Theatre Royal Bury Children's Festival, 2016.

The Wind and Sun, one of the acts taking part in the Festival

This year I was really pleased to be able to give some of my locality budget* to support the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds Children’s Festival.  Neighboring councillor, Colin Spence, also provided funding, and as a result during June Lavenham, Bildeston, Whatfield and Cockfield Schools, and also Colin’s schools in Great Waldingfield and Acton, were visited by a troupe of live performers. The children enjoyed drama, dance, music, circus and storytelling and I have had some encouraging feedback about the shows.

There is nothing like live theatre.   I hope that this small move towards introducing children to it at an early stage will encourage them to take an interest in live performing arts, and to become the audiences and players of the future.

This week I received an e mail from Julia Read, the Head of Development at the Theatre Royal on the outcomes of the Festival.   This tells me that the Festival had been a great success, attracting an audience of over 4000.   It visited 24 schools and at 9 other venues, and involved some 15 different theatre companies.  Feedback forms showed an excellent response

Looking to the future, the Director of the Theatre Royal, Karen Simpson would like to reach out to more parents.   In the report she wrote:  ‘We would like to work with schools in the future to invite parents into the performances in schools.  This would enable many more parents to experience the quality and intimacy of the work on offer.  It would also reinforce the experience at home and in school for the child.

In an age where the solitary pursuits of the internet seem to absorb more and more time, sharing a theatrical experience with others is to my mind more important than ever.

*This is taxpayer’s money, a small amount of which, Suffolk County Council allows me to distribute to communities and organisations around the Division

School update; space allocation season.

This week has seen announcements about the allocation of primary school places across the UK.  In Suffolk over 90% of children will be able to attend their first choice school and 97% will go to one of their top three choices. Although full national figures are not yet available enough is already known to recognise that this is quite a good result.

  

There are variations across the county however with around 90 schools still having to refuse children.  I am happy to say that in the Cosford Division, all 6 schools, Elmsett, Whatfield, Kersey, Bildeston, Lavenham and Cockfield, were able to accommodate all applications for September.

In the case of Lavenham this is a relief since last year around 12 families were disappointed, and this included children from the village living quite close to the school.

Despite the fact that we have outperformed the national picture there is no room for long term complacency as last year's outcome demonstrates.   Demand for school places is likely to continue to grow in the area as a whole and some schools, including some in Cosford, have serious physical space constraints today that need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

When the children arrive at their new schools in September, happily they will be entering an improving education system.  It was revealed earlier this month that the proportion of Suffolk schools rated as Good or Outstanding by Ofsted has just hit a new high of 80%. This represents an improvement of 6 percentage points compared to just ten months ago when 74% of Suffolk schools were Good or Outstanding.

Schools in Suffolk are also improving twice as fast as schools across the country as a whole. Over the last ten months the percentage of Good or Outstanding schools nationally has increased by 3% compared to Suffolk’s 6% increase.

If you know a child who has been unsuccessful in achieving the school of choice and whose parents are unhappy about this an appeal is the only possible remedy.  I have information on this for anyone who wants it.  You should be aware however that an appeal will only be successful if the education authority has failed to follow the correct procedures.

Whatfield and Bildeston Schools win silver road safety awards

The Junior Road Safety Officers at two schools in my Division, Bildeston and Whatfield, have won silver awards for their efforts in promoting good road safety practice.

On Friday afternoon I attended the awards ceremony held at Endeavour House to see the children receive their certificates.  Proceedings were presided over by the new Cabinet Member for Highways, James Finch, and I must say he made a very good job of engaging the children, and the rest of us, in thinking about safety on the roads.

We all learned about a number of ways in which we can all improve road safety.  In addition two of the schools present made excellent presentations about safe cycling to school.  There was also a question and answer session where road safety officers and a representative from the police gave us the benefit of their knowledge and experience.

The Junior Road Safety Officer scheme, which is promoted by the County Council, is a great way to engage children with this important topic.  The children concerned also learn other skills, not least how to promote a campaign to their fellow students. Please get in touch with me if you want to know how your local school can look into participating.

And yes, cycling on the pavement IS a criminal offence!

Pupils from Bildeston School with their certificates.

Rural exception sites and the right to buy.

At Whatfield Parish Council meeting on Wednesday some concern was expressed about the Government's plans, announced just before the election, to allow housing association tenants to buy their own homes at a discount.

Interest was expressed because at present a small estate of affordable homes is being built in the village under the auspices of a housing association.   These are being developed on what is known as a 'rural exception site'.  Under normal circumstances development would not be allowed there, since it is outside the village envelope,  but the fact that the houses are for local people means that an exception can be made.

The plans did not meet with universal acclaim in the village at the time of the application. Many people however recognised the need to provide affordable homes for local people, particularly the young, who may be forced to leave because of high house prices and the lack of appropriate rented accommodation. 

But under the recently announced government plans what will happen to houses on such sites in the future?  It is perhaps a good thing that some lucky local people will not just be able to rent, or part own these houses, but also have the right to buy outright at a discount.   However what will happen if they choose to sell the houses on?   Will sales be restricted to local people only?  I suspect not, but, if not the underlying rationale of local homes for local people will be totally undermined.

