Over 12,000 miles have been trod, pedalled, and scooted by pupils across Kent in a scheme to get children using more active methods to get to school. Operation Motion: Giant Steps is a Kent County Council initiative which aims to challenge the way parents do the school run and hopefully ease congestion in and around…
The cost of the Young Person’s Travel Pass is to go up £10 to offset an increase in bus fare prices rises. The scheme, introduced by Kent County Council in 2014, offers free use of bus services Monday to Friday between 6am and 7pm. It was announced last month that children using Arriva buses would…
Youngsters who have a KCC Young Person’s Travel Pass (YPTP) will soon be able to travel on Arriva buses in the evening, during the holidays and at weekends for free. It means that children will be able to ride Arriva buses outside of the normal Monday to Friday 6am-7pm slot. The new initiative is set…
A school in Gravesend has won a £500 prize and been named a county recycling champion after topping the leaderboard in a home recycling challenge which involved more than 100 schools across Kent. St John’s Catholic Primary School received its prize at its very own Wastebuster assembly held this morning after putting in an exceptional…
Members of KCC’s Young Adult Council have completed a virtual triathlon – running, walking, cycling and rowing from County Hall in Maidstone to Calais and back again. The virtual triathlon raised money for Canterbury’s Umbrella Centre, which provides support for people with mental health problems. The Virtual School Kent Apprentices help to organise and support…
A schoolgirl from Tonbridge who wrote to Kent County Council to ask for help with protecting the environment has begun her fight against litterbugs. So dismayed by the rubbish she sees on the ground, Charlotte Flower, nine, penned a letter to KCC’s waste department to ask for some “litter picker uppers” to help her and…
The number of fines issued to parents for taking their children out of Kent schools has reduced again this year. From September 2016 to July 2017, 1,221 parents were fined for unauthorised absences, compared to 3,504 in 2015/16 and 4,726 in 2014/15. The drop is as a result in a change of policy to prosecute…
Kent County Council has successfully prosecuted a mother and father for allowing their son’s school attendance to drop to just 10% while Kent schools’ average attendance rate is well above 95%. The couple have been found guilty and fined £1,240 each by magistrates. The parents, who failed to appear in court, had told KCC they…
Kent County Council Leader Paul Carter has opened the refurbished restaurant at Towers School in Ashford which was named after him. Carter’s Restaurant offers students from schools all over Ashford the opportunity to learn hospitality and catering skills as part of their vocational studies. The restaurant is run like a business and it opened to…
After four years of campaigning, a significant milestone has been reached for selective education in the UK as building work starts on a grammar school annexe in Kent. The grammar school provision in Sevenoaks is an annexe of the Weald of Kent Grammar School, in Tonbridge. Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council, said: “This…
Due to industrial action by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) on Tuesday 5 July schools in Kent could be forced to close or partially close. Parents should check with their child’s school to see what impact the action is likely to have and whether the school will be closed or partially closed to some…
After many months of negotiation for new school buildings, Ridge View Special school in Tonbridge has finally been granted planning approval. Following Kent County Council‘s planning applications committee meeting on 9 March the planning decision was referred to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State will not be calling this decision in which means…