Elite Head Teacher

By Mel Atkinson A Head teacher from our are has joined an elite team that advises ministers and supports schools across the country. Leicestershire County Council has praised the head of Launde Primary School in Oadby, for being named as a National Leader in Education. The school has also been designated as a National Support Schools. Inderjit Sandhu said “This is excellent news, which gives Launde Primary School further recognition for its achievements as referred to in our Ofsted report. We are pleased to share these strengths and support other schools.”

Commended

By Emma Dezelu Young people were recently praised for their hard work and achievements at a special celebration evening where more than 100 collected certificates and awards in Oadby. The event was being held to celebrate the achievements of young people who live in the Blaby, Oadby, Wigston and Harborough districts and the awards will be presented to the young people in front of their families. The awards include Babysitting Certificates, Youth Achievement Awards, Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards and Leicestershire Youth Service’s Local Award.

Official School Opening

By Permjit Mann Sir Alec Jeffreys, renowned for his groundbreaking work on DNA officially opened the new Gartree High School in Oadby recently. Although the new school opened its doors to students after the summer break in September 2007, this recent event was welcomed as the official ceremony. Since the schools opening students have enjoyed a full range of facilities including science and design laboratories, classrooms and dining and assembly halls. The school also includes a unit for pupils who have a hearing impairment and a new sound field system built into every classroom to aid hearing. Head teacher of the new £13m school, Rosemary Goldberg said "The whole Gartree community is delighted to have moved into such a stunning new school building. We have been grateful to be involved in the design right from the outset and believe it is a building that will enable us to translate our aspirations for young people in this area into a reality, continuing to build on the many successes of this school to date”.

The Sunflower has been celebrating with Voluntary Action For Oadby & Wigston and The Friends of Illiffe Park whilst raising funds for a community based park. Managing Director of The Sunflower Radio Ltd. David Harris Boulter was joined by presenters Carl Preston and Andy Hooke  at the carnival which was also attended by many other community organisations including Oadby & Wigston Policing Unit, Leicestershire Fire Rescue and a twenty foot portable climbing wall. The event was seen as a great success and has helped to re-establish the park which is in need of some tender loving care. Gurgit from Voluntary Action helped to plan the fun day and was extremely pleased with the turn-out from both local organisations and residents to the area. Gurgit said "although we had a few light showers, it didn't stop anyone from really enjoying the carnival event, including Sue 'The Tiger' Hill". Listen to Gurgit at the event by CLICKING HERE.

WHO IN WIGSTON HAS BEEN EATING ALL THE PUKKA PIES?

Officers from Trading Standards have been checking the authenticity of one of the region’s greatest delicacies. Samples of steak and kidney pies were bought from takeaways displaying the Pukka Pies logo, and tested to make sure they were the real thing. David Bull, Head of Trading Standards for Leicestershire County Council, said, “admittedly this is a slightly unusual exercise, but as a service we are always on the look-out for food that is being sold fraudulently". Leicestershire Trading Standards Service sample thousands food items every year to ensure that they are as described, and meet any minimum compositional standards. The vast majority are tested by Scientific Services in Wigston.

 By Mandy Ryan

Work began recently to investigate the archaeology of land earmarked for a new park and ride site in Enderby. Before the work can commence on the £9million site in 2009, the Council is taking steps to uncover, record and remove any archaeological remains. The investigations will try to uncover evidence of how people were living 2000 years ago just before the Roman invasion. Previous works in the area have uncovered houses and farmsteads of our Iron Age ancestors who were farming this part of the Soar valley. The investigations could be an exciting addition to our knowledge of the heritage of this area. University of Leicester Archaeological Services has been commissioned to carry out the work. The archaeological dig is expected to take eight weeks.