Northampton & Earls Barton Archives

Category: Northampton & Earls Barton

Become a School Governer

Nov. 07 Local News, Northampton & Earls Barton Comments Off

MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL BY BECOMING A GOVERNOR

A campaign has been launched by the East Midlands Academy Trust to recruit new governors who want to support their local school.

Governors play a vital role by acting as ambassadors for their school, while challenging and supporting the headteacher and wider team. In return, governors gain skills that can be transferred to the workplace and have a chance to give back to their community.

There are a number of vacancies at the trust’s schools across Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes, including Stimpson Avenue Academy and Castle Academy in Northampton.

Andrew Davis, who was a governor with the trust at Prince William School in Oundle and is now a trustee on the board, said: “For me, it is about helping our schools to realise their true potential. I like to professionally challenge and question the decisions of the senior leadership team, the trust board, their data and their thinking with the ultimate goal of helping the school to improve.

“The reward has been own my personal growth and being able to take these experiences and learning and apply them in my own day to day work. I also take a sense of pride that I use my own time to give something back to the community that I live in.”

School governors are required to attend around seven meetings a year and their roles is to help to evaluate how the school and its pupils are performing. Governors receive full support and training

Carole Kirby, head of governance at the East Midlands Academy Trust, said: “Volunteering as a school governor can be a hugely rewarding thing to do. Not only do you get the chance to give something back to your local community, you’ll also learn a range of useful skills that you can carry into other areas of your life including work.

“We’re looking for people from a range of backgrounds and would particularly like to hear from those with experience in data analysis, finance, HR, special educational needs and project and estates management.

“However, we would also love to hear from laypeople who bring their life experience and a commitment to improving outcomes for our pupils.”

Applications are particularly encouraged from people from black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups, people with a disability and younger people, who are all currently underrepresented on school governing bodies across the country.

To find out more about becoming a school governor, visit the website www.eastmidlandsacademytrust.co.uk to download an information pack.

The Animal Licensing Law has Changed

Oct. 15 Local News, Northampton & Earls Barton Comments Off

New legislation will came into effect on 1 October, overhauling current animal licencing laws. Changes impact how residents and local businesses buy and sell pets, use day care or animal boarding services and keep and train animals for exhibitions.

Anyone selling pets, and dog breeders operating as a business or breeding more than three litters a year, needs to apply for a licence from the council.

Adverts selling pets must now include:

The licence number
Name of local authority issuing the licence
Photograph and age of pet
County of origin and residence of pet

If you’re looking to buy a pet, it is important that you look out for these things to make sure that the person selling is doing so legitimately to ensure animal welfare.

The change in legislation requires anyone offering day care or home-boarding to apply for a licence from the council. Before using these services, residents are asked to be mindful and make sure that anyone providing these services holds the correct licence.

Leader of East Northamptonshire Council, Steven North, said: “The changes in animal licensing laws will help to further protect animal welfare, and ensure that anyone selling and breeding pets or offering home-boarding services is responsible when caring for animals. I would urge anyone who is unsure about how these changes might affect them to contact our licensing team, who will be more than happy to offer guidance and advice.”

If you previously registered a performing animal with Northamptonshire County Council, Trading Standards this registration will expire on 31st March 2019 and you will need to apply for a licence from East Northamptonshire Council under the new requirements.

A new star rating has been rolled out for all animal activity licences, with ratings ranging from one to five, five being the maximum that can be achieved. This rating will be displayed on the licence.

To check whether a business holds the correct licence, or to apply for a licence, visit: www.northantslicensing.gov.uk or contact the licensing team: Central Licensing Administration Unit, East Northamptonshire Council, Cedar Drive, Thrapston, Northamptonshire NN14 4LZ, Telephone: 01832 742102, Email: licensingunit@east-northamptonshire.gov.uk

Northants Teens Renovate Local Playground for Community Project

Sep. 12 Local News, News from our Area, Northampton & Earls Barton Comments Off

Group of 12 Northants teenagers have refreshed a local playground
Northants teens volunteer 47,000 hours for local community as part of National Citizen Service (NCS)
Applications for autumn NCS programme now open

A DOZEN dedicated Northamptonshire teenagers have brought a new lease of life to the Rectory Farm Community Centre playground in Northampton as part of their social action project for National Citizen Service (NCS), this summer.

The group wanted their social action project to make a difference in the local community and focused on updating the Rectory Farm Community Centre playground. The teens secured free materials for the renovation and also placed a plaque in the playground to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease – a cause close to their hearts for which the team raised more than £200 through bucket collections.

