Leicestershire Matters

Welcome to Leicestershire Matters, your newsletter about the County Council and services provided for you.

Your views on Leicestershire Matters are always welcome as we want to know if we are including stories and information that find useful and interesting. Please also let us know if there are any County Council-related subjects that you would like use to include.

You can call us on 0116 305 6162 or 0116 305 6967, or e-mail: Leics-Matters@leics.gov.uk. Alternatively, write to us at: Leicestershire Matters, Room 211, Public Relations Unit, Chief Executive’s Department, County Hall, Glenfield, Leicestershire LE3 8RA.

To get more students to eat healthy food we are serving fresh food and new menus, giving presentations on healthy eating and asking pupils what they would like to eat.

Our new menus include homemade brown bread, stir fries, fresh salads and roast dinners.

Also, nine schools across the County have brand new kitchens, so they can make their own meals – rather than having them driven in from other sites.

We also have a pilot scheme where seven schools get produce from four local farms. This will make sure they have fresh food which has travelled fewer miles. It is also giving pupils links with farms to help them learn how food is produced.

Ivan Ould is our Lead Member for the Children and Young People’s Service. He said: “We are working hard to encourage more children to eat healthy school meals and avoid bringing in packed lunches which are sometimes laden with fats and sugar.

“Take-up may be falling around the country, but we have made our meals delicious and nutritious – and an attractive option to pupils.”

School meals in Leicestershire are set to improve further when the County Council takes back responsibility from an outside company.

What do you think of school meals? Let us know by calling 01530 278123 or e-mailing: wphilp@leics.gov.uk For more details please visit the website School Food Support Service

This will mean pupils can attend one school from age 11 to 16, rather than changing schools when they are 14. This is designed to improve continuity of learning and raise achievement even further by students studying for their GCSEs.

At age 16, students will be able to transfer to an exciting new post-16 centre - jointly managed by the area’s four secondary schools.

The plan includes:

For more details, visit the web pages Melton Mowbray and Vale of Belvoir Reorganisation or call David Atterbury on 0116 305 7729, e-mail: datterbury@leics.gov.uk

Our new Strategic Plan sets out how our Adult Social Care Service will be transformed between now and 2010 to achieve this.  

The service, which includes day care, home care, meals on wheels and respite and residential care, already has excellent standards.  However we will be finding new ways to boost services even further and meet challenges for the future set out by the Government.

David Sprason, our Cabinet Lead Member for Adult Social Care, said: “We will be working towards a more personalised approach to care and helping people so they have control over decisions that affect their daily lives.”

To download a copy of the Strategic Plan, visit the web pages Adult Social Care - Strategic Plan  For a hard copy, or more information, call 0116 305 7403/7404, e-mail: adultsocialcare@leics.gov.uk

If your child will be four years old before September 1^st, 2008, the deadline for completed application forms for places at infant/primary schools is February 22^nd, 2008.

Applications made after this date will be dealt with after those received on time.  If the deadline is not met and all available places have been filled, we may not be able to offer your child a place at their local school.

To apply for your child’s place, visit the web page Admissions or contact our allocations section for an application form, or pick one up from your local school.

For a form, or more information, call 0116 305 6684.

The education maintenance allowance is a weekly payment of £10, £20 or £30, depending on household income. It is for students attending:

Applicants must have a household income of less than £30,000 and be taking a course with at least 12 hours of lessons per week.

The money is only given if students attend all lessons and there are also bonuses of up to £500 for those who do well.

The aim is to encourage young people from low income families to attend college – and in 2006/07 more than 10,000 young people benefited.

Lee (18) said: “I spend my allowance on transport to college, books and other living costs. It ensures that I turn up to all my lessons because if I don’t I won’t get my allowance.”

Melanie (17) said: “Most of my friends who don’t get EMA don’t turn up to lessons, but those on the scheme always do – my attendance has improved.”

Calvin (17) said: “My EMA has kept me on the straight line – if I don’t go to college I don’t get my money. It pays for things like books for my course.”

For more details please call: 0808 101 6219 and quote Leicestershire Matters or visit the Connexions website  

The Connect2 project will now receive £700,000 towards a £1.4 million project to improve footpaths and cycleways around the park. The rest of the funding will come from local groups including the County Council.

Members of the public voted for ‘The People’s 50 Million’ online and by phone. Thousands voted nationally and hundreds of local people signed a petition, e-mailed and phoned in their support.

Connect2, which received 42% of the total vote, was competing against Sherwood Forest, the Black Country and the Eden Project.

Ernie White, Chairman of the Connect2 Steering Group, said: “We are delighted with the outcome of the TV vote. 43,000 people live within one mile of the park and many people also come from further afield, making this win great news for so many.

“We would especially like to thank everyone in Leicester and Leicestershire who voted for Connect2 – without their help this would not have happened.”

Work is due to start before summer 2008.

For more details on the scheme, please visit the Connect 2 pages of this website.

This is even better when friends, family or maybe ‘man’s best friend’ a dog, join you for your walk.

With more than 3,000km of paths across Leicestershire’s countryside, finding a walk from your doorstep couldn’t be easier.

For help in finding a route visit the Parish Walks pages of this website. There are 36 different parish walks across the County. They all contain about three different routes from one to five miles. Each has a map and text to direct and steer you across quiet rural landscapes.

For more details call 0116 305 8160, e-mail: footpaths@leics.gov.uk or visit the Footpaths pages of this website.