Bulwell primary school axe plan prompts dismay and surprise
Parents have voiced concern over the proposed closure of a Nottingham primary school.The city council has started a consultation over the future of Snape Wood Primary and Nursery School in Bulwell due to falling pupil numbers.It has space for 210 pupils but currently has more than 80 vacancies.Speaking outside the school they said they were worried about the impact on their children but mostly acknowledged pupil numbers had dropped sharply.
If the plan goes ahead, the school is expected to close in August 2026.Speaking outside the school, mother Emma, 35, said: "It's a bit upsetting because all my children have come here, I've been coming here a long time and then we have got the worry of finding a new school."But it was at the Christmas performance when we were sat in the hall and we were really shocked at how few children there was."When my eldest was here there was 30 in a class and now there's more like 15."Her son, Jenson, 8, said: "I was actually crying because it felt like all my old memories were just gone."All my old friends might not come to the same school and I might miss them."
Sandra, 50 said her daughter, Paige could be upset by the move."Since she has been here she has settled really well."She is autistic and has ADHD and so with those learning difficulties, they have done so much for her."So I'm quite worried really."She has had the same teacher since nursery and she doesn't respond to change well, so it could have a drastic effect on her."
Carl, 35, who has two children at the school, said: "I couldn't believe it, I was really shocked."There is another school not too far away but they will miss their mates."They say they are closing it because the number of kids but when I'm here there seems to be loads of kids."Danielle said her daughter Bella was the last of her three children to have Snape Wood. "My eldest really struggled, then got a good teacher but when she left my daughter got left and didn't know what to do so that came out as being naughty - but she's doing better at senior school."My other two know how to learn so they have flown through - so it's been a mixed experience."My daughter's class is quite small, there's about 15 kids in it, and that's because so many have left."But it's not good that it's closing because the parents and kids are going to have to uproot and go further afield."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
CCTV 'pivotal' in raising endangered snow leopard
The Big Cat Sanctuary An animal sanctuary has said that CCTV cameras are "absolutely pivotal" to their work as animal conservationists. The Big Cat Sanctuary, in Smarden, Kent, is dedicated to the conservation and rescue of cats. The sanctuary welcomed its latest arrival of an endangered snow leopard cub, nicknamed 'Little Lady', on 10 May. Curator Briony Smith told the BBC that CCTV "allows us to monitor the mothers, monitor the cubs, but also give them a bit of distance and not get too involved". Ms Smith acknowledged that a new cub was "just so cute" but explained that it was important people didn't lose sight of the work that they do. 'Little Lady's' mother, Laila, has had three previous litters with breeding partner Yarko as part of the sanctuary's wider European breeding programme. As well as monitoring new cubs through cameras, keepers and trainers at the sanctuary work closely with the cats to build the trust necessary for medical procedures. Laila's primary trainer Simon Jackaman has worked with her for seven years and even built an ultrasound table for the snow leopard. Mr Jackaman said he completed "mock scans" with Laila leading up to the pregnancy to get her used to human contact. Jack Valpy/ BBC Snow leopards are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list, with an estimated 2,700 to 3,300 mature adults remaining in the wild. The sanctuary is hoping that the new cub will be out in its enclosure in August, following essential vaccinations. Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Smarden
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Teaser 3271
Uncut Diamonds Andrew was building a rhombus-shaped patio. He could have paved it with equilateral triangular slabs with 1ft edges, but he wanted a layout with a hexagonal slab in place of six triangular ones at various places. He considered two layouts that were symmetrical in two perpendicular directions: Layout 1: every triangular slab touches the perimeter of the patio in at least one point. Layout 2: each group of three adjacent hexagonal slabs encloses exactly one triangular one. The triangular and hexagonal slabs come in boxes of 12, and Andrew chose layout 1 because he would only need a third as many boxes of triangular slabs as layout 2. What length were the sides of the patio and how many slabs in total would be left over? Send your solution to: The Sunday Times Teaser 3271, PO Box 29, Colchester, Essex CO2 8GZ or email The first two correct solutions opened after next Saturday each win a £20 Waterstones voucher. Open to 18+ UK & ROI residents only. Solution to Teaser 3269 912 The winners are: J Kelly, Walsall, West Midlands; K Walne, Heighington, Lincolnshire.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘A wonderful mystery to be solved': Search begins in Dorset for ‘the Mother of all tanks'