The policy was announced during the white heat of electioneering and we have not yet seen any detail.    I hope that the government will take time to consult properly and also consider whether extending the right to rural exception sites is the right thing to do.

Where to recycle your tree

 Once again Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils are providing facilities for residents to recycle their christmas trees.

There are 49 disposal points accross the two Districts.  Trees should be under 7 foot tall and have all their decorations removed!

In Cosford there are points in  Cockfield, Elmsett, Monks Eleigh and Whatfield.  Unfortunately it seems that there are none in Waldingfield Ward, but there are disposal facilities in Long Melford and Sudbury.

The last dates for disposal differ, ranging between 6th January and 19th, so it is best to click on the link below to check

Click here to find your nearest disposal point

I am ashamed to say that this year we decided to do without a real tree.  Much to my surprise the family did not complain.  However, it should be said that the artifical minimalist version that replaced our usual needle-shedding monster, lit up well, was very pretty and actually quite stylish!

Whatfield, Suffolk Village of the year 2014

The cheque from Babergh

Whatfield recently won the Suffolk Village of the Year competition.  Yesterday evening I went along to Whatfield Village Hall for the awards ceremony and celebration in the village hall.

Well over 100 people crowded in to see representatives from Babergh District Council, The Suffolk Association of Local Councils, BBC Radio Suffolk and the East Anglian Daily Times commend the village for beating off strong competition from elsewhere to carry off the top prize. To qualify for the Suffolk finals Whatfield had also won the Babergh Village of the year award.  The picture above shows the cheque for £500 which was the prize for this competition, which was presented by Babergh Chairman, James Long.

The proposed affordable housing, the strength of the Amateur Dramatics and other village organisations, and the care taken over keeping the footpaths both functional and sustainable were all cited as reasons for why Whatfield had won the award. The strong links between the school and the village were also cited.  The community was praised for the fact that enthusiasm had not just been communicated by a few of the ‘usual people’, but that everyone the judging panel met had been keen to come out to express the fact that they believe that their village is a good place to live. The panel felt that Whatfield both has a keen sense of its own history, and also enthusiasm for where it is going in the future.

An excellent spread was laid out in the village hall, which is itself a cause for celebration since this year marks the 40^th year of its existence. Whatfield Parish Council has always made me most welcome since I became its elected representative, and we have had some constructive discussion at Parish Council meetings.   It was good to see so many friendly faces at the event and also to meet some new residents.

Broadband rollout rolls on

I was pleased to receive news from Elmsett that newly installed high speed broadband is working well so far.

As far as I am aware no problems have been reported in Whatfield either, and there are indications that Little Waldingfield will be linked into the super fast system sooner than originally anticipated too.

In order to take advantage of the super fast speeds residents will need to purchase appropriate packages. There are a number of sites where different deals can be compared.  Simply google 'super fast broadband deals'. and take it from there.

Recently received additional government funding will mean that the County Council will be able to take super fast speeds to more than 85% of Suffolk in due course, a target of 95% now looking achieveable in time.  Everywhere will be guaranteed a minimum of 2 mps by the end of 2015, but steps are now being taken to see how even the most remote parts of the county, the final 5%, can be helped to access faster speeds.

Whatfield wired!

I attended the Parish Council in Whatfield yesterday evening.

I was about to give my usual report about how Better Broadband 'really will be coming to an exchange near you by 2015' when I realised that in the case of Whatfield promises of jam tomorrow are unecessary.

I was very pleased to be told that the village is swarming with gentlemen from British Telecom who are busy wiring the village up to greet the future.

I hope to be able to say the same about other areas in my Division soon.

Junior Road Safety Awards

Junior Road Safety Officers

On Friday I attended the Junior Road Safety Awards at Endeavour House.

I went along because Junior Road Safety Officers from Whatfield Primary School in my Division won a Silver Award for work done promoting road safety throughout the school.

The Junior Road Safety Officer Scheme has been running in Suffolk for over 10 years. In that time the number of schools Countywide that have become involved in the Scheme has steadily increased to over 80.

The Scheme involves at least two (Year 4 to Year 6) pupils who are given the title ‘Junior Road Safety Officer’, together with a pack containing road safety resources. Supported by their local Road Safety Education Officer and a nominated Teacher or Teaching assistant from their school the Junior RS Officers act as 'message givers' to the whole school community through their own notice board, promoting national, regional and local road safety campaigns. They may be asked to help with class talks or school assemblies and write articles for school newsletters. They also run road safety themed competitions throughout the school year raising awareness of important road safety messages among their peers.   

Occasionally Junior Officers become involved in projects for their local community working with not only with the Road Safety Team but other agencies also.  The Whatfield Junior Road Safety Officers for example have spent time with the local PCSO's, working on speed reducing activities.

The Suffolk County Council Road Safety Team provide a website which acts as a resource for Junior Officers and has further details of the scheme  www.suffolkroadsafe.net/JRSO. 

Around 40 schools were represented at the County Council on Thursday.  Many had lunch at Endeavour House and received a portion of the Road Safety Cake pictured below.