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Drive to make city cleaner and safer
MOVES to make Liverpool a cleaner and
safer city are being stepped up following successful campaigns to
combat environmental crime. The Council's Executive Board has agreed
to extend an Enforcement Forum - which consists of officers who deal
with environmental crime - to cover all enforcement activity across
the council, including crime and anti-social behaviour.
The Board heard that a crackdown on dealing
with environment issues had been taking place in the last year.
Among the activities were:-
A series of enforcement days throughout the
city, the first of which produced 59 summonses for littering and dog
fouling
The use of a specialist contractor to deal
with dog fouling offences which has resulted in 20 successful
prosecutions and 20 on the-spot fines.
The use of CCTV cameras in fly-tipping
hotspots. Five prosecutions are pending.
A "Butts Out" campaign which
distributed 15,000 personal ashtrays
The introduction of £50 fixed penalty notices
for litter and dog fouling offences.
Cllr Marilyn Fielding, Executive Member for
Neighbourhood Management said:- "We have done a lot of
work over the last year in tacking environmental crime whether it is
prosecuting people who drop litter, allow their dogs to foul or who
fly-tip, The officers who have done this work are to be
congratulated. But now we want to take it on a stage further and use
the same zero tolerance approach to a whole range of criminal and
anti-social activities whether it is dealing with violence or
abandoned cars. The vast majority of the public appreciate what we
are trying to do and support our efforts to make Liverpool cleaner
and safer. We are using a joined-up approach to achieve that."
Charlie Parker, Executive Director for
Regeneration, said:- "When we set up our new
neighbourhood teams one of the things people at grass-roots level
told us was to get tough with fly-tippers, those who dropped litter
and those who generally made a mess of their communities. We have
done that but now we want to involve even more council staff so we
can have clean, safe and well-managed neighbourhoods."
A
Nation stands still
WITH flags
across our nation at half mast, on Thursday 14 July the nation joined together in a two-minute silence at 12 noon to remember the victims of 7 July terrorist attacks in London. In Liverpool Rector of Liverpool Parish Church, Reverend Steven Brookes and the leader of the Muslims of Liverpool, Mohammad Akbar Ali, each said a prayer for the victims before the city took part in the national 2-minute silence. Representatives from Liverpool City Council, the Liverpool Council of Faiths, Merseyside Police and the Fire Service joined him at St John’s Gardens for the multi-faith tribute.
Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Alan Dean, said:- "It's very important that Liverpool unites to remember those who lost their lives during the barbaric act of terrorism that rocked the world."
Leader of Liverpool City Council, Mike Storey, said:- "The moment of silence gives us the chance to offer our thoughts, prayers and support to the victims, their families and their friends."
Flags on St George's Hall, Liverpool Town Hall and the Municipal Buildings were all flown at half-mast all day and a book of condolence was opened at Liverpool Town Hall for people to record their thoughts and feelings.
In Warrington the two-minute silence As part of the tribute, council, church, business and transport representatives gathered at Market Gate, in the heart of Town Centre of Warrington and all Warrington Borough Transport buses, where safe also stopped and observe the silence.
Bob Williams, the Council's Head of Communications, said:-
"Warrington is keen to show solidarity with the London community, especially bearing in mind our own experience at the hands of terrorists."
In Southport some shops stood still
as customers and staff joined together in the two minute silence.
If you want to react and make a statement that
will be seen by millions of people, visit:- www.werenotafraid.com
and pot your picture to show the Terrorist that the world will not
be beaten by these acts of terror.
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GOVERNMENT FUNDED SPORTS PROGRAMMES ARE HELPING OUR PUPILS WORK TOWARDS THEIR OLYMPIC DREAMS
THE Government funded sports programmes are helping our pupils work towards their Olympic dreams, but all schools are yet to benefit from the programmes.Schools' involvement in the Physical Education School Sport and Club Links Strategy (PESSCL) has made a positive difference to PE and sport in schools according to a new report by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) this week. But inspectors found the strategy has yet to reach all schools, particularly those where provision for PE and sport are at best satisfactory.
