Nearly 50 new or refurbished schools, two new leisure centres, thousands of new homes, 23,000 new street lights and helping more than 340 people live independently. Those are just a few of the things that investment of £613 million in Leeds is achieving. It doesn’t stop there either – schemes totalling £411 million are at the early stages or just getting underway and potential projects worth another £320 million are being considered. That means a total of £1.344 billion being spent in the city.

Last week, councillors on the executive board at Leeds City Council were given an update on the PPP/PFI programme which is running across the city and has been for eight years. PPP stands for Public Private Partnership and PFI is the Private Finance Initiative. PPP is where a public sector organisation (in this case Leeds City Council) works closely with private organisations to improve services. Under PFI, contractors pay for a project to be built (a new school for example) and it is ‘rented’ back to the public sector.

One of the biggest has involved upgrading many schools which means more than 15,000 pupils across the city are now studying in new or refurbished classrooms. In just one phase of the Building Schools for the Future project, £145 million was spent. Another £300 million to continue the project has been approved by Government which would benefit a further 14 high schools. Moortown’s Liberal Democrat Cllr Richard Harker, Executive member for learning, Officers from the council and Education Leeds are lobbying ministers so the money can be spent earlier than currently planned.

Elsewhere, a scheme to build new leisure centres in Armley and Morley is well underway. Taking just 14 months from initial discussions to contracts being signed, this project is thought to be one of the ‘quickest’ of its kind anywhere in the country. Building work for a £47 million initiative called the Independent Living project started in June this year and will benefit 341 vulnerable people in Leeds. The project also earned the council a prestigious customer services award.

In the Swarcliffe area of Leeds work to improve the lives of around 1600 council tenants is in its third year and so far close to 900 properties have had work done. The project will be completely finished by July 2010.
A similar scheme in Little London, Beeston Hill and Holbeck is progressing. There, a total of £134 million will be spent to provide good quality housing to over 1000 people.

And, 23,500 new street lights have been installed as part of a huge project to replace every single one across the city. A further 56,500 will be done by July 2011.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Richard Brett, Leader and executive board member for resources said:
“The figures speak for themselves really - with over £1.3 billion being invested in Leeds to make a huge difference to the lives of many people across the city.
I’m delighted with the success of all the schemes we’re involved in so far and am looking forward to seeing the others come to fruition.

Pupils across Leeds who enjoy packed lunches can look forward to a healthier boost during the day thanks to new advice available in schools.
Developed by Education Leeds as part of the city’s school meals strategy, the new packed lunch policy - believed to be the first of its kind in the country - will encourage schools to promote the same healthy standards for packed lunches as are already in place for school meals.

The new packed lunch strategy was launch on Wednesday 15 October at Ryecroft Primary School in Farnley by the chief executive of Education Leeds, Chris Edwards and Leeds City Council’s executive board member for Children’s Services, Councillor Stewart Golton. Over 110,000 pupils eat in Leeds schools everyday, with around 45 per cent taking a packed lunch. The aim of the guidance is to encourage every child to eat more healthy foods and fewer foods which are high in salt, sugar and fat. It follows on from recent moves to withdraw sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks from schools and increase the availability of water, fruit, and vegetables.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Stewart Golton, executive board member responsible for Children’s Services, said:
“We will support families in Leeds wherever possible and want to encourage parents and carers to give their children less foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt and more foods which are tasty, healthy and nutritious.
“Providing young people with healthy packed lunches - in line with guidance already in place for school meals - can help to improve concentration levels and boost performance at school.
“The new ways of eating can also be adopted at home and work which, as part of a balanced lifestyle, can only help to improve the city’s overall health.”

A city wide public consultation was carried out by Education Leeds to assess the need and support for a packed lunch guidance policy. Of the 230 primary schools contacted, 92 supported the idea and findings suggest there is a significant level of support from parents and pupils and a growing acceptance of responsibility from all sides to improve children’s diets. Over 100 pupils and parents also contributed to the consultation and agreed that packed lunch standards should reflect standards already in place for school meals.

The long-term aims of the packed lunch advice are to increase school meal uptake and improve health, attainment and economic outcomes. It is also hoped that some of the information will develop positive changes in eating habits at home.
All schools will be issued with a free toolkit for information and are invited to an open day later this month which will be attended by partners from across Leeds which have been working to promote healthy workplaces. Local and national food retailers will also be present.