Hannah Porter, 16 from Northampton was part of the group which worked on the Rectory Farm Community Centre playground project, said: “The biggest thing my whole team can take away from the NCS experience is how we have all acquired a new set of skills and mindset with which to use them.

“As a result, our NCS experience can be described as nothing but completely exhilarating and meaningful, not just for the team, but for the impact we have made on the people in Northampton in the name of the Alzheimer’s Society.

“Despite the arduous efforts to sand, prime and paint in the sweltering heat, the smiles of the children who live around the playground made it all worthwhile for the team and we all feel truly proud.”

NCS, a unique programme open to all 16 and 17-year-olds, consists of three phases; the first phase involves outdoor team-building exercises and the second phase is a residential for participants to learn ‘life skills’. The third phase is spent putting all these new skills into practice when the teens plan and carry out a social action project where they spend at least of 30 hours on their chosen community project.

The 12 teenagers are amongst more than 1,500 Northamptonshire young people who dedicated a staggering 47,000 hours to create a positive change in their communities through social action by raising awareness for local charities, renovating community spaces and working for good causes.

To date almost 500,000 young people have taken part in NCS with more than ten million hours of social action completed. The social action projects are at the heart of the NCS programme and in 2016 it was calculated that for every £1 spent, the summer programme delivered between £1.15 – £2.42 of benefits back to society.

Phil Everett, from The EBP, the regional NCS provider, said: “We are incredibly proud of all the hard work our groups have put in across the summer programme and without a doubt they have made a huge impact across the county.

“The team were very determined and carried themselves in a very professional manner regarding the renovation of the Rectory Farm Community Centre playground. Everyone was really keen to make a noticeable difference to their local community and they have definitely done that.

“Although all of the summer start dates have now begun, NCS will be taking place in the autumn, so if you feel like you missed out this time then please get in touch.”

For further information and to sign up to the autumn NCS programme visit www.ncsyes.co.uk or call 01522 574101.

Inspiring Success with a New Business Venture

Aug. 10 Local News, Northampton & Earls Barton Comments Off

Last week, Nene Local was invited to a complimentary Life Coaching session from Inspiring Success.

Before I tell you about my session let’s see why you might need a life coach. If Life Coaching to you sounds a bit too ‘out there’ and you think, why would I need that?

Here is why you might…

Coaching will enable you to see your life from a different perspective
Stop you procrastinating and help you move forward
Set goals and achieve them
Give you genuine happiness
Explore limiting beliefs and find ways to overcome them
Give you 100% support

Sheena Shah from Inspiring Success met with me over coffee and we talked through life in general, with me picking some scores for such things as health, finance, relationships, career, mental health, social life etc

Most of my scores were quite high but there’s always room for improvement, right?

One of the sections to fill in was left blank so I popped in a new business venture I’m doing, as its new that scored quite low… So my life coaching did turn a little businessy…. However, I am attending their SuperEMPOWER Yourself day on September 9^th and Sheena tells me I get another session as part of that, so will concentrate on a ‘home/leisure life’ area for that session.

Details of the day are here https://www.facebook.com/events/207969113335994/

Sheena really questioned me on how I felt about the new venture, what did I want to achieve? By when?

I found I actually had some really big goals for it but hadn’t really put them down on paper yet. Sheens used a little NLP to get me to ‘seal those goals’ in my head then put them on paper.

By the end of an hour, I had a goal and also small stages to get to that goal. I had a marketing plan, I had the beginnings of a financial plan, and bundles of enthusiasm. I was amazed at how much we achieved in an hour. This was a Friday and so my Saturday morning was spent fine tuning the plans and by Monday I had a follow up email from Inspiring Success outlining all we had discussed and encouraging me further. I felt very pleased that by this point I had already achieved some of the points.

Why have a coach?

When it’s something close to your heart, you often can’t see a way through. I’m a ‘just get on with it’ sort of person and coaching enabled me to take time to think, put solid plans in place that will lead to success – rather than a scattergun approach which might lead to success…

Coaching also means encouragement. When I post to Facebook I get a little smiling face or thumbs up from Sheena, which even as an adult, feedback like this does still spur you on.

We have catch up meetings in place, so she can keep me on track. Plus, if I feel I’m too busy or too tired to do a task one particular day, the thought of accountability to someone else rather than just me certainly keeps me motivated and wanting to get the ‘thumbs up’!

For more information

Sheena is a Performance/Wellbeing coach and NLP Practitioner and works either 1:1, in corporate settings and also does wellbeing sessions for children in schools.