School Joy for St Peter’s Pupils

Children attending St Peter’s C of E Junior School are celebrating the news that they should be able to stay with their friends when they move up to ‘big’ school this September.* *Please see the update below. It’s after the Principal of Rushcliffe Spencer Academy (‘Rushcliffe School’) in West Bridgford confirmed that sufficient places for September 2022 have been made available for all Ruddington’s current Year 6 pupils. The announcement comes as music to the ears of families who were anxious that their kids might have to attend other secondary schools further afield…

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New School for Ruddington?

The possibility of building a third school in Ruddington – so that our growing village can cope with an influx of new, young families over the next few years – is being discussed by Councillors this week. Members of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Children and Young People’s Committee are meeting at County Hall this Monday (13th December 2021) to wade through a seventy page document which includes a ‘Basic Need Programme of School Expansion’. Up until now, the focus has been on a lack of secondary school places for village children who’ve previously…

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Ruddington Runner’s Marathon Fundraiser

A man from our village is running this weekend’s London Marathon in aid of a cause close to his heart – The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Ruddington resident Chris Cooke will be heading down to the capital to join thousands of other runners this Sunday (October 3rd) trying to complete the 26.2 mile course to raise money for their chosen charities. RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews provide a 24-hour search and rescue service all around the UK and Ireland, while lifeguards keep a careful watch on the UK’s busiest beaches.…

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How Do YOU Use Rushcliffe Country Park?

Most villagers consider ourselves very fortunate to have over 200 acres of recreational green space right on our doorstep, at the southern edge of Ruddington. Since being created, thirty years’ ago, Rushcliffe Country Park has become a magnet for walkers, cyclists and nature lovers in general – as well as hosting numerous, regular events including the weekly walks, park runs and the brand new skatepark, which all attract visitors here from far and wide. Now the many users of Ruddington’s Country Park ark are being asked to give their opinions in…

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Council’s Warning Over School Places

Parents of children who are starting Year Six this September are being urged to put down FOUR preferences when applying for their child’s secondary school place – to avoid losing out on their preferred school or academy for September next year. The warning from Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) applies to all its schools whose pupils are about to start their final year at junior school. This is in readiness for the 2022 autumn term, for which the application deadline to apply for secondary school places is the end of October 2021. NCC…

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Face-to-Face U3A Meetings Resume

Like everything else involving close human contact, the diverse range of Ruddington & District U3A meetings – which was continuing to expand since the local group established itself in 2018 – came to an abrupt halt early last year because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Although a few online village meetings and talks have taken place on Zoom since then, only following the latest “full” easing of COVID-19 restrictions have local U3A organisers decided to start getting people together in person again. U3A is short for The University of the Third…

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Frustration Over Rushcliffe School Appeals Failure

Angry Ruddington parents have written a joint letter to our MP and to our newly elected Nottinghamshire County Councillors after their children were declined a place at Rushcliffe School in September 2021 – despite living in the catchment area and attending a feeder school. Eight village families with a son or daughter currently in their final year at St Peter’s Junior School, who unsuccessfully appealed the decision to send their kids to South Wolds Academy in Keyworth instead, have now written to Rushcliffe MP Ruth Edwards, Cllr Reg Adair and Cllr Matt Barney…

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Rushcliffe School to Get Bigger

There is some good news for Ruddington families who have children approaching secondary school age. Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) has just agreed plans to expand Rushcliffe School. Councillors approved the proposals to extend the academy in West Bridgford – managed by the Spencer Academy Trust – at a Policy Committee meeting yesterday (Wednesday 17 March). It is to try to meet the rising demand for secondary school places in our area up to September 2025. This need has largely been brought about by a significant amount of new housing construction…

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Back to School – Again!

With an end to the COVID-19 pandemic finally in sight, Ruddington parents will be hoping this Monday’s return to classes for their children will be a permanent and irreversible one. It’s certainly been an unprecedented last twelve months. All but vulnerable youngsters and those of key workers were first sent home almost a year ago – on March 20th 2020 – when the Coronavirus originally took hold in Britain. They were not able to go back into school until June, with strict COVIDsafe measures first being put in place. Even…

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Ruddington Pupils’ School Places Row

It seems many village schoolchildren starting secondary school this September will have further to travel than anticipated – and also be separated from their friends – in the wake of ‘National Offer Day’ (Monday 1st March). Since discovering the bad news online yesterday, or receiving their letters today, parents across Ruddington have been taking to social media in dismay. For many, their son or daughter will have to journey twelve miles to South Wolds Academy in Keyworth and back every day, rather than the expected six mile round trip to Rushcliffe…

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