Maths holiday for Greenwood pupils

Posted on May 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Seventy pupils from Greenwood Academy have signed up for extra maths lessons during half-term next week.
The Year 11 youngsters are determined to do well in their forthcoming GCSE exams in June. The Academy’s maths teachers are taking the Monday Bank Holiday off, but they’ll be in throughout the rest of the week in their relentless pursuit of high grades.

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Posted in Education, Schools and young people

Rape and sexual assault support centre to open in Castle Vale

Posted on May 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

A new centre for victims of rape and sexual assault has been given the go-ahead to open at the Primary Care Centre in Tangmere Drive, Castle Vale.
The centre will be open 24 hours a day, and run by G4S Security Services.
The scheme has the backing of West Midlands Police and the NHS.
The Horizon Sexual Assault Referral Centre will enable people who have been subjected to rape or sexual assault to access support services without reporting to the police first.
Click here for the link to the Horizon SARC.
The centres will support every individual who comes forward with their own dedicated crisis support worker who will help them through every step of the medical assessment and provide advice on the options and follow up services available. Crisis workers have all been trained by specialist forensic scientists and trauma counsellors and will act as an advocate for the victim.
The services, which were previously led by police, have been commissioned by the Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country Area Team (NHS England). The contract with G4S runs for three years.

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Posted in Crime, Health, Police

Cutting down the number of councillors: will others follow Stafford’s example?

Posted on May 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Stafford Council is considering plans to axe 19 councillors.
The cost-cutting idea will bring councillor numbers down in that Borough from 59  to 40 – a reduction of one third.
The proposals include plans to change the ward boundaries.
The Council has cut back on its services,and should therefore need fewer councillors, say the supporters of the cuts.
There are no such plans for Birmingham, which has 120 councillors – three for each of its 40 wards.

  • Birmingham’s 120 councillors receive an annual allowance of £16,267.00 each.
  • Councillors are given an additional allowance for extra responsibilities.
  • Leader of the Council, Sir Albert Bore, receives an extra £50,352.00 per year.
  • The Deputy Leader, Ian Ward, receives an extra £37,764.00 per year
  • Each of the seven other cabinet members gets an extra £28,197.00 per year.
  • The ten Chairs of the Districts get an extra £10,574.00 – Erdington’s Chair is Councillor Penny Holbrook.
  • Chair of the Planning Committee (Mike Sharpe) gets an extra £14,803.00 per year.
  • The Leader of the largest opposition group (Mike Whitby, Conservative) gets an extra £12,689.00 per year
  • Leader of the Other Qualifying Opposition Group ( Paul Tilsley, Lib Dem) gets an additional annual allowance of £5,287.00

Around 35 of the 120 councillors receive an additional responsibility allowance on top of their basic allowance.

Councillors are  elected by local people. They serve a four-year term. The legal, administrative and clerical work of the Council is done by officers, who are full-time or part-time, and are not elected. There have already been huge cuts to the number of officers at Birmingham Council, and at every other Council in the country, in the past three years.

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Posted in Council, Politics

Erdington driver close to three times over alcohol limit

Posted on May 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

An Erdington man has been banned from driving for three years for driving his vehicle whilst almost three times over the legal alcohol limit.
Anthony Liam Nichols, aged 26, of Belvedere Road pleaded guilty to driving his silver Rover vehicle in Erdington whilst under the influence of alcohol earlier this month. Tests showed that he had 103 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. In addition to the ban, Birmingham magistrates ordered him to pay £165 in costs, to undertake 100 hours of unpaid community work, and to attend a Drink Impaired Drivers Course for 14 days.

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Posted in Crime, Transport

Suspended sentence for knife threat in front of child

Posted on May 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

An Erdington man has been given a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for twelve months, for smashing a glass window and threatening a man with a knife, in the presence of a young child.
Darren Raymond Lewis, aged 45, of Reservoir Road, pleaded guilty to destroying a glass window worth £150 and using knives to threaten a man in Gravelly Lane last March.
In addition to the suspended sentence, Birmingham magistrates ordered Lewis to pay £205 in costs, and to attend an anger management course.

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Posted in Crime

Paralympian Darren Harris helps Kingsbury School celebrate year of sporting Achievement

Posted on May 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

Kingsbury School and Sports College: Sporting Achievement presentation Evening May 2013. Special guest Paralympian footballer Darren Harris is seated, middle row, centre. Click on photo to enlarge

Kingsbury School and Sports College: Sporting Achievement Presentation Evening May 2013. Special guest Paralympian footballer Darren Harris is seated, middle row, centre. Click on photo to enlarge

Sutton Coldfield based Paralympian footballer Darren Harris was the guest of honour at tonight’s Sporting Achievement presentation at Kinsgbury School and Sports College.
Wolverhampton born Darren represented Britain at the London Paralympics in 2012, playing in the 5-a-side team at the Riverbank Arena. Darren is visually impaired.
The school staff presented students with a series of awards for their sporting achievements, including Sports Leaders Awards to Destiny Reuter, Abigail Pritchard, Omar Schrouder and Remel Cockett.
Sportswoman of the year was Jessica Preece. Sportsman of the year was Lee Simmonds.
The Year Seven football team won the KS3 Team of the year award. The table tennis team won the KS4 team award.

Kingsbury pupil Sasha Allen performing a dance that she had choregraphed, at Kingsbury School's Sporting Achievement Presentation Evening

Kingsbury pupil Sasha Allen performing a dance that she had choregraphed, at Kingsbury School’s Sporting Achievement Presentation Evening

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Posted in Education, Schools and young people, Sport

Eating out? Come to Castle Vale, it’s ‘near perfect,’ and best in UK, says top consumer magazine

Posted on May 22, 2013 | 6 Comments

Castle Vale has the healthiest food outlets in the country.
Which magazine has rated all areas in the UK for the quality of their eateries, and B35 postcode has come top of the list.
“When we analysed food hygiene ratings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 2011 onwards, we found wide variations in scores between different postcodes,” says Which magazine.
“Food outlets are rated for hygiene on a six point scale – zero being the worst and five the best. A score of three is ‘generally satisfactory’.
“The DA7 postcode in Bexley averaged a score of just 2.6 – almost half the premises inspected in this area had a score of two or less. By contrast, Birmingham B35 topped the table with a near-perfect 4.9.”

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Posted in Arts and Leisure, Local business, Shops