The Physical Education School Sport and Club Links Strategy (PESSCL), one of three subject-focused reports published by Ofsted today, evaluates the School Sport Partnership Programme and Support for Gifted and Talented Pupils in Physical Education Programme.
Leadership and management of the programmes were found to be good in half of schools and the quality of teaching observed was also generally good - this gave a slightly more positive picture then Ofsted's previous reports in 2004. But the proportion of very good teaching remained disappointingly low and assessment was also often weak. Whilst the majority of schools visited were committed to providing 2 hours of PE, inspectors found considerable variations between schools. In primary schools Key Stage 1 pupils received less PE than those in Key Stage 2. More time was allocated in Key Stage 3 in secondary schools.
In the School Sport Partnerships Programme improved development planning and enthusiastic leadership by key staff were important factors in bringing about a climate of change in schools. Specialist Sports Colleges had successfully adopted the Gifted and Talented Pupils in Physical Education Programme's mentoring scheme for talented pupils and in all schools visited at least one teacher had attended the Junior Athlete programme training.
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell, said:- "Physical Education and Sport are an important part of the school week and it is good to see that the Physical Education School Sport and Club Links Strategy has brought about improvements in our schools. However, the strategy has yet to reach all schools. The challenge ahead is to ensure that the benefits felt by these schools are extended to all schools and all pupils. With the Olympics in our sights now is a great time to give all our pupils the best sporting chances."
The 2nd subject-focused report published today, Implementing Languages Entitlement in Primary Schools: An Evaluation of Progress in 10 Pathfinder LEAs, found there has been a significant expansion in modern foreign languages in primary schools. The expansion follows the introduction of the Government funded 'Pathfinder' Initiative, which was set up to develop ways of teaching languages in primary schools. Inspectors found modern foreign language provision was satisfactory or better in nearly all of the 60 primary schools visited during the survey and attributed the quality to the leadership and management of the 'Pathfinder' Initiative by the Local Education Authority (LEA).
However, few Pathfinder LEAs had communicated adequately to secondary schools the potential implications of primary modern foreign languages for them. Inspectors found tracking pupils' progress from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 was generally at a very early stage.
Few secondary schools used information from Key Stage 2 to plan for year 7 and beyond. In a great majority of Pathfinder LEAs, links between primary and secondary schools were not sufficiently developed.
Of the Pathfinder Initiatives inspected in 2004, 43% of schools offered primary modern foreign language provision at Key Stage 2. Strong, clear leadership and management and good communication underpinned the most successful initiatives. The quality of teaching was almost always at least satisfactory and usually better. The inspectors also found that although teachers' linguistic competence was at least adequate, many needed further training to teach at a
higher level.
Mr Bell added:- "The Pathfinder Initiative has clearly been a great success. The expansion of modern foreign languages in primary schools is very good news, languages are an important area of the curriculum and getting children started at an early age helps their progress immensely. But there is still a long way to go and schools must develop links between primary and secondary schools so that progress made at Key Stage 2 is not lost when pupils move to secondary school."
The third report published today, Could They Do Even Better? The Writing of Advanced Bilingual Learners of English at Key Stage 2, identified that fewer pupils from minority ethnic groups achieved the higher levels in writing. Expectations of bilingual pupils' achievement at the end of Key Stage 2 were too low in around 66% of schools visited. All the schools visited had a positive ethos and valued pupils' cultural and linguistic diversity. However, only half took steps to build on such diversity when teaching writing.
One of the most significant findings, from this survey of 21 schools, is the need for schools to be aware of the specific linguistic needs of bilingual learners. Together with the effective use of specialist EAL knowledge these are major factors in developing the writing skills of bilingual pupils. Schools also need to make better use of data and undertake careful analysis of pupils' writing to identify specific language needs and then provide appropriate teaching and support for these pupils.
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