Public Meeting: Helping Ukraine Refugees

If you’re interested in how Ruddington can help Ukrainian refugees then you’re invited to this Public Meeting this Sunday, 29th May, from 2.30pm in St Peter’s Church. Danielle and Tim Pickup from the village arranged this event because they are concerned about the plight of people fleeing from Ukraine. Danielle explains: “The aim for the meeting is to come together as a community to discuss how we can practically come together to help support hosting families and their Ukrainian guests. Post meeting we are hoping to create supportive networks to…

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‘Offer Day’ Relief For Our Junior School Pupils

Children in their final year at St Peter’s in Ruddington are celebrating this week after it was confirmed they will be able to stay with their friends in September. Tuesday was ‘National Offer Day’ – when the parents and guardians of all current Year 6 pupils attending our village junior school were informed whether or not they had been successful in getting their son or daughter a place at their chosen secondary school. In Ruddington this has traditionally been Rushcliffe School in West Bridgford – now known as Rushcliffe Spencer Academy.…

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‘Knickers for Knowledge’ is Back!

This March marks the return of The Mustard Seeds Project‘s infamous fashion show – otherwise known as ‘Knickers for Knowledge’! As many villagers will already know, the Ruddington based project supports women and girls in rural Uganda through economic projects and educational initiatives. Not surprisingly, COVID-19 has impacted the lives of women in this marginalised area of Uganda very significantly. Schools and clinics have been closed for two years – leading to increased poverty, disease and gender-based violence. Due to the severe lockdown teenage pregnancy cases has risen five times…

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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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Free School Holiday Meals to Continue

Ruddington’s schools are welcoming the announcement by Nottinghamshire County Council that it will continue to fund Free School Meals for the October half-term and over two weeks at Christmas. This means that village schoolchildren will be among more than 25,000 across the county who will receive 250,000 meals during the October break. Councillor Tracey Taylor, chairman of Children and Young People’s Committee, says that the Council recognised the cost of living challenges were impacting on large numbers of people and was grateful to receive the funding to continue the support until…

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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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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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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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