A wonderful weekend of Music from our Medway Young People

We were treated to a wonderful weekend of music by young people who participated in the Medway Music Association End of Term Concerts held at St Margaret’s Church in Rainham .

Friday night saw our Secondary School pupils performing both individually and as a concert Orchestra in the company of the Mayor and Mayoress of Medway Cllr and Mrs Barry Kemp .

I took the opportunity of showing my “skills” on the drums afterwards!

On Saturday it was the turn of our Primary School pupils and they gave a magnificent performance , once again as individuals and as an Orchestra.

I was given a special treat and hand the honour of leading through their final number , Michael Jackson’s “Bad”, which I thoroughly enjoyed!

 

At the conclusion of the evening I was asked to address the packed Church of St Margaret’s. It gave me the opportunity of thanking the Medway Music Association for the fantastic work they do with our young people, under the leadership of Derek Blease.

Once again, our Medway young people were a credit to themselves, their families, the Medway Music Association and Medway in general.

A big thank you to the Reverend Judy Henning and the Church Wardens for allowing the use of the Church and thank you all for a wonderful weekend of music!

 

First a Mexican Assembly at Mierscourt Primary School then to Bradfields Academy to help celebrate its First Anniversary

A wonderful Wednesday today, first I visited Mierscourt Primary School in Rainham to attend their Mexican Assembly. We were treated to Mexican singing and of course, the Mexican Hat Dance!

Regretfully I wasn’t able to join the parents who attended at the Mexican food that had been laid on as I then had a quick trip across Medway to Bradfields Academy in Chatham to help them celebrate their First Anniversary of becoming an Academy.

Each year group gave a presentation and all of the children epitomised the Academy motto : Excellence and Enjoyment.

Readers of my blog will know that I am trying to encourage schools to teach Mandarin and I was really impressed to hear pupils from Key Stage 4 delivering a faultless presentation in fluent Mandarin!

It was a joyful occasion and I am particularly proud of being an Honorary Academy Council member.

I am photographed above with some of the Guests and pupils including Tracey Crouch and the Chair of Governors Peter Martin.

Also included is the fantastic Head Teacher Kim Johnson.

Thank you to everyone at Bradfields Academy, now I am off to Mid Kent College.

A warm welcome at Medway’s newest Primary School

 

I enjoyed a great visit to Medway’s newest Primary School , New Horizons Children’s Academy in Chatham today.

The Academy is built on the old Chatham South Site next to Chatham Grammar School for Boys , it is a state of the art facility with a warm and friendly learning environment and part of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust.

I had the opportunity of visiting the classrooms and talking to both the pupils and the teachers.

Their Prospectus says :

New Horizons is Medway’s newest Primary School and opened the doors to its first children on 8th September 2014. We currently have a Nursery class, 2 Reception classes and a Year 2 class.

At New Horizons we aim to transform life chances for all children and are proud to be a school that holds high expectations, makes learning irresistible and provides a nurturing a safe environment.

As a thinking school we give children the skills to enable them to become analytical, flexible and independent. We also foster a positive attitude to learning, where every child has a belief in themselves and experiences success.

I am photographed above with the Head Teacher Susan Daye and the Chief Executive of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust Denis Shepherd.

A wonderful welcome at Mierscourt Primary School in Rainham

It was a real pleasure to visit Mierscourt Primary School in Rainham this morning to address the School Assembly.

Welcomed by Head Teacher Mrs Evans , I had the opportunity to visit the Year 4 classes and talk to both the staff and students. I was pleased to see the improvement in progression and found the children happy and eager to learn.

Afterwards it was straight in to the school hall where I was greeted by the choir, who I last saw up at the 02 Arena last week when they participated in the Young Voices Choir with over 7000 other young children from across the South and South East.

The choir treated us to a melody of songs that they had sung at the 02 Arena and I then had the opportunity of speaking to the whole school.

When I asked which career path they wanted to follow, I was surprised to see just how many budding politicians, scientists and rock stars we had in the Assembly!

A really warm welcome and great to see such fantastic young pupils and staff.

I look forward to returning.

I am pictured above with the Choir and the Head Teacher Mrs Evans.

7,400 Primary School children participate in the Young Voices 2015 Choir

I enjoyed a fantastic evening at the 02 Stadium last night when I witnessed 1000’s of our young people participating in the Young Voices 2015 Choir .

The evening flashed past as we were entertained by both the children, teachers and various artists.

