Staff at Meadowbrook Primary School in Bradley Stoke are celebrating the achievement of a ‘Good’ Ofsted report which commented “The pursuit of excellence is evident in all levels of the school community”.

The inspection took place just before Christmas, and was carried out by four inspectors who was 21 lessons taught by 14 teachers. Meetings were held with members of the governing body, staff and pupils. Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at documents, including those related to safeguarding, the school development plan, pupils’ work, and information about pupils’ progress. They also took into account the views of pupils, staff and 136 parents and carers who took part in a questionnaire.

Headteacher, Jon Barr, thanked everyone for their support, and commented “Our school is now officially judged to be a good school. I am very proud of what our children and staff have achieved and I would echo every word in the report. ”

The full report is available from the Ofsted website here.

ROBINSON CRUSOE AND THE PIRATES
Local residents have a great opportunity to shake off the winter gloom by booking some tickets for Thornbury Musical Theatre Group’s next pantomime “Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates”.

The group was recently awarded the Evening Post Rose Bowl for the best pantomime/review in the South West 2010 for “Cinderella”. You are promised a swash-buckling adventure for the whole family. Go along and and join the plucky young Robinson Crusoe, the beautiful Juanita, those scoundrels Skull-Duggery and Cross-Bones and the rest of the jolly crew as they take you down South America way. Let them transport you, for a few hours at least; visit exotic locations, experience colourful costumes and exciting music and dance in this traditional family pantomime.

This is a great half term treat but don’t forget granny and granddad!

Performances are at the Armstrong Hall in Thornbury from Wednesday 23rd February until Saturday 26th February 7.00pm nightly Wednesday to Friday plus a Friday matinee at 2.00pm and Saturday performances at 1.30pm and 6.30pm.

Tickets can be reserved by ringing Karen on 01454 853947 or e-mailing boxoffice@tmtg.org.uk. The box office will open at Wildings, High Street, Thornbury 10am-1pm from Wednesday 9th February.
Tickets are £10, concessions £8.50, Wednesday and Saturday nights 3 for the price of 2, all other performances buy 10 get 1 free.

Stroke services for patients and their carers in South Gloucestershire have been rated as one of the best performing in England by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) today.

In 2010, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) completed a comprehensive review of stroke services across England. The review looked at the services commissioned by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and local authorities across the entire stroke pathway. This included consideration of services provided at the onset of stroke in the acute sector, during rehabilitation and “life after stroke” services that are available in the community. The review also considered the support offered to the carers of people with a stroke and sought their views on the information that they were provided with.

Following this review South Gloucestershire was rated as one of the “best performing” areas in the country. The review looked at 15 aspects of stroke care.

South Gloucestershire achieved the highest rating for tailoring services to meet individual’s needs. We rated second highest on:

Managing patients transfer home from hospital runs smoothly
Helping people to avoid having another stroke through monitoring checks by GPs and by giving advice
Helping people stay healthy a year after stroke and keeping them out of hospital
Providing compassionate end of life care for people who do not survive a stroke
Involving stroke survivors and in planning and developing services
The range of information provided to stroke survivors and their carers.

Penny Harris, Chief Executive of NHS South Gloucestershire said: “Stroke can be a devastating and life changing event for people. By ensuring that services are built around the individual and that their care is planned to take account of their needs, circumstances and preferences, and those of their carers and families, the patient’s recovery from, and coping with the effects of stroke, is vastly improved.

”We are extremely pleased that South Gloucestershire’s stroke care services have been rated as best performing by the Care Quality Commission and it is a testament to all the hard work by staff on the ground – our GPs, council colleagues and the intermediate care team. There is, of course, still room for improvement and we will be working with all our local partners to further develop our services in the future.”

Cllr Matthew Riddle, executive member for community care and housing, said: “This very positive independent assessment of support available in South Gloucestershire reflects that stroke survivors and their carers have been at the very heart of developing innovative services that meet local needs and have enabled many stroke survivors to rebuild their lives following the devastating impact of stroke.”

“The innovative services we have commissioned locally have focused on enabling people to have a life after stroke, regain skills and confidence and to have control over how they live their life.”