At the height of the second world war, while British authorities were calling on citizens to donate metal to be recycled into weapons and warships, attention at the army base of Bovington Camp in Dorset turned to a collection of historic vehicles dating from the first war – among them a legendary tank that had been nicknamed 'Mother'. Mother was the prototype for the world's first battlefield tank, the Mark 1, which had been developed by Britain in 1915-6 to break the deadlock of the trenches. The vehicles were a huge technological leap forward that caused a sensation when rolled out on the battlefields ('astonishing our soldiers no less than they frightened the enemy', as the Manchester Guardian put it) and helped tip the scales in favour of the allies' eventual victory. Mother was a unique and hugely important piece of military and technological history. But with people across Britain donating their railings, saucepans and even keys for the war effort, there was no room for sentiment. Mother was surrendered to the scrappers to be melted down and recycled. Or was she? For decades, rumours persisted at Bovington Camp that to save it from being scrapped, 'the Mother of all tanks' had instead been secretly buried somewhere in the military base. Now, an army officer is planning an archaeological survey to search for the mythical tank after finding a historical letter that suggests the rumours are true. Staff Sgt Anthony Sherritt, a tank commander with the Royal Armoured Corps, came across the mystery of what happened to Mother several years ago when listening to a podcast; intrigued by the rumours, he began scouring military records in his free time for evidence of what really happened. He traced the source of the rumours to a former foreman at the British army's Tank Museum, which is based at Bovington Camp, who would frequently tell visitors that his father had been part of the team that hid the prototype. But still, there was no proof. Then, last summer, Sherritt came across a letter written by an officer called Lt Col NM Dillon about the wartime activities of a friend who had been based at Bovington, Maj Bill Brannon. One day, wrote Dillon, Brannon had 'found the scrap metal staff beginning to demolish some of the old tanks'. After waiting for the scrappers to stop at midday for lunch, 'Bill organised a towing tank and pulled four of the oldest tanks and buried them in the driving area. These four included Mother.' It was a eureka moment for Sherrett, who called a small group of fellow enthusiasts, buzzing with the news. 'I was super-excited, calling everyone – [saying] 'Look, I found this,'' he says. 'And they couldn't believe it.' Burying a tank in your lunch break may seem no small feat, but the expansive driver training area would have been full of enormous pre-dug holes, says Sherritt, to allow trainees to practice driving the vehicles in rough terrain. But even if Mother was buried, the next challenge is finding her. Bovington Camp stretches to 404 hectares (1,000 acres), and even the section Sherrett has identified as the wartime training area, not in the same spot as today, is enormous. 'It's a kilometre squared, and that's a huge piece of land,' Sherrett says. Now a patch of restricted heathland, it's not as if he can just wander around with a metal detector. 'It was used for driver training for 100 years so it's covered in metal. Back in the day, they probably didn't really care about any environmental issues and were just littering everywhere' – potentially including unexploded ammunition. Undeterred, Sherrett has spent a year petitioning defence authorities to be allowed survey the area; with that permission secured, he is crowdfunding to commission archaeologists to start the search later this autumn. Lidar (light detection and ranging) scans have already identified five spots that hint at a large object buried underground. According to Chris Price, the director of the Tank Museum, finding Mother 'would be a mic drop moment in the tank world. Jaws hitting the floors everywhere. 'There's every possibility that it won't be found – but it would be a wonderful thing to find, a wonderful mystery to be solved and given to everyone around the world.' 'It would be insane,' agrees Sherrett. 'Because it's not just a tank. It's everything else that she [led] to, the machine that broke the stalemate in world war one. There were no [battlefield] tanks before her. 'I joke with the Tank Museum all the time, saying 'You'll have to make space to put her in there,' because currently, all they have for her is a drawing.'
