forms e.g. PowerPoint, debate, rap, street scene. Although most of the input will come from the students, a panel of “experts” will take part and judge the event.

Following one school’s presentation, delegates from other schools will be encouraged to ask questions.  Members of the panel will make short contributions to the discussions before passing on to the next school presentation. Six schools will be competing in the morning from 09.45 to 12.00 and four schools in the afternoon from 12.45 to 3.00.

Marks are allocated to schools for the style, delivery and content of their presentation and to the way in which they participate in the ensuing discussions.

Councillor Joan Nash, Cabinet Member for Schools, said: The topics the young people will be discussing are very much in the news and in the minds of people of all ages.  I am sure that all of the presentations will be thought-provoking and perhaps will give a different perspective on these important issues.”

Schools taking part this year are:

• Rednock School
• St. Peter’s Catholic High School
• Sir William Romney’s School
• Stroud High School
• The High School for Girls
• Winchcombe School
• Archway School
• Balcarras School
• Dene Magna
• Sir Thomas Rich’s School

Other topics covered will include: “Has religion a place in schools anywhere?”, “Fairtrade versus food miles”, “Population increase”, “Think Globally, Act Locally”, “Are the Olympics compatible with a sustainable future?”, “Food miles and fair trade”, “Global punishment - do we need global clarity?”

The winning school will receive a glass trophy and funding towards travelling to London to the Houses of Parliament to discuss global issues with an MP.

Source: Gloucestershire County Council

Tags: gloucestershire | education | competition

Gloucestershire has been named as a Pathfinder authority by the Government for supporting children and young people at risk of or experiencing emotional or mental health needs.

That means that Gloucestershire County Council and Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) working together will get additional funding from the Government to support these vulnerable children through their schools. This will be £325,000 for 2008/09, £222,000 for 09/10 and £155,000 for 10/11.

Improving the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people is a key priority in the Gloucestershire Children and Young People’s Plan. This funding will help implement our Emotional Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which has just been agreed by all the main organisations working with children (January 2008).

Gloucestershire will be targeting four groups of schools, selected on the needs of children in the area - one group in Gloucester, one in Cheltenham, one in the Forest of Dean and one in Cirencester. The project will be evaluated during its second and third years to find out whether it’s been successful and whether it could be extended to the rest of the county.

The Pathfinder funding will help schools develop existing services which have an impact on children and young people’s emotional health and well-being, including healthy schools, work to tackle bullying and a primary mental health worker for schools. It will also build on services already delivered successfully for children and young people by organisations working together, including implementing the Emotional Health & Wellbeing Strategy, services provided by Youth Offending Service (YOS) and health and social care professionals working together to support vulnerable children in care.

General services will be aimed at the whole school community, with more targeted services for children with greater needs and support aimed at vulnerable groups, including children with disabilities and Black & Minority Ethnic children.

It’s hoped the project will have an impact on:

• Reducing persistent absence from school
• Reducing permanent exclusions
• Reducing referrals to social care and CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service)
• Reducing re-referrals to social care and CAMHS
• Increasing the number of children choosing healthy lifestyles
• Raising the educational attainment of children
• Increasing the number of children who are ‘happy’ or ‘quite happy’ most of the time

Cllr Joan Nash, Cabinet Member for Schools, said: “I am delighted that Gloucestershire County Council has been awarded this status. This will build on the good practice already going on in the county’s schools to promote the importance of good mental health. This funding will enable relevant services to target those children and young people who are most in need of prevention and intervention. This will not only impact on their mental wellbeing, but will also improve their overall health and ultimately, their educational attainment.”

Jan Stubbings, Chief Executive of Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust, said: “The award of Pathfinder status is testament to the effective joint working and co-operation that exists between the NHS, County Council and a range of other community partners in Gloucestershire. This extra funding and the opportunities we now have to develop existing services means we can do even more to support vulnerable children and young people and lead on developing best practice which will benefit other areas of the country.”

Gloucestershire is one of 25 council areas named as Pathfinders for the Targeted Mental Health in Schools project.

Source: Gloucestershire County Council

Tags: gloucestershire | education | health

On Friday 25th January a Festival of Wind Band music will be held in the school hall at The Crypt School, Gloucester.  This will be the first occasion when all adult wind bands supported by Gloucestershire Music, the county’s music service, will join forces to perform.

