Parents sign up to school plan
JUBILEE Church says it is about two-thirds of the way towards securing funding to open a new primary school in Maidstone. The church hopes to have its planned free school up and run- ning by September 2014, but must get 120 parents to register an interest to receive govern- ment funding. It is about 40 people away from that target. The positive reaction from parents, who can register their interest on the church’swebsite, makes up for a relatively poor turnout at a public meeting, ac- cording to Neil Pattison, amem- ber of the board for the new school. Only about a dozen families attended the meeting at Maid- stone Leisure Centre, but Mr Pattison believed that was be- cause a location for the school cannot be decided until funding has been secured. Mr Pattison, also amember of Jubilee Church, said: “It’s going really well. The number of fam- ilies represented at the meeting was not a reflection of the de- sire for the school. If we knew where it was going to be located we could be very much more targeted in our marketing.” The proposal for the new
school has proved particularly popular in the Bearsted area, where there is strong competi- tion for primary school places, school spokesman Barbara Faulkner said. At the meeting, parents quizzed the team on how the school’s admissions process would work and were excited about the proposed focus on the creative arts and sport, Mr Pat- tison said. The school will be open to children from all faiths and backgrounds, but will use a Christian ethos to promote good behaviour. The children will be involved
in the local community andwill be able to use a woodland area owned by the church. The schoolwill startwith two reception classes, for four-year- olds, and possibly a year one class for five and six-year-olds if it can get even more parents to register an interest. The school would then grad-
ually expand until it catered for up to year six – 10 and 11-year- olds. The steering group is working
with the New Schools Network (NSN) to finalise its application for funding, which will be sub- mitted this month.
Death crash couple ‘so in love’
A MAIDSTONE man died alongside his girlfriend when their car hit a tree on the A20. Rob Wiltshire (20), a former pupil of Kingswood Primary School and Swadelands School in Lenham, died on the evening of Saturday, December 29 when the Ford Fiesta, being driven by his partner, Amy Clark (17), crashed on the Maidstone- bound carriageway near Char- ing Crematorium. Rob was one of Andy and Sue
Wiltshire’s four children and the couplewere on their way to the family home near Lenham when the accident occurred. Rob had recently qualified as an electrical engineer and
worked with his 19-year-old brother Phil for the family firm, run by their father.He has been described as a “petrol head” who liked cars andmotorbikes and rode quad bikes when he was younger. Amy was an engineering stu-
dent at Canterbury College and the pair were inseparable,say family and friends. Her family are from Willesborough, Ash- ford, and she was previously known as Amy Sciberras. Police are asking anyonewho
saw the Ford Fiesta on the A20 Ashford Road, near Charing, at around 10pm on Saturday, De- cember 29 to call the appeal line on 01622 798538.
Land is like urban ‘Shipwrecked’ LANDnear Marley Plasticsoff AshfordRoadisbe- coming the “urban equivalent of Shipwrecked”, according to Harrietsham Parish Council. AddressingMaidstone Council’s planning com-
mittee regarding an application from the com- pany to provide drainage swales and an infiltration basin to the west of the site, Cllr An- thony Taylor said: “The site is strange and spe- cial. It is amagical site as nature has started to recolonise it. This is the urbanequivalent ofShip- wrecked. “Within10yearswewouldexpect tosee batsandgreat crestednewts because they are endemic in this area. We felt you should hold ac- countable the applicant andplanning officersand say: “Shouldn’twe do better with this site?” Committee members felt the scheme would provide amore sustain- able drainage systemand unanimously voted in favour of the proposal.
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