Led by Conductor David Lawrence and Musical Director Craig Mcleish it was a fantastic uplifting experience and so good to see our Medway Primary School represented as well.

I was fortunate to join a party of parents, grandparents and friends from Mierscourt Primary School and a big thank you to them for their support as well.

Having seen and heard all of our young people singing, I can only reiterate what I keep saying, the countries future in general and our Medway future in particular, is bright!

Congratulations to all the schools, pupils and teachers who participated, and to those that weren’t represented , why not start considering Young Voices 2015 now!

Photograph above shows the vast choir preparing to sing.

Pupils settle into new Chatham school

More from Medway Matters

A new school at the heart of Chatham has opened its doors to serve the local community.

New Horizons Children’s Academy has been up and running for just over a month now, providing essential school places for children in Medway.

The new school was created at the request of Medway Council in response to the national issue of growing demand for primary places. And the Thinking Schools Trust was successful in their bid to run the new academy, which sits on the former Chatham South site.

The old building was transformed with a large extension and extensive refurbishment works, all of which took just ten months to complete. Due to the nature of the build (using the existing buildings) the council was able to deliver a new primary school at a low cost and within a small time frame.

The school is set to grow year on year, from Reception year upwards. The school has also opened a Year 2 class this year, because of the additional demand in the local area for places in that year group.

Once fully established, the school will be able to enrol 720 pupils aged three to 11, with 90 pupils per year group.

Before the academy was ready to welcome pupils in September, extensive remodelling and refurbishment of the former Chatham South buildings had to be carried out. The cost totalled £5.2 million and was funded by the Targeted Basic Need Growth Fund.

Medway Council’s Deputy Leader Cllr Alan Jarrett said: “This was very much a team effort with the council’s education team identifying the need for additional school places and working to secure the funding from the government.

“Our expert building design team then procured the contractor WW Martin to complete the novel refurbishment and extension of the old school in record time to produce a first class primary school fit for the future and enhancing the council’s track record for efficient, no-nonsense delivery of large capital schemes.”

Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services Cllr Mike O’Brien said: “In order to meet growing demand from primary places in Medway it was really important that this new academy was opened. It will now serve children from Chatham and Rochester and ease the pressure on places over the coming years.

“We must continue to respond to the growing population, and the New Horizons Children’s Academy is a great example of how the Council and academy trusts can work together to create new and exciting learning environments for our young people.”

Chief Executive of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust Denise Shepherd said: “The Thinking Schools Academy Trust has worked in real collaboration with the LA to ensure we have an outstanding learning environment at New Horizons. Children have settled in quickly, enjoy their learning and are proud of their new school.”

With the Kent Messenger Charity Team at the launch of Busters Book Club

I joined teaching professionals , Medway Council Officers and volunteers at the KM Charity AGM where Busters Book Club was launched after a successful trial around Kent Schools earlier this year.

Aimed at making reading cool for Primary School children and parents I would recommend it.

In addition to the Book Club, the KM Charity has made and continues to make a significant contribution to Road Safety and of course obesity with it’s drive to turn the School Run into Park and Stride, an initiative which I wholeheartedly support.

Please take the time to have a look at what the KM Charity team can assist you with in your area here.

I am photographed above with Buster the Bug at the launch yesterday.

St Mary’s Island COE Primary School welcome Caring Hands to their Harvest Festival Assembly

A super end to the week when I attended the Harvest Festival Assembly at St Mary’s Church of England (Aided) Primary School in Medway this afternoon.

St Mary’s is judged to be GOOD by Ofsted and is situated on St Mary’s Island Chatham Maritime.

A lovely assembly with presentations of prayer, song and poetry from the pupils

This year the Harvest Festival gifts were given to our local Charity “Caring Hands“based on the New Road in Chatham and on hand were the Manager Ricky and the Chef Steve to thank the pupils for their contributions and to give them a presentation on how their contributions would help them in providing food for many. This was a useful link from the message delivered by Mrs Facey on Jesus and the five loaves and fishes that fed 5000.

A presentation was also made to one of our former School Improvement Team Hilary Sanders who helped the school enormously with their recent Ofsted visit in March.

Photograph above shows me with (Left to Right) Ricky, Mrs Facey, Head Teacher Christine Easton, me and Steve.

Medway children receive their primary school offer

You can see and hear my message to Medway young people here ;

 News from Medway Matters website

Almost 96 per cent of Medway children will be starting their school life at one of their preferred primary schools this September.

