downsmail.co.uk


Teachers and pupils deserve their holiday


ALL the children I know – mine included – are looking forward to the summer holidays. But the last 18 months have changed their attitude towards school.


They know what it’s like to not be able to go to school. After the months of lockdown, staying at home no longer has quite the same appeal. Closing schools again earlier this year was one of the hardest parts of lockdown for children, parents, and for teachers too. It was a decision the Government took with a heavy heart. As schools stayed open for keyworkers, many teachers were teaching children in the classroom at the same time as directing home learning.


The return to school in March was a


welcome step back towards normality, but even so, many children have had to spend signicant time since out of class following isolation rules. As we move towards step 4 of the roadmap on 19 July and the end of most of the Covid restrictions one big question is the future of school bubbles and whether children will have to follow the same rules on testing and isolation next term. Everyone agrees that we want to see children getting more time in the classroom and a lot less disruption to their studies next year.


Still, schools and families have done a brilliant job coping in such a difficult time and


By Helen Whately MP for


Faversham and Mid-Kent


children have adapted amazingly. I’ve joined several year 6 classes virtually in the last few months and the excellent - properly tough - questions put to me have demonstrated how good the children have become at a new way of communicating. I have a feeling some of them must have been watching Good Morning Britain at breakfast time during lockdown. It’s also been great to visit schools in person again. Throughout the past year I’ve been having virtual roundtable meeting with local head teacher, but it’s just not the same as meeting in person. Last month, I was shown around Hollingbourne Primary School by two of its year six house captains. It was clear the pupils were glad to be back at school, as I’m sure their parents were too.


As schools break up for the summer, I wish teachers and students a well-deserved holiday to rest and recuperate after all the stresses of the last year.


It’s my turn to help others


I AM hopeful my election success on May 6 will prove that young people can bring about posi- tive change in local government. To do so, I must prove myself as a credible councillor. My passion for politics came about for two


reasons: my love for this country and my grati- tude for my local area. I believe freedom of speech, democracy, opportunity, and not to men- tion our humour, makes the United Kingdom the best place on earth. The great opportunities I have been given are down to the local community. For example, Maplesden Noakes school pro-


vided me with the skills and education to become the first member of my family to attend univer- sity, Allington football club Castle Colts allowed me to participate in something I love, and Sains- bury’s provided me with an opportunity to work during a global pandemic. Now it’s my turn to help create and facilitate opportunities for others in Maidstone. To the people of Allington, I profoundly believe


our ward, with councillors of 20 years old (like me) and 87 years old, can epitomise the benefits of having a cross-section of ages within local gov- ernment, and I will work tirelessly to repay your faith in me. The reason young people don’t come to polling stations is because they feel alienated


By Stan Forecast Maidstone borough’s


youngest councillor


by national politics. Brexit prevented the issues they truly care about, such as knife crime, the cli- mate crisis and mental health services, getting the media and parliamentary interest they de- serve. The pandemic has intensified segregation,


with young people sacrificing some of the best days of their life, such as school and university. The pandemic has provided immense chal-


lenges to us all. To rebuild trust between people and politics, councillors must prove we are con- cerned with the needs of all age groups and mod- ernise our image. There is a perception that local politics is solely


about just parking and litter-picking, I aim to prove that local politics can deliver on the elec- torate’s priorities, such as helping the local econ- omy, preventing substantial housing without infrastructure, protecting hospitality such as the Hazlitt Theatre, and tackling antisocial behaviour.


Opinion


O


IS unscheduled (and, as it transpired, unnecessary) trip to A&E was an eye- opener for the Conservative deputy leader of the borough council, Cllr Jonathan Purle. Aside from the paramedics proclaiming he was the “rst serious bit of business of the night”, he met a chap who had been trying to get himself admitted to Kent hospitals every night with self- diagnosed heart failure since the Danish footballer Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during the European championships.


H G


UITAR-strumming vicar Rev Mark Pavey is celebrating a new heating system for draughty, old St Nicholas Church in Leeds, where worshippers pile on the layers during the winter months. He condes: “It is not a secret that the heating is pretty awful…in fact, sometimes we need to open the doors to let the heat in! Feel free to cool off in the church on these hot, summer days!”


G H


J I


EADCORN’S vicar, Rev Fiona Haskett, shares this gag in the parish mag. Q: How many members of the Church of England does it take to change a light bulb? A: What do you mean by change? Boom, boom!


UST as the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform is one Frances Crook, the Highways Agency has a Howard Rhoades as its press officer.


HEAR of testy exchanges between the long-serving Maidstone Borough Council chief executive Alison Broom and the newly-elected Conservative member for Coxheath & Hunton, Simon Webb, during a recent closed meeting. A well-placed source tells me mysteriously: “It’s only just begun. There are just so many battles to be fought.” What can it all mean?


Chin chin! 47


ET well soon to Boxley councillor Bob Hinder (80) who found himself in hospital with a coronary on the same weekend. Clearly feeling better, Cllr Hinder tells me with a chuckle he has to address his, er, “lifestyle choices”.


F THE eight committees at the newly-convened Maidstone Borough Council, three of the chairmen/women/persons are from Bearsted, namely Denis Spooner (planning), Val Springett (licensing) and Paul Cooper (strategic planning and infrastructure). “Must be something in the water,” jokes Cllr Spooner.


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