News

Pupils and parents are being failed by SEND support crisis

Responding to the publication last month (23/10/19) of the Education Select Committee's report on children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for South West Herts, Sally Symington, said: "Children with SEND have borne the brunt of the schools funding crisis. Teaching assistants and other support staff have been sacked. Meanwhile, parents struggle to get the support their child needs as schools, healthcare providers and local councils squabble over who should pay. "The Conservatives have left local councils floundering. Councils cannot provide support on time and are unable to to create the new specialist school places that some children with the most complex needs require. "Liberal Democrats demand better for our children. We will give councils thousands of pounds a year extra for every child with the most complex needs, so they can deliver the support children deserve on time and we will create a new National SEND strategy, stopping councils from

Reuse is the Best Way to Recycle. After refurbishment ex-District Line trains now run between Bletchley and Bedford

Re-use is near the top of the Recycling Hierarchy and Vivarail has as its main objective the reuse of obsolete electric train units that used to run on London's District Line. The company was founded in 2012 with the aim of heavily overhauling London Underground D78 Stock and upcycling them into new BR Class 230 diesel-electric multiple units (DEMUs), and was the brainchild of Adrian Shooter, the now retired former chairman of DB Regio UK Ltd (better known in the UK as Chiltern Railways). Vivarail acquired over 200 units for this purpose.

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Sally Symington to Represent Liberal Democrats in South West Hertfordshire

A Local Councillor, Sally Symington, has been selected as the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for South West Hertfordshire With the sudden prospect of an imminent election the party has recently had to move fast to ensure that, right across Great Britain, a full slate of candidates is in place to fight a General Election should one arise over the coming months.

Little Change Expected in Admission Numbers for Hertfordshire Primary Schools in Year 2020/21

While Local Planning Authorities - usually District or Borough Councils - up and down the UK are being required to plan for drastically increased housing numbers to 2036, Hertfordshire education planners, who work on tighter timeframes and use birth numbers as reported by the NHS, do not foresee any drastic changes in primary school numbers in the immediate future.

Lib Dem Nigel proposes a Motion at County Council Calling for a Commitment on Funding of Early Years Education.

At the Hertfordshire County Council Meeting of 27th November 2018, Liberal Democrat Member Nigel Qinton, County Councillor for Handside & Peartree proposed the following motion, which was duly seconded by the the Conservative Member, Terry Douris, the County Councillor for Bridgewater and the HCC Executive Member for Education, Libraries and Localism: