Sep142017

£1.28 million invested to cut classroom bureaucracy – Kirsty Williams

Welsh Government

The funding will support the creation of new school business managers in eleven local authority areas. 

The two year pilot will see groups of primary schools having a school business manager to provide dedicated support for head teachers and teachers so they can better focus on raising standards and the needs of pupils.

School business managers can help organise and run a range of non-teaching activity in a school, from finance, administration and procurement, freeing up head teachers and staff to focus on leadership and teaching.

The project is part of a range of Welsh Government actions to help address teachers’ concerns over their workload, including a new guide launched today on how teachers can reduce unnecessary activity, with advice on planning lessons, marking and assessing and collecting data.

Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said:

“I am delighted to announce funding of almost £1.3 million to fund new school business managers to take on some of the non-teaching responsibilities.  This will free up heads and teachers to focus on what matters most – their pupils.

“We are working closely with the profession to help teachers be the best they can be for the benefit of pupils. I want to get the basics right and let teachers get on with teaching so we can continue to raise standards.

“Reducing unnecessary workload and enabling teachers to spend more time supporting pupils’ learning is so important. The resources developed with unions and others and published by Estyn today will help ensure that workload issues are considered and we will continue to take action in this area.”

Sep142017

Cappuccino Concert with Bob Stewart

Fraser Macpherson
From Sheena Wellington :

Wighton Heritage Centre, Central Library
Cappuccino Concert with Bob Stewart
Saturday 16th September, 11am (doors open 10.30am)  
Admission £5 (tea/coffee available for small charge)

Bob Stewart has been entertaining delighted audiences for over 25 years and plays a variety of Scottish/Celtic and contemporary acoustic music. Bob’s performances are a very lively affair with a mixture of traditional and original material, a driving acoustic guitar sound, bodhran, whistle and mandolin (not all at the same time) and humour!

Bob has been a full time musician since 1989 and has played in several bands touring Scotland and Europe before going solo in 2007.  He has appeared on many successful albums over the years and has a new solo album due for release in Summer 2017 (album pre-orders will be available from June).

Bob has also performed for the BBC on local and national Radio and TV.  

He has worked with many top folk acts including appearing on stage at the Fochabers festival, guesting on bodhran, with the Battle Field Band. During this performance, Bob had to stuff the bodhran with guitar string packaging as the damp atmosphere had slackened the skin! Bob has worked in the studio with Ian McCalman who was a big influence throughout the years as well as Tich Frier, Andy Ramage, The Gaberlunzie, Blackeyed Biddy, Sheena Wellington and too many more to mention. 

Bob has appeared with bands and solo at many festivals including, The Edinburgh Fringe, The Orkney Folk Festival, the Coastal Fringe Festival and he had the privilege to perform at the very first Fochabers festival.

Sep142017

News story: Ministry of Defence Police Officer completes World Marathon Majors

HM Government

Aaron, T/Sergeant in Operations, based in Berkshire, has successfully completed marathons in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

He said:

It started in 2008 when my New Year’s resolution was to run a marathon having never run any long distance before. I ended up choosing a cross country marathon, which I completed in 3:49:00, vowing afterwards never to do a marathon again!

For the next couple of years I ran a couple of 10k races and half marathons, before gaining entry into the London Marathon in 2011. My aim was to go sub 3 hours for the first time and I achieved this with a time of 2:56:15.

I then found out about the World Marathon Majors, with my aim being to complete each marathon in under three hours. I completed Berlin in 2012 in 2:56:30, which got me a qualifying time for Boston in 2013.

After running Boston in 2:57:55 I had mixed emotions due to the bombings that took place there that year. Thankfully I was at my hotel with my wife, Micayla, when it all unfolded.

In 2014 I went to Chicago, where I managed to knock 10 minutes off my best time, completing it in 2:46:59. The following year was New York, in which I ran 2:47:44, deciding after that to run London again in 2016 to try to better my previous time. I crossed the line in 2:36:55, knocking ten minutes off my personal best, set in Chicago, and 20 minutes off my first London time.

The final race of the majors challenge was Tokyo in February 2017. I qualified as a semi-elite athlete, thanks to the time I set in London. I ran a personal best in 2:33:47 which I was very happy with, considering I didn’t adjust to the time difference and had very little sleep.

Going forward I am representing the MDP at the Police Sport UK 10 mile race this month (September) as part of my training for the Frankfurt marathon in October.

Aaron thanked Assistant Chief Constable Operations, Paul McLaughlin, for his support and the help of the MDP Sports Fund with entry fees, as well as the support he has received from his wife, family and work colleagues.

Congratulating Aaron, Mr McLaughlin commented:

I’m absolutely delighted with his fantastic and overwhelming achievement, which is clearly down to his dedication and the support he has had from family, friends and colleagues.

At a time when the force is driving through the necessary fitness level requirement to meet our role profiles in MDP, what Aaron has demonstrated is where officers could possibly take their personal health and fitness through sheer dedication.

T/CC Andy Adams commented:

Wow, what a fantastic achievement! We take officer fitness very seriously in MDP, striving continually to raise fitness standards to fulfil our vital role in guarding the nation’s defences: Aaron’s commitment and determination is an example to us all.