Oakwood pupil wins national squash title
OAKWOOD Park Grammar School pupil James Evans became the national U15 squash champion after beating the top seed to win a thrilling final in Manchester. Evans, who plays for The Mote Squash
Club in Maidstone, fought back after trailing by two games to one to beat number one seed Hamish Falconer of Lincolnshire 7-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8 in a marathon en- counter lasting 66 minutes. The national title was the culmination of
British Under-15 squash champion James Evans with Fiona Geaves, England Squash and Racketball National Coach.
an exciting year during which Evans made his debut for England in the junior home in- ternationals and led the Kent U15 team to the national inter-county championship. Evans also beat former Kent champion Duane Harrison in the recent Bexley Open and earlier this year became the youngest player to compete in a PSA world-ranking
tournament when he appeared in the Kent Open at The Mote in June. Evans, who is coached at The Mote by
Kent SRA president Alan Thatcher, is also a member of the England Squash South East Regional squad. He turned 15 on November 13 and will be expected to be among the favourites for the national U17 title in two years time. Mr Thatcher said: “He should be very
proud of his national title and it's a won- derful achievement also for his mother, Sharon, who introduced James to squash and has been at his side in tournaments all over the country as he has developed into being a real star in the making. “Having said that, he is a very modest young man, a fantastic pupil and a real pleasure to work with.”
Ofsted praise for two town schools On course to do even better Accolade for the new headteacher
A MAIDSTONE primary school has been praised by Ofsted for the improvements achieved since its last inspection. Brunswick House, in Leafy Lane, was rated “good” fol- lowing the inspectors’ visit in October, having moved up a grade from its “satisfactory” rating three years ago. Ofsted considered that the 414-pupil school now has a
good capacity to improve still further. Headteacher Janice Kingman was praised for her ambi-
tion, highly effective leadership and management skills which had driven the school forward. Lead inspector Margaret Coussins said clear and rigorous systems for monitoring and evaluating the work of the school had enabled the headteacher, senior leaders and gov- erning body to identify the most important aspects for de- velopment. For example, a focus on maths had increased the propor-
tion of pupils reaching the expected and higher levels in the subject by the end of year 6. By the time they leave the school, children’s attainment
in English and maths is above average. They achieve well from starting points that are at the expected level for their age when they start school, said the report. Teaching was mostly good and lessonswerewell-planned
with a good variety of activities. Pupils’ enjoyment of school was reflected in above aver-
age attendance and their good attitude to learning. The chil- dren were polite and friendly and “care for each other in this inclusive, cohesive school community”. There had been considerable changes in the early years foundation stage provision which had resulted in “an ex- citing and stimulating environment that provided learning opportunities both indoors and in the dedicated outside area”. Planswere in place to further develop consistency in order to improve the current satisfactory progress.
A MULTI-million pound state- of-the-art centre to help young- sters with severe mental health problems will be open in Sta- plehurst early next year. Winthrop Hall, a former drug rehabilitation centre in Cran- brook Road, is being trans- formed to provide intensive in-patient support for 12 to 18- year-olds from across the county. NHS Eastern and Coastal
Kent, NHSWest Kent and NHS Medway have commissioned South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to pro- vide the in-patient facility plus a 24-hour specialist commu- nity-based service. The trust is investing more than £6 million in buying and
EAST Borough Primary School, Maidstone, has been rated as “sat- isfactory” in its latest Ofsted report and is said to have been improving steadily since its last inspection three years ago. Inspectors, who visited in Sep- tember, said that based on the im- pact of this progress, the school’s capacity to continue improving was also satisfactory. The Ofsted team was impressed
by the way in which the new head- teacher Janet Herbert had made a thorough evaluation of the work of the school. This had raised the bar on what
the school should be expecting from the children, so that their achievement could lift from being satisfactory to good in the future. Currently, levels of attainment
were average by the end of year 6 and leaders recognised that work was not consistently challenging for different abilities. The school, in Vinters Road, is relatively large with 420 pupils. A quarter of the children come from wide-ranging cultural heritages and around 24 languages, as well as English, are spoken. Ofsted lead inspector Wendy Simmons said the headteacher,
who joined this term, “is empower- ing her very enthusiastic and dedi- cated staff to strengthen their leadership roles,” Staff spoke enthusiastically about
the recent training sessions and the ethos in the school as a whole. However, while the quality of teaching and learning was satisfac- tory, there was not enough good and outstanding teaching and learning to accelerate pupils’ progress, said the report. Children were very positive
about their “very happy school” and their behaviour was good. Apositive contribution wasmade
to the community through such ac- tivities as singing, learning sign lan- guage, helping at Vinters Park nature reserve and helping the Sal- vation Army lunch club. Other strengths included the
good overall care of pupils, through the outstanding work of the family liaison officer. The whole school environment
was beautifully maintained and daily school life ran smoothly owing to the work of the highly ef- fective administrative team. A particular strength was the
early years foundation provision where children achieved well.
£6m health centre will assist problem youngsters
giving the centre a make-over to provide Kent’s first dedicated specialist children’s mental health centre,meaning children will no longer have to go to London to receive care. The new-look service will provide intensive support for children with complex mental health needs including special- ist assessments and treatment and inpatient care for children
in a crisis. Support for children with psychiatric disorders, severe depression, self-harm, post traumatic stress disorder and mental health problems result- ing from physical, emotional and sexual abuse, will be on hand 24 hours a day. Lorraine Goodsell, acting di-
rector for Child Health Com- missioning, said: “It is
important that young people have round-the-clock access in times of crises to safe and car- ing mental health services. “This new service will be phased in over the next six months and as part of the im- proved service, South London and Maudsley intend to pro- vide more community-based services as well as developing the state-of-the-art in-patient fa- cility atWinthrop Hall." Winthrop Hall opened at a
cost of £26m as a pioneering drug and alcohol treatment cen- tre three years ago. However, it closed last year
after changes in policy meant only 3% of addicts were being referred to residential rehab services.
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