The Duke of Kent  opened the new £5million state-of-the-art science facilities at Otley Prince Henry’s Grammar School Thursday 9th July.

Primary school pupils from across Leeds have been taking part in a battle-of-the-brains using the latest multi-media technology in a city-wide video conferencing quiz.

TEACHING AWARDS CELEBRATE LEARNING IN LEEDS

Meanwood Church of England Primary School  and teachers across the city are celebrating after being named some of the best in the country. Meanwood Church of England Primary was named the best primary school in the Sustainable Schools category, whilst its headteacher Helen Sanderson was one of seven Leeds teachers to be recognised as a finalist with distinction at the North of England Teaching Awards 2008. Some of the children from Meanwood received their award themselves at the ceremony and were praised for their impressive presentation.

The awards recognise the excellent contribution to learning across the whole school structure, from teaching assistants through to governors. The full list of winners and nominees from Leeds is:

DCSF Award for Sustainable Schools Winner Meanwood Church of England Primary School

Award for Special Needs Teacher of the Year Distinction Jan Pulham, North West Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre (Penny Field site) Commendation Karen Scattergood, St Theresa’s RC Primary School, Menston

BT Award for Teacher of the Year in a Primary School Distinction Siobhan Leonard, Rothwell St Mary’s RC Primary School

Guardian Award for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School Commendation David Pearce, Roundhay Technology College NCSL

Award for Headteacher of the Year in a Primary School Distinction Helen Sanderson, Meanwood C of E Primary Distinction James Vincent, Otley The Whartons Primary

The Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement, sponsored by Innovation Unit Distinction Peter Woodhead, St Peter’s C of E Primary School

Councillor Richard Harker, executive board member for Learning, said: “I am extremely proud that Leeds is once again so well represented in these prestigious awards. I’d like to congratulate all the nominees, who have rightly been recognised for their exceptional contribution to learning in Leeds.”

Meanwood C of E Primary received the sustainable schools award for a range of activities, including schemes to recycle waste, conserve energy and collect rainwater to feed plants. The school will now go up against other regional winners at the national awards ceremony at the London Palladium on Sunday October 19th. Its important to celebrate all these staff who go the extra mile every day of their working lives. They have done brilliantly and we should all celebrate their success

This is the twelfth year of the Breeze festival.  An international youth festival aimed at young people aged 13-19 years.  The emphasis in on the participation of young people in Leeds with our overseas visitor.  The festival began on Sunday 23rd and lasts for a week.

The event has gone from strength to strength each year in terms of content and participation.  On Wednesday night Cllr Richard Harker officially welcomed the international participants on behalf of the city.  Cllr Harker then spent time with the international leaders and officers from the city council discussing how the personal links formed during the week could be maintained as well as how the schools involved would continue to working together on joint projects at arms length.

As he left Cllr Harker commented “This has been both an enjoyable and very profitable night.  These international links at school level mirror those in trade, industry, the arts and sport that make Leeds a truly international city.”

South Leeds High School is host to Dar ul School, Lahore;  Garforth College is host to Mzuvele School, Durban; Corpus Christi High School is host to Bishop’s Grammar School, Brno; Allerton Grange High School is host to Lycee Faidherbe, Lille; the David Young Academy is host to Yan Qing Middle School, Hanhzhou; Boston Spa High School is host to IES Pablo Neruda School, Saville; and Prince Henry’s Grammar School is host to Earlington School Durban.

Cllr Richard Harker made an official visit to Skelton Grange Environmental Centre on Tuesday.  Commenting after the visit he said  ”What a wonderful resource in a most idyllic setting.  The centre is a superb learning environment for all ages.”

The centre is rich in wild flowers, trees, and wild life, it provides excellent facilities and an easy access to woodland walks, there are ponds, summer and winter meadows, an adventure trail, willow tunnel, an organic vegetable garden and much more.

The centre offers a range of activities for groups and individuals.  There is something there for everyone and not just school groups.

On leaving Richard asked permission to put a link to the centre of his web page. “Everyone should visit the Skelton Grange website to find out what it has to offer at least but a visit is better.” commented Richard.

www.skeltongrange.co.uk