The Bradley Stoke Journal

Children from a Bradley Stoke primary school have taken part in a fun-filled practical session about fruit and vegetables at the Willow Brook Harvester.

Staff at the restaurant teamed up with a Harvester chef to teach 30 pupils from Bowsland Green Primary School about the importance of their ‘five-a-day‘.

Manager of the Harvester, Adam Giles, said:

“During a VIP tour of the kitchen, the children learnt about what the chefs’ jobs involve. The pupils then learnt about the origins of the freshly prepared fruits and vegetables in Harvester’s famous Salad Cart. There was also a blind taste test which was fantastic because it got the children eating vegetables they thought they didn’t like, or hadn’t had the chance to try before.”

“The session was a fun way to get the children talking about why their five-a-day is so important, and it’s part of Harvester’s mission to bring out the best in the local community by encouraging people of all ages to come together.”

Following their ‘training’, the children helped themselves to the Salad Cart, and had a special meal created from Harvester’s Young Guest Menu.

Each child received a personalized certificate to mark their participation in the event and went home with a Harvester goodie bag containing ingredients to make a salad at home.

Read on for a comment from the headteacher at Bowsland Green »

Bradley Stoke’s Bowsland Green Primary School has been rated “good” by Ofsted inspectors, who visited the school last month.

The team of four inspectors observed a total of 15 lessons at the 239-pupil school, which is located in Ellicks Close, off Bowsland Way.

The inspectors summarised their findings as follows:

“This is a good school, where pupils make good progress in most of their lessons and attainment is rising.”

“One parent reflected the views of many by saying: ‘This is a fantastic school, warm and friendly and my children love coming here.’”

The report praises headteacher Clare Whitaker for her “drive and ambition”, adding that:

“The quality of teaching and learning has gone from strength to strength under her exceptionally good coaching and mentoring.”

In 2009, the school was in the top 7 per cent of schools in the country for the progress pupils made.

Read on to find out what else the inspectors had to say »

Ticket sales for a big top circus performance at a Bradley Stoke school this coming weekend are said to be going well but people are being advised to book in advance to guarantee entry.

The grounds of Bowsland Green Primary School in Ellicks Close will be open from 1.15pm on Saturday (9th October) with the performance starting at 2pm and finishing at 4pm.

Booking slips can be obtained from publicity boards on display at the Willow Brook Centre; or call Lynne Miller on 0752 8935108 for further information.

Lynne, chairperson of the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), told The Journal:

“The children, staff and PTA of  Bowsland Green School are really looking forward to the event – the first at a Bradley Stoke School.”

“We received feedback from a primary school in Filton recently who had Happy’s Circus last year, and they told us they were ‘fantastic’.”

“It should be a fun event with refreshments and face painting along side.”

Related link: What’s On in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Residents of Bradley Stoke are to have the chance to find out about a new Children’s Centre that will open soon in the town.

The new Sure Start Children’s Centre at Bowsland Green Primary School will offer a wide range of support services to families with children under five.

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) is staging a meeting at the school on Monday (18th January), the aim of which is to:

• Share information on what the Children’s Centre can offer
• Obtain views on the services that should be offered to serve the local community
• Recruit members (especially parents) for the Centre’s advisory board

The meeting takes place between 2 and 3:30pm. Further information is available from SGC Project Officer Gail Amphlett on 01454 864169.

Sure Start brings together childcare, early education, health and family-support services for families with children under 5 years old. It is the cornerstone of the Government’s drive to tackle child poverty and social exclusion working with parents-to-be, parents, carers and children to promote the physical, intellectual and social development of babies and young children so that they can flourish at home and when they get to school.

Funding for a Sure Start  Children’s Centre in Bradley Stoke was announced in December 2008, with Bowsland Green Primary School being named as the chosen site.

The new centre will be accommodated in the school’s original hall, a new, larger, hall having been constructed for the primary school children by converting an unused courtyard.

Bowsland Green Primary School has submitted a planning application to create eleven additional parking places within the school grounds despite having to withdraw a similar plan earlier this year because planning officials considered it “contentious”.

South Gloucestershire Council’s Local Plan suggests a cap of one parking space for every two members of staff, but with 15 spaces already available for the 30 staff (twelve of whom are part-time), the school agreed to drop the request from its earlier application in April.

Other aspects of that earlier plan, including the creation of a new school hall, were approved by the council in July.

Supporting documentation accompanying the latest application details the number of visitors to the school and the extent of community activities that take place there. The school’s agents say that these extra demands justify relaxing the cap:

As you will see, the school is very active and takes a pride in making itself an active hub for community activities. Clearly these activities bring to the school a large number of vehicles that are not reflected or catered for within the T8 guidance of spaces per members of staff.

The result of this is the inevitable large number of cars over-spilling from the school and parking in adjacent residential areas. Clearly this causes friction between the school and the local residents, which the Head Mistress, Clare Whitaker, constantly battles to address and placate.

One neighbour of the school has already pledged support for the proposal. The consultation period runs until Friday 27th November.

A new Sure Start family support centre looks set to be established at Bradley Stoke’s Bowsland Green Primary School following a decision by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).

Sure Start centres provide a range of services such as advice and information for parents on a whole range of issues, health visitor support, training for parents on issues such as parenting, breastfeeding etc., and play and stay provision for mother and toddler groups.

The Bradley Stoke centre is one of four recently approved by Councillor Sheila Cook (Conservative, Almondsbury), SGC Cabinet Member for Children & Young People, the others being in Severn Beach, Emersons Green and Yate.

Funding of £2.2 million for the new centres has been provided by the Government, which requires the new facilities to be available by March 2011.

Councillors considered both Bowsland Green and Wheatfield primary schools as potential sites before opting for the Ellicks Close location.

The new facility will be achieved through refurbishment of existing accommodation and the building of an extension.

Bradley Stoke Central and Stoke Lodge Councillor, Sarah Pomfret, said:

“At the moment, there is no children’s centre in Bradley Stoke, so local parents have to go to centres in Little Stoke, Filton and Patchway.”

“The Council’s announcement is hugely positive because there’s a lot of need for something like this in the town and there will be an even bigger increase in population as a result of the Northfield development at Patchway.”

“Establishing a children’s centre in Bradley Stoke will also allow the existing centres at the Stokes and Filton to offer services to the future community arising from the development planned at Harry Stoke.”