Ipads to reduce New head for girls’ grammar
paperwork MAIDSTONE Council hopes it can savemoney by giving coun- cillors Ipads. The council predicts that eliminatingmost paperwork by providing all 55 members with Apple’s popular tablet comput- ers will save £10,000 per year. Fifteen councillors are being
given Ipads for a six-month trial, at a cost of £5,000 funded from a budget underspend in 2012-13. If this is successful, the scheme will be rolled out to all members next year. Cllr Richard Lusty, chairman
of the planning committee, is one of the members taking part in the trial. He said: “We have to make sure we tell the public at meetings that we are using our Ipads, so people don’t think we are tapping away on the computer talking to somebody over the internet.”
Al fresco plan MAIDSTONE could go more continental, with a planned ex- pansion of the street café scene. Cllr Malcolm Greer, cabinet member for regeneration, would like to see the top sec- tion of Earl Street – from Pud- ding Lane to Week Street – closed to traffic between 10.30am and 5pm, allowing restaurants to spread on to the pavement.
MAUREEN Wolloshin will be the new head at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls. The head of school at Dane
Court Grammar in Broadstairs will take over at the start of the summer term, when Mary Smith retires. Maureen (49), who is pic-
tured, described her appoint- ment, from “a strong field of contenders”, as an enormous honour, adding: “It’s simply the best girls’ school in the area and I am enormously impressed by the staff and students and the sophistication and supportive manner in which the school is run.” She intends to maintain and nurture “the outstanding oppor- tunities offered by the school to its students”.
POLICE are warning of a bank card scam linked to 60 thefts in the last two months in Maidstone and the sur- rounding area. The bogus callers target the elderly and vulnerable, claiming their card has been used fraudulently. They then ask their victim to call their bank, but someone intercepts the call, obtains their account details, and then calls to col- lect the card. Kent Police say
The former music therapist,
who graduated as an oboist, and spent her first years working in advanced education in Bromley and south east London, was also assistant head at Black- heath High School, one of 26 independent schools run by the Girls’ Day School Trust. She said: “I like to keep my-
self busy and I’m looking for- ward to working in what promises to be a vibrant school.” Mary Smith,who will retire at
Easter after eight years as head teacher at the school, said: “I
Bank card scam warning
the fraudsters are convincing and often purport to be from a reliable organisation, banks, or the police. A 76-year-old victim who
had £330 taken from her card said: “The man on the phone askedmeto inputmy PIN on the phone.Without realising it I had given himmydetails. He then told me it wasn’t working so the card would need to be collected and a courier turned up for it.”
feel very privileged to have been in the position of leading this wonderful school and have thoroughly enjoyed the chal- lenges and opportunities of the post.
“The students and staff are
truly outstanding, and I will be taking away many memories of the exceptionally warm, friendly, and scholarly atmos- phere of the school. “I shall miss everyone very much.” Askedwhat she plans to do in
her retirement, she said: “I hope I shall be able to carry on teach- ing in some way, as I have en- joyed it so much throughout my career and have always been a teaching headteacher. “Other- wise, maybe it’s time to write that book!”
Fraud alleged THE former boss of Age Concern in West Malling will appear beforeMaid- stone Crown Court on November 29. Austin (62), of Tovil Green Lane, Maidstone, was arrested at the char- ity’s Norman Road branch in Septem- ber 2011 and is charged with siphoning more than £217,000 from the organisation’s funds. Delays over the case are thought to centre on the paperwork, involving bank statements going back a number of years. Austin is also now thought to have cancer.
24 Town
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