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June 2025 Elizabeth Woodville Primary School will be hosting a Summer Holiday Course from 14th July to 22nd August, from 9:00am – 3:00pm, offering a fun, safe learning environment for primary school aged children. There are lots of activities including Football, Basketball, Hockey, Dodgeball, Gymnastics, Street Dance, Tag Rugby, Athletics, Netball, Tagging games, Rounders, and Cricket.
It’s free for families with children aged five-to-16 receiving benefits-related free school meals who sign up now for Government-funded places supported by the Holiday Activity Fund (HAF). The HAF programme offers a maximum of 16 sessions for each child over the summer holidays. Those who don’t qualify for free places pay £100 a week, or £22 a day, with an extra £5 a day if an early drop off is needed. The weekly fee is reduced to £50 for a sibling.
Families with children aged five-to-16 receiving benefits-related free school meals should receive an e-voucher by text or email from Hello@holidayactivities.com. They can then check their eligibility to take part, and check the full list of locations available and book places at www.leicestershire.gov.uk/HAF, explained a media spokesperson for the County Council.
Metcalf Multisports is a sports company with over 15 years experience in primary schools, coaching a variety of sports. The company has worked in over 50 primary schools across the East Midlands, predominantly in Leicester and Rugby, providing them with excellence in sports coaching, and aims to enable children to have a better sporting ability in a variety of sports from football to gymnastics to dance. They have an Elizabeth Woodville page at https://metcalf-multisports-limited.classforkids.io/camp/183.
Leader of Leicestershire County Council, Dan Harrison, said: “These clubs provide a safe, fun and enriching environment for children such as sports, arts and crafts, outdoor adventures and hands-on workshops, as well as a nutritious meal every day. Children and young people gain not only memorable experiences but also opportunities to socialise, stay active and learn new skills in a supportive environment.”
September 2015
The County Council offers advice but no cash
If there's one thing that can be guaranteed to set family members bickering its money, or more to the point a lack of money. When it comes to local authorities it isn't very different. Leicestershire County Council has recently said it will have to find an extra £40m of savings over the next four years on top of £87m it had already identified. The council said every service is under review again and it may be left offering "a bare minimum" service, with more museums and rural bus subsidies likely to go.
It is probably fair to say that locally there is some resentment that some of the cuts are no more than transfers of costs from the County Council to other bills residents receive, but without a corresponding reduction in the amount they pay to County Hall through their Council Tax.
This year the Parish Council has set a significant sum aside to assist the new Groby Library Trust establish itself following the County Council's threat to close it. The Parish Council is also bearing an ever increasing share of the cost of mowing County Council owned verges in Groby as the County has reduced the number of cuts it will pay for. The view of the Parish Council is that residents would not tolerate the verges becoming overgrown between cuts and so Groby residents pick up the bill for keeping them in good condition.
The cost of the recycling service is being unloaded onto the Borough Council who will probably have to pass it on to residents either in the form of a new charge per brown and blue bin or an increase in the Council Tax that goes to Hinckley and Bosworth.
Martinshaw School Primary
At the September meeting of the Parish Council another source of financial irritation between the Councils was discussed. The capacity of Martinshaw Primary School is to be significantly increased and this will result in more vehicular congestion in the Forest Rise area and more parents using the Quarry car park when dropping off and picking up their children.
This year the parking facilities have undergone a major facelift at a cost of around £90,000 as part of the opening of the Multi Use Games area. When the new car park was opened employees of GE Druck found it a useful place to park after their daily commute. One estimate put the Druck use at 50% of capacity and to resolve this problem the Parish Council is to introduce a 3 hour parking limit. Ironically the major users of the car park are not the users of the MUGA, the play and exercise equipment or the open space. At the August meeting the Parish Council Chairman estimated that 80% of the benefit from the car park goes to the school.
The Parish Council feel it is reasonable in these circumstances that the school or Leicestershire County Council should make a contribution to the maintenance of the car park and has been discussing how to take the matter of finance up with County Hall.
No funding from the County Council
The County Council categorically disagrees with contributing to the car park costs and offers advice but no money. “We have not previously provided funding for the maintenance of Quarry Park car park and there are no plans to do so in the future,” said a spokesperson. “We are working with Martinshaw Primary to help them promote alternative forms of transport such as walking, cycling and car-sharing, to reduce the number of children travelling by car. Should the parish council close Quarry Park car park we will look at the impact and continue to support the school with advice on sustainable travel.”
The need to press Leicestershire County Council for funds not only creates tensions between Councils but also controversy within Councils. At the parish level whilst discussing how to deal with the issue one member suggested that before going back to the County Council the parish should explore the issue further with the Headmaster, the Governors and the Parent Teacher Association before making any decision, not after. He felt there would be an advantage for the parties to be seen as on the same side.
The Chairman agreed that a meeting with the headmaster and the Chair of governors might be useful but said the issue was not with the parents or teachers but with the County Council and the way they have behaved over the development of the school. His aim was to get the County Council to meet and discuss the issues with the Parish. He did, however, resist the involvement of the PTA, recalling an incident some years ago when there was what he described as a free for all. He recalled that councillors were subjected to a lot of abuse over the car park from aggressive and intimidating parents.
How could the PTA help?
Whether or not the inclusion of the PTA would be an advantage or not is clearly a matter of opinion and one which might be coloured by previous experiences. Both the Parish Council and the County Council have difficulties in raising extra funds, particularly in the current economic climate. The PTA is the one party that has autonomous fund raising capability, collecting between £4000 and £5000 every year. Over recent years the funds raised have been used to pay for coaches for school trips, for playground equipment, for buying books and equipment for the school library, for teaching resources, etc.
Parents may, or may not, feel that they should be asked to fundraise to help maintain a car park, but the only way to find out is to ask their Chairperson. The PTA normally raises the cash and the school decides how it should be spent, but perhaps they would consider the possibility of a single annual event with the funds earmarked for car park maintenance.
Ratby parents benefit
The school expansion is the result in part of the new housing in the outer catchment area, particularly Ratby. The two parish councils worked well together over the Bloors Appeal and perhaps could work together on this problem as well. Ratby might well not wish to help with the costs of providing parking facilities for their residents at Martinshaw School but if no-one asks we will never know. They would be no doubt alarmed if the Parish Council introduced a parking charge for non Groby residents.
In the final analysis there's a narrow residential road leading to a school with no dedicated car park or drop off point for parents to use. In 1915 that would have presented no problem but villagers may find that unacceptable for 2015. When the current extensions were planned there appears to have been no provision made for handling the increase in parent traffic either by providing on-site facilities, introducing other traffic control measures such as a one way system, or helping with the cost of maintaining a neighbour's car park. The County Council is happy, however, to give advice on traffic plans, cycling and car sharing. Sadly this isn't a problem that advice can fix.