Education

New plants donated before village toddler group opens

Pupils at a village pre-school are enjoying the colour and beauty of plants donated by Waitrose. The Gillingham store gave Stower Vale Preschool, in Woodville, Stour Provost, plants to use in their garden. Chairman Sam Wattridge said: “As a small, rural preschool, we are hugely supported by the local community the recent donation of plants for our children to enjoy in our garden area is no exception. “In recent years we have been able to, with the support of local organisations, develop our outside space and consequently offer an even more engaging environment for the children that attend our preschool to enjoy. “Set within the grounds of Stower Provost Community School, we have lots of outside space for the children to enjoy, including access to the schools wonderful forest school and pond area, this recent donation of colourful plants will brighten up the garden space even more and we, as always, remain grateful to the local community for their wonderful support.” This week the pre-school relaunched its toddler group, Stower Vale Toddlers, offering a ‘stay and forest play’ session to parents and toddlers, every Wednesday, during term time between 9.30-11. This session will be a rustic, forest play session for children to engage and enjoy the natural environment within the grounds of Stower Provost Community School. Sessions are limited to 10 adults, at present. For more information or to book find Stower Vale Preschool on Facebook or go to stowervalepreschool.co.uk.

College to spend £30m on transformation

By Miranda Robertson

Tens of millions of pounds of government funding is set to transform Yeovil College’s facilities over the next three years. The college’s awardwinning training restaurant, hair and beauty salon, performing arts studio, gym and sports hall will be redesigned, and plans are afoot to build an accessible and ultra-modern student hub and learning zone. Yeovil is one of just 16 colleges in the UK to receive their share of FE capital transformation fund, which is worth £1.5 billion and was introduced to rebuild college estates and create modern, fit-forpurpose spaces to meet the needs of students and the communities they serve. The college is set to spend more than £30 million, including money from the Department for Education’s (DfE), capital generated from the Institute of Technology (IoT), and its own significant investment. Mark Bolton, CEO and Principal, said: “We are delighted with this news. “Although our current campus is beautifully maintained and cared for, there is the need for improvement if we are to fulfil the potential of our learners and the community, creating the space to fulfil our aspirations. The campus transformation plans will deliver a campus which reflects our approach and attitude to all that we do – only the best is good enough at Yeovil College. “The recent DfE announcement secures a big piece in the jigsaw for our ambitious £30 million plus campus transformation plan, which commenced in 2020 and will be mostly complete by 2024. With more than £5 million of development either complete or due for completion this year, the student experience is already leaping ahead with true 21st century facilities being developed to give our learners the edge in their careers.” The DfE investment will help to shape a large proportion of the campus, its learning spaces and social areas. It will be specifically used to progress plans for several new buildings and benefit almost every curriculum area, but most notably A Levels, sport, protective services, performing arts, travel and tourism, hospitality, beauty, hair, media make-up and foundation learning and will create an ultra-modern and repurposed learning resource centre, catering facilities, digital social and learning spaces. Construction is expected to start in summer next year, with the building being completed and ready for the September 2024 cohort.

Branching Out

For encouragement and insightful support through your INTERVIEWS, contact Caroline... caroline@branchingoutmentor.com or 07983 786650 www.branchingoutmentor.com Whatever the stage you are at, I will equip you with tools to approach your interviews with a genuine self assurance.

By Karen Bate

newsdesk@blackmorevale.net When the Friends of Archbishop Wake asked teachers and pupils at the Blandford primary school to record themselves singing a special song during lockdown – little did they know how powerful the effect on families and the community would be. Now Archbishop Wake CE Primary School in Blandford Forum are celebrating the success of this music video, which has captured the hearts and minds of the local community and beyond. Inspired by an idea from the school’s parents/carer association, The Friends of Archbishop Wake, the children, staff and community have come together on one unique video to collectively sing, Count On Me – an original song by Bruno Mars. Parent Dan Baker composed the special version and pieced together the video, which features the children and staff singing and dancing along with sign language interpretation. The DofE were so impressed and showcased the video through their social media channels and in just one week of the song going live, the video secured 2,400 views on YouTube. Headteacher Daniel Carter is immensely proud of the video and the way it brings the community together. He said: “After such a long and difficult year with the disruptions of lockdowns, this video came at a time where we really wanted and needed the community to be together – and this video has done exactly that. Archbishop Wake is a very special community to be involved with and we are all very proud.” Teaching assistant, parent and chair of the Friends of

School’s song is a smash hit online

Archbishop Wake Anna Butler said: “The song brought our community together in a magical way and brought a tear to many eyes. Especially grandparents who haven’t seen these children for so long.” The video is available at youtube.com/watch?v=I7CN kklqZus or Facebook: facebook.com/educationgovu k/videos/4050563558307842

Review of wifi service after inspection

By Nicci Brown

newsdesk@blackmorevale.net The first monitoring inspection by Ofsted of the boarding section of Shaftesbury School since it was judged ‘good’ under former head teacher Mark Blackman in 2017 has found only a few causes for concern. It was carried out because Ofsted has not visited the boarding school since the last full inspection, and also to review concerns raised in surveys about bullying, the quality of meals and WiFi restrictions in boarding schools. Children said that incidents of bullying in the boarding provision are rare and that, when they did occur, the boarding staff took immediate action. Children also told the inspectors that the quality of food had improved – although the choices available could be improved – and that while the WiFi signal was good, they were not happy with the current restriction filters in place. “Senior leaders are aware of this and are reviewing the appropriateness of sites that children have asked to access.” The report by Lead Social Care Inspector Sharron Escott and Social Care Inspector Wendy Anderson says: “Positive recognition of how the school has managed the pandemic was confirmed by parents who contributed to this monitoring visit. Most commented positively on how well the boarding staff communicate with them and said that their child enjoys boarding.” The inspectors visited the school, which caters for up to 100 11-18-year-old boarders but had only 66 on roll, mostly from abroad, to meet the children and staff in person. The inspection did reveal that improvement was needed in the effective use of consultation meetings with children, which did not take place regularly or were well recorded, and that a tour of the boarding provision in Barton House, a short walk from the main school site, identified that limited work had been completed to meet recommendations made at the last inspection. A review of records and additional interviews took place remotely and found that in the short time since the appointment of a new headteacher, Donna LondonHill, and head of boarding, areas for improvement in the boarding provision had been identified and formalised into a development plan. The new senior leaders are designated safeguarding leads for the school, and identified that while the safeguarding recording system is complex and requires improvement, there were no errors in records and no safeguarding concerns in the boarding provision.