New Stour & Avon, August 11, 2023 3
stouravonmagazine.co.uk
Concerns over travel routes
Good news for village school The head of Wimborne St Giles CE First School says she is ‘delighted’ after being ranked as ‘good’ in its latest Ofsted inspection. The newly-released report maintained the ranking and says pupils and parents valued the safe family atmosphere and the sense of community that extended beyond the homely village school building. “The school’s values of love, hope and joy can be found in abundance,” the report says. “Pupils treat other people and their environment with compassion and respect. They understand their place in the world and try to make it a better place.” Wimborne St Giles has a rollcall of 71 pupils, aged three to 11. The Ofsted team praised the children’s strong understanding of keeping safe,
with older pupils becoming ‘E-cadets’ and providing internet safety sessions for the younger ones. Inspectors also noted that children were polite and showed good teamwork, with clear and consistent routines helping pupils manage their own behaviours. The inspectors said headteacher Philippa Hill and her team had developed a broad and ambitious curriculum, which had been adapted following the Covid-19 pandemic. Philippa said: “We are delighted with this report, which shows how our school has developed an atmosphere in which everyone can flourish. “The inspectors have really captured the joy our children have in their learning as well as the way they are growing as valuable members of the community. We are continuing to strive for excellence.”
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by Faith Eckersall Spiralling costs have sparked uncertainly over the future of a number of sustainable travel routes in East Dorset, according to the councils in charge of them. BCP and Dorset councils, which are involved in the Transforming Cities Fund scheme, have jointly stated that the original budget for the environmental project is ‘no longer sufficient’ to build the entire network of cycle, walking and bus improvements planned across the region. They blamed ‘rising construction, labour and fuel costs, growing inflation and changes to national design standards for cycling infrastructure’. ‘No additional funding from the UK Government is available to cover the impact of these unforeseen cost increases,’ they added. The £102m scheme aimed to create more environmentally-sustainable travel routes across the east of the county and its conurbations. A number of routes have already been created, including a cycleway in Wimborne which caused controversy after it was claimed to be wider than the road which ran along it. More details at bcpcouncil.gov.uk/News/ News-Features/Transforming-Travel.
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