Future of Burnholme site

City of York Council is holding a public consultation about the future use of Burnholme Community College site on Saturday 15 March.

The drop in consultation event, which will be held onsite at the college, will take place between 11am and 3pm will offer an opportunity to meet with the project team and comment on the future use of the site.

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York Primary schools labelled as “complacent” by Labour

The Labour Councillor who has responsibility for education standards in York has accused local Primary schools of being “complacent”.

Cllr Looker gives this as the reason for several  schools “flat lining” on performance.

Schools quote March 2014

Until 2011, York was an outstanding area for education standards but some schools subsequently slipped in OFSTED checks.

Even some schools in major City’s like London overtook York in achievements.

If there was complacency then it was in political Leadership.

The Labour Cabinet member with responsibility for Education quit only 6 months after taking office in 2011.

The whole of the Education Departments management team then went off looking for alternative jobs.

They found them. Perhaps significantly, all in non Labour controlled authorities.

Cllr Looker was brought out of retirement to steady the ship.

“Steady” it appears turned out to mean “mediocre”.

York school children urged to ‘Expect Respect’

City of York Council is supporting Women’s Aid’s work to prevent domestic and sexual violence by sharing the educational toolkit “Expect Respect” with all schools in the city.

“Expect Respect” is an online educational toolkit that includes one hour lesson plans for each year of school from reception to year 13, guidance on the links between the learning outcomes within the lesson plans and to the relevant parts of the Early Years and National Curriculum.  The toolkit also provides supporting information and resources for teachers, access to online interactive activities and an online support service giving teachers advice and guidance about the delivery of the lesson plans.

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York school set to lose rate relief application

The Steiner school in Fishergate is set to have an application for a reduction in its Business Rate liability turned down by the York Council.

The school is a registered charity and a non for profit organisation with any surplus made used for development. The school has recommended fees of £6,500 pa per child. The school was seeking a discretionary rebate of £3203 but this is set to be turned down by Labour Councillors apparently on the grounds that it is a fee paying schools.

The York Council currently discounts around £95,000 that charities in the City would otherwise pay in Business Rates. The scale of the relief was reduced when Labour took office in York.

Most charities, and other not for profit organisations, already receive what is known as “mandatory relief” which is paid for by central government.

In York the division of the Discretionary Rate relief is as follows

Category

DRR (total) £

CYC Share £

Not-for Profit

3340

1670

Charities

119931

59966

CASC’s

21925

10962

Rural Discretionary

40605

20303

Rural Top Up

5514

2757

Total Cost

191316

95658

The complete list of organisations recommended to receive Discretionary Rate Relief over the next year can be found by clicking here.

It includes the Tang Hall, Bell Farm and Foxwood Community Centres. Several Church aided schools are also included.

2/3 of the relief is paid by central government.

York’s Family Information Service scoops national award

York Family Information Service (FIS) has scooped a national quality award.

The team, which supports parents and carers across the city of children aged between 0-19 (and up to 25 years of age for young people with disabilities) has been awarded the National Association of Families Information Services (NAFIS) Family First Award for quality.
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York primary school performance results published

York primary schools have produced only average results in performance comparisons published today.

The results are based on the number of pupils achieving “good” level 4 in reading, writing and maths.

The highest performing schools in York were Naburn CE and St Mary’s CE both of which achieved 100%

Lowest performing school was Derwent which achieved 38%

click

click

Other results included:

  • Acomb Primary 86%
  • Hob Moor 86%
  • Woodthorpe 79%
  • Westfield 76%
  • Our Lady’s 75%
  • Dringhouses 63%

A full list can be found by clicking here

York Challenge launches for city’s schools

York schools are being challenged to strive for excellence as part of a new initiative launched this autumn.

City challenge

York Challenge aims to empower the city’s schools to achieve excellence in four key areas: leadership, curriculum, teaching and ‘narrowing the gap’ to accelerate the progress of under achieving children. Focusing on partnership working, schools will work in geographical groups – school improvement clusters – with the emphasis on ensuring that all schools become good and outstanding through working on improvement priorities as a cluster.

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York Council’s £3.5 million payment to local Universities

The York Council has released details of the payments that it has made to local Universities over the last 4 years.

Click to download full list

Click to download full list

In total, payments of around £3.5 million have been made although the vast majority of this (£3 million) was a grant to York University for the provision of a County Standard swimming pool. The scheme – part of the new “sports village” on Hull Road – was agreed after the Barbican pool closed and was paid for from the proceeds of the sale of the land there.

In total £192,519 has been paid to St Johns University. The largest payments were made to an anti bullying campaign although the University receives significant payments from taxpayers for the “Higher York” organisation.

The University of York fee payments range from £170,000 paid for the York Cares organisation (which managess voluntary projects in the City) to £850 for a speaker at a “women’s development session”.

All Council expenditure is now being closely scrutinised following the decision of the Labour Leadership to remove winter salt bins from key foopath locations in the City.

The bins cost only £50 a time to fill.

NB. At the last Council meeting the Labour Leadership revealed that it will pay £31,000 to York Athletics Club as a sweetener to move out of the Huntington Stadium. It had been intended to provide a replacement athletics facility at the sports village but Labour now propose to fund the refurbishment of the existing University athletics field.

Road safety improvements for Joseph Rowntree School

Pedestrians and cyclists will benefit from works to improve access and crossing points in and around Joseph Rowntree School in New Earswick.

jo-ro

Construction of a new zebra crossing and off-road cycle links to the south of the school will start from Monday 28 October for approximately two weeks. To enable this work to be carried out safely and quickly, there will be a road closure on Sunday 3 November

A key aim of the scheme, part of the wider School Safety Programme, is to facilitate and encourage walking and cycling on school journeys, reduce the number of cars on the network at key times, and promote sustainable travel habits at an early age.

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Closing date for secondary school places in York looms

City of York Council is reminding parents of all year 6 pupils that the deadline for applications for secondary school places for September 2014 is the end of the month (31 October).

Applications for children born between 01.09.02 and 31.08.03 can be made at www.york.gov.uk/schooladmissions, by contacting the School Services team on 01904 551554 or by emailing education@york.gov.uk

Information about schools, the allocation process and admission policies can all be found in the Guide for Parents available at www.york.gov.uk/guideforparents

Parent/carers will find out which secondary school their child has been allocated on the 1 March 2014.

The closing date for Primary School places is 15 January 2014.

For regular updates follow the school services team on twitter @School_Services