The latest school admissions figures reveal that nearly 86 per cent of children have secured a place at their first preference school, 7 per cent at the second preference, and 2 per cent at their third.

Families across Medway will shortly start receiving news of the primary school their child has been offered for September 2014 with letters being posted tomorrow (Wednesday, 16 April) by first class, and emails being sent out after 4pm.

The school admissions process for Medway is a huge task and involves the council’s Student Services Admissions Team processing applications for 3,351 Medway children and 97 out of area applicants.

The numbers of applications continue to grow year on year with nearly 500 more received this year compared with those in 2010.

Applications for primary school places opened in September last year and parents had until 15 January to submit their applications to the council, naming up to four schools.

Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, Cllr Mike O’Brien said: “I’m delighted to see so many families in Medway have been offered a place at one of their named schools and such a high number at their first choice school.

“Starting school is a real milestone for children and their families as well as an incredibly exciting time and I’d like to wish all the families and children the best of luck come September.”

Director of Children and Adult Services Barbara Peacock said: “I’m pleased that lots of children have gained places at one of their preferred schools. This is an important step as children begin their school life.”

Industrial Action – School Closures in Medway Today

News from Medway Matters website

The following Medway schools are those which have informed Medway Council how they will be affected by industrial action on Wednesday, 26 March.

For more information on classes affected please check your school’s website or phone direct. The same applies if your school is not listed below.

If we get any further updates these will be posted here.

Schools closures

Luton Infants
Luton Junior
St Thomas of Canterbury RCP School Closed except for morning nursery session
Schools partially open (including academies)

Barnsole Federation 1 x year 6 closed 2 x Year 4 closed 3 x Year 3 closed
Bishop of Rochester Academy Open to Year 11,12 and 13 only.
Bligh Federation Closed to Year 2 and Year 5. Reception, Year 1, year 4 and 6 classed partially open.
Chatham Boys Closed to Year 7,8,9 and 10 but some supervised study available
Elaine Primary School 1 x Year 3 class closed and 1x Year R closed
English Martyrs Primary
Greenvale 1 x Year 2 closed 1x Year 1 closed
Greenacre Year 11 exams week continues. Some lessons for Year 12 and 13.
Hundred of Hoo Closed to Years 11, 12 and 13
Rochester Grammar – Partially open to Years 7 and 8
Saxon Way Closed Year 4,5 and 6
St Helen’s CEP School Year 1, 4 and 6 closed
St Mary’s RCP School 8 Year Groups affected
St Michael’s RCP School Closed to Year 5 in afternoon.
Strood Academy Open to Year 7 Year 11/Sixth form and Year 10 on work experience.
Temple Mill Primary Year 3 closed
Thamesview School Year R closed
Thomas Aveling Closed Years 7,8, 9 and 10
Walderslade Girls Closed Years 7,8,9 and 10
Open as normal (including academies)

Abbey Court
All Faiths
All Hallows
All Saints
Balfour Infants
Balfour Juniors
Bradfields
Brompton Westbrook
Burnt Oak
Byron
Cedar Primary (Sherwins)
Chattenden
Cuxton Infants
Cuxton Juniors
Danecourt
Deanwood
Delce Infants
Delce Juniors
Fairview
Featherby Infants
Featherby Juniors
Gordon Federation
Fort Pitt
Halling
Hempstead Infants
Hempstead Junior
Hilltop
Hoo St Werburgh and Marlborough Centre
Horsted Federation
Howard
Lordswood
Maundene
Miers Court Primary
Napier Community School
New Road School & Nursery Unit
Oaklands Federation
Parkwood Infants
Parkwood Juniors
Pilgrim
Rainham Girls
Rainham Mark
Rivermead
Riverside
Skinner Street
Silverbank PRU
St Augustine of Canterbury RCP School
St Benedicts Primary School
St John Fisher Catholic School
St Johns CE Infant School
St Margarets at Troy Town School
St Margarets Infant School
St Margarets CE Junior School
St Marys Island CEP School
St Nicholas CEVC Infants
St Peter’s Infants
St Thomas More RC Primary School
St. William of Perth School
St James
Sir John Williamson Mathematical School
Stoke Community School
Swingate Primary
Twydall Primary School
Wainscott
Walderslade Primary School
Warren Wood Community School
Wayfield
Will Adams PRU