?4 million rebuild
for village school
by staff reporter
ALMOST ?4 million is being invested to replace an ageing primary school at Stockton Heath near Warrington.
The ?3.9 million funding, a capital allocation from the Department of Education and Skills to Warrington education authority will see the complete replacement of the buildings at Stockton Heath Primary School.
The buildings, in major need of repair and redevelopment, have served the school well over the years. However, the successful bid made by the education authority means that investment can be made to address the needs of current and future children at the school.
A 21st century vision for the school, put together by the borough council and the local community, will begin to become a reality next year and it is hoped that the new school building could be operational within three to four years.
However, the finer details about how to manage the day-to-day operations of the school, while ensuring the safety of pupils and staff during the redevelopment work, are currently being put together.
Coun Maureen Banner, the council’s executive member for education said: “This is great news for Stockton Heath Primary School and its pupils, both present and future.
“A lot of hard work has been done by a number of people across the community to ensure this funding became a reality. As part of our work to further strengthen our education provision across the borough we want to make sure our pupils have the facilities and opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills.”
Trust honours
Peter Deakin
by Gary Skentelbery
A TRIBUTE to Warrington Wolves former chief executive Peter Deakin has been unveiled at the town’s pioneering peace centre.
The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Trust, set up in memory of the two youngsters who lost their lives in the Warrington bombing more than 10 years ago, have named a new I.T room in his honour.
Peter, who was renowned in the rugby world, died in February 2003 from a brain tumour. He was chief executive at Warrington Wolves from 1999 and also held similar positions at Bradford Bulls and at rugby union club Saracens.
The Trust has converted a room at the Peace Centre into a six station I.T suite with funding from the Learning Disability Development Fund and a private donation from The Priory Foundation.
It will provide opportunities for young people participating on Trust programmes to update their communication and I.T skills and also research conflicts around the world when participating on conflict resolution programmes.
Peter’s widow, Michelle and three-year-old son Theo officially opened the room.
The Trust was the Wolves’ chosen charity when Peter was at the Wolves.
The Trust currently has around 2,300 young people participating on its programmes each year.
Pupils put their
thinking hats on
by staff reporter
CHILDREN at St Peter’s Primary School, Woolston, Warrington have been putting their thinking hats on – literally!
The school has put in place a “Thinking Skills Continuum”, following a visit to Australia Year Six teacher Helen Lea to find out how “thinking skills” are taught in schools.
The project encourages children to develop different ways of thinking and the reception class begins with the “six hats”.
Each coloured hat has a different focus – the yellow hat represents positive thinking, the green hat represents creative thinking.
When a hat is chosen the children adopt the corresponding way of thinking, while they discuss problems.
Headteacher Sue McWilliam, said: “We aim to provide a rich, broad and balanced curriculum within a happy and supportive environment. Every child is encouraged to be the best that they can be.”
“Throughout the school, children are taught thinking skills, which help the pupils to become independent learners.
“We believe that the emphasis placed upon teaching the children to think has impacted upon the learning and has helped the children to achieve excellent SATs results.”
Similar projects at the school include the ALP (Accelerated Learning Programme), which emphasises improving the children’s learning environment and includes using music as motivation and healthy snacks and drinking lots of water are encouraged.
New out-of-hours
pharmacy opens
by John Hendon
A NEW pharmacy has opened to support Warrington’s out-of-hours health care service.
In addition to having out-of-hours prescriptions dispensed at the centre, patients can phone in for advice about drugs and minor ailments.
Doctors can also get medicines through the service, which operates between 6.30pm and 10.30pm on weekdays and 10.30am to 10.30pm weekends and bank holidays.
Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT) has commissioned United Co-operatives Healthcare to run the pharmacy at the town’s out-of-hours health care headquarters in Garven Place.
Warrington PCT’s unplanned care manager Chris Webb said: “Unlike most pharmacies, this new service has been specifically designed to support out-of-hours care in Warrington. This is a major step forward in the provision of healthcare to the people in the town. We are delighted to be working with United Co-op Healthcare on the provision of pharmacy services.”
Patients will be able to get advice from a pharmacist by calling the out-of-hours number – 01925 650999. Calls are answered by an experienced nurse, who can also refer patients other healthcare professionals, such as GPs, nurses and paramedics, anytime when their GP surgery is closed.
The pharmacy will not, however, be able to routinely dispense medicines from prescriptions written anywhere other than the out-of-hours service.
As part of a major awareness campaign, all households in Warrington will be receiving information about the out-of-hours service in the next few months. For more information log onto the PCT’s website: www.warrington-pct.nhs.uk
United Co-op Healthcare runs 130 community pharmacies in the Midlands, North West and North Wales.
Free services for
voluntary groups
by staff reporter
VOLUNTARY and community groups in Warrington can now tap into a wide range of free services to help boost their projects.
Warrington Borough Council, Warrington Housing Association and the Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) have teamed up to provide on-going one-to-one support to any community or voluntary group to help them manage their projects successfully.
Coun Terry O’Neill, the council’s executive member for Environment and Regeneration, said: “This is great news for our community and voluntary groups who can make the most of the services on offer.
“The service will mostly benefit groups who have recently been awarded a grant from any funding source and who would like to ensure a range of systems are in place to make sure their projects are a success.”
Roy Smith, Community Accountant at Warrington Housing Association and Kim Bate, Small Grants Officer at the Council, will run the service and the support given will include advice on:
Implementing financial management systems
Feeding back information to funding bodies
Monitoring techniques to keep track of a project’s progress to ensure projects outputs are achieved
Identifying and applying for funding.BR> The new services will compliment existing ones including drop-in surgeries and workshops related to financial matters.
Details are available from Kim Bate on 01925 442373 or Roy Smith on 01925 246827.
