Meeting: County Council (County Hall, Durham - Council Chamber - 06/02/2008 10:00:00 AM)
Item: A7 Presentation of Awards
(i) Highways Magazine Excellence Awards
Passive Safety Initiative Award
The award recognises the Council’s approach has challenged previous thinking and has best demonstrated a pro-active approach to passive safety in terms of highway design, demonstrable policies, procedures and or implementation of passively safe design.
The judges made particular mention of Durham’s Passive Safety policy, procedures and implementation that have been adopted in the construction of West Auckland Bypass to 'Vision Zero' standard. This is based on the Scandinavian vision where.... "If a driver makes a mistake, leaves the road and collides with an item of roadside furniture, death or serious injury is too high a penalty to pay for this mistake".
It is the second time that this award has been presented. Durham County Council has won the award on both occasions.
(ii) Cassop Primary School
Members will recall that Cassop Primary School won the Department for Children, Schools and Families Award for Sustainable Schools in November 2007.
The Teaching Awards judges were bowled over by their visit to the school, describing the occasion as “humbling”; “uplifting”; and “a privilege”.
Pupils are immensely proud that their school is heated from recycled wood through a carbon neutral heating system; that solar panels as well as a wind turbine power the school, and they have become superb ambassadors for the sustainable energy agenda to the hundreds of people, regionally and internationally, who visit their school every year.
The children are very clear about how small, practical steps on a local scale can lead to global solutions and the environment they have helped to create - the recycling centre, organic vegetable garden, wildlife area for pond-dipping and bird watching, tree planting schemes and a secret garden for story-telling have become a vast educational resource.
Since winning the National Award, the school has received a great deal of interest from all manner of people and organisations intent upon tackling issues of sustainability. The school is for example featured in the Government’s ten year strategy for children.
Currently the school is using money gained from various awards together with some grant money from a variety of sources, to completely convert one room into a purpose designed centre. The school encourages any other school from the region to visit for a day for staff and pupils to explore ways in which they can work for the benefit of the environment. This centre is known as Cassop Environmental Extra and will be officially opened in March 2008.
The school is actively seeking partners and sponsors for its work as it is not funded directly for any of it. Currently the teaching commitment with the visiting schools is undertaken by the Headteacher.
The school is also heading a group of five schools in the region as part of the National College for School Leadership leading sustainable schools.
As part of the Presentation, there might be some direct involvement on the part of children from the school.
Supplemental Award (Circulated at the meeting)
Children and Young People Services’ Awards
Learning Award
The Traveller Education Team, part of the County Council’s Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS), won the Learning Award at the national Children and Young Peoples’ Services Awards.
The Service was recognised for their excellent work in raising the level of achievement of children and young people from Gypsy, Roma and Travelling families.
The Service was honoured at an awards ceremony in London on 22 November after being shortlisted alongside three other services from across the country for the Learning Award, at the Children and Young People Services’ Awards, which are organised by Children and Young People Now Magazine and sponsored by the Children’s Workforce Development Council.
The work of the service is helping hundreds of young people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families in County Durham to get the most out of their education and - just as importantly - to attend school and enjoy learning.
Last year’s average attendance rates among Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils was 88 per cent in primary schools and 77 per cent in secondary schools in County Durham - both higher than the national average of 75 per cent. The percentage of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students achieving five or more GCSEs, including English and Maths, was twice as high in County Durham as it was nationally in 2006. Attainment among seven and 11-year-olds from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families was also higher in County Durham than it was nationally last year.
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