Whilst the majority of its work supports music making in schools, Gloucestershire Music also provides opportunities for adults to learn to play instruments in the context of a wind band, jazz band or orchestra. Particularly successful has been the ”Learn as you Play” scheme, designed for complete beginners, whilst more advanced players are also catered for.

Playing in the concert will be:

The 5 Valleys Music Centre Windbands (aka Learn as You Play bands 1 and 2), two adult groups that have been in existence for over 2 and half years and for just one term, respectively, directed by Tim Cambray.

Lakeside Concert Band that has been playing for over 3 years, directed by Jennie Henley.

Colwell Arts Concert Band, the most senior band that has been in existence for over 20 years, directed Philip Cowley.

They will be playing music from a variety of sources and genres, film (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Back to the Future), song (The Green Leaves of Summer), classical (Mars - from the planets by Holst, a selection from the Nutcracker suite, Tchaikovsky) and dance (Jamaican Rumba).

For full details of Gloucestershire Music’s activities, please go to www.gloucestershiremusic.co.uk

Source: Gloucestershire County Council

Tags: gloucestershire | music | concert | education

Pupils from 54 schools in Gloucestershire have given generously and raised over £5100.00 to feed children in developing countries.

Schools were invited to take part in the World Food Programme’s ‘Buy One Give One Free’ initiative, which took place on World Food Day on Monday 16th October.  Schoolchildren were asked to donate 11p, which is the amount needed to feed one child in the developing world for one day.

As a county, they raised £5144.26, which translates into 46,766 extra children being fed through the World Food Programme’s School Feeding Programme.

Many events were organised by pupils themselves, with school councils and classes coming up with ideas to raise money for the World Food Programme’s School Feeding Programmes including miles of pennies, auctions, car washing and theme days. Bishop’s College, Shrubberies Special School and Heron Primary School won a competition to tell the story of their campaigns.  Representatives from these schools will be visiting the World Food Programme in London next month.

Councillor Joan Nash, Cabinet Member for Schools; said: This is an extremely impressive amount of money to be raised by our schoolchildren. Through their generosity, they have ensured that over 46,000 children will receive a meal.  This is a wonderful example of pupil power and participation and I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to all of the schools which took part”.

Representatives from School Councils of some of the schools that raised money have been invited to a ceremony to be held at Shire Hall in Gloucester on Wednesday 16th January where Greg Barrow, a representative of The World Food Programme will receive the cheques from students of Archway School, who raised the largest amount of money.  Jo Davidson, Group Director of Children and Young People’s Services, will be presenting certificates.

Source: Gloucestershire County Council

Tags: charity | education | food | gloucestershire

A special event that gives young people the opportunity to learn about responsible, safe and legal driving is to be held in Moreton-in-Marsh next month.

Teenagers aged between 15 and 17 are being urged to sign up now for the Roadrunners project at Cotswold District Council’s Moreton Area Centre on Monday February 18th.

The event, between 10am and 3pm, is designed for young people who are thinking about learning to drive.  The course covers topics such as:

• First driving lesson – A chance to get behind the wheel of a dual-control car, guided by a qualified driving instructor.
• The costs of motoring - Find out how much a car costs to run and how to keep insurance and other costs down.
• The dangers of speed - Can you judge speeds and braking distances? What happens in a crash?  Test your reaction times.
• The role of the Fire & Rescue Service - Talk to firefighters about their work and daily experiences.

Roadrunners is a partnership between Cotswold District Council, Gloucestershire Police, Gloucestershire LEA, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue and various youth and community groups.

The Moreton event, which was first held in 2005, will be run by representatives of all the organisations involved.

Moreton Area Centre Manager Sarah Cantwell said:  “This event follows on from our hugely successful Roadrunners projects at Moreton in previous years.

“All the young people who have attended in the past have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and gone away from the event with the skills and knowledge they require to be able to start driving and owning their own cars.”

The cost of the day is £3 per person, which includes lunch. To book a place for your child, please contact the Moreton Area Centre on 01608 650881.

Tags: cars | moreton | education