Issue - meetings

Mayor’s Opportunity Champion Awards Winner

The Mayor began his announcements with a continuation of the Opportunity Awards that were announced at the Council meeting on 30 November 2022.

The September award was presented to Peter Manners-Smith for the amazing work Peter was doing in Binfield on multiple fronts. Peter ran the choir, which the Mayor had been honoured to listen to when unveiling the Christmas tree, and the rackets clubs in the local area. The Mayor described Peter as ‘truly an opportunity champion’ and very deserving of the Opportunity Award.

Mayor’s Engagements

The Mayor had been very honoured to have been invited to the 40^th anniversary of the Scottish Dancing Institute at Crowthorne and thoroughly enjoyed participating a little bit.

The Mayor had also been honoured to present an amount of money that had been raised to Bracknell food bank.

The Mayor had turned on Christmas tree lights at the Lexicon and in Binfield. Awards had also been presented to winners of the Mayor’s Christmas card competition and the Mayor had very much enjoyed visiting the schools and meeting the students.

The Mayor spoke of how poignant and heart-warming it had been to have lunch with and meet those living in Bracknell Forest who are homeless.

Ofsted Reports

Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning, reported that Edgebarrow had received an Ofsted report judging it ‘outstanding’ in all categories. Congratulations were given to everyone involved with the school.

Councillor Dr Barnard announced that a new school, Kings Academy, had been judged ‘good’ at it’s first inspection. This was said to have been a ‘tremendous start for a very prestigious school’.

Councillor Dr Barnard explained that, when taken together, Bracknell Forest local authority, in terms of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools was ranked the sixth best in England. It was noted that making the jump to the next level would be extremely difficult due to having a comparatively small number of schools in the borough.

Councillor Dr Barnard said that this was ‘huge credit to everyone in our schools and schools improvement team’ and described the ranking as evidence of the Council’s ongoing and long-term commitment to support Governors and those involved in the leadership of schools.

Councillor Dr Barnard explained that this meant when families were choosing schools for their children in autumn they would be choosing from ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools.

Councillor Barnard also recognised the work that schools in the borough had put in during autumn term and recognised the challenges head teachers had managed regarding staff and student illness. The Councillor explained that this was also true for the highly trained staff in the SEND team that support children in the borough with additional needs.