Latest news with #StLuke's
Edinburgh Live
3 days ago
- General
- Edinburgh Live
East Lothian mum's heartbreak as daughter 'refused school place with brother'
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A caring East Lothian mum has told how her daughter has been denied a place at the same school as her son. Mum-of-two Jade Robertson stayed in Mayfield, Midlothian, until January 2024 when she was forced to relocate to Tranent with her two kids following a traumatic family event. She is furious at a decision to deny her daughter Orla, 11, a place at St David's Catholic High School where brother Leo, 12, attends - with the local authority citing catchment and space issues. The 39-year-old office worker said she is expected to enrol Orla at Ross High in Tranent, a school she has no connections with. After appealing to the Education Appeals Committee last month, Jade was again rebuked, with the panel siding with the council in denying Orla a place. Council officials, meanwhile, confirmed school admission policy has been followed. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sentstraight to your messages. Council officers said the appeals committee is independent and their role is to decide whether any legal grounds justify the placing request being refused. Local authority officials added the panel agreed with their decision and Orla has been added to a waiting list for the school. 'Orla is absolutely devastated,' Jade said. 'We had to relocate to Tranent last year due to a traumatic family event but we kept Orla and Leo in their local schools in Mayfield. 'Both kids went to St Luke's Primary where they have created lifelong friendships. It was always the case that St Luke's kids went onto St David's but this is somehow not the case with Orla. 'Orla has attended every event linked with transitioning to St David's so far including a camp where she met friends from other primaries that she was looking forward to going to high school with. 'She is going to be expected to go to Ross High where she is going in completely blind with not many friends. We still spend a lot of time in Mayfield so Orla and Leo can continue to play with their friends. 'We went through a volatile time as a family and during that period Leo and Orla grew incredibly close. They are both upset at the idea they will not attend the same high school. 'Orla's gran often helps with the school runs and she stays in the catchment for St David's. Orla asked to stay with her gran which is not something I want her to do but we were told this would not make a difference either. 'This is going to be a major upheaval for our family with one child going to one school and the other another. It has been tricky this past year with Orla at St Luke's and Leo at St David's; so we were looking forward to them going to the same school again. 'Sadly if the council do not reverse their decision, we may have to consider taking Leo out of St David's which would be devastating for him.' Jade applied for a place at St David's for Orla but in January 2025 she was informed she would have to make a non-catchment application to the council. In April of this year she found out no place was given and she would be added to a waiting list where she was initially fifth in line. 'I feel like the council is not interested in the lives of the kids on the waiting list,' Jade added. 'They are not taking into account their feelings and it is their education and social lives which will suffer. 'What is also frustrating is she started fifth on the waiting list and has now been bumped down to eighth due to families moving into the St David's area.' Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox A Midlothian Council spokesman said: 'Midlothian Council follows its school admissions policy when considering placing requests. An independent body, the Education Appeals Committee (made up of councillors, volunteers with experience in education and parents), decides whether there are legal grounds to justify the placing request being refused and whether, considering all circumstances, it is appropriate to do so. The committee reviewed the case and agreed with the council's decision. 'Any parent who wishes to appeal following the decision of the Education Appeal Committee has the right to appeal to the Sheriff Court. The committee provides every parent who raises an appeal with information about how to do that. There is a waiting list for St David's High School. If any places open up, they will be offered based on the order of priority set out in the admissions policy.'
Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
MJ Lenderman wows crowd following sell-out debut Glasgow show
Life is cyclical. Music. Fashion. Politics. The longer you live the more you begin to wonder where you've seen something before. 2 MJ Lenderman was originally due to play St Luke's but packed out the Old Fruitmarket 2 The band blended melancholic rock with sharp lyrics Thankfully to be familiar isn't always unfortunate. Reinvention. Reimagination. Really f*****g good music. Enter MJ Lenderman. Bringing with him a hail of jagged chords, nasal vocals, and slide guitar that will make you wonder if the horrors of TikTok the rehabilitation of Shed Seven ever happened. Last year his album, Manning Fireworks, with its shades of alt country, topped end of year lists and sold out initial pressings on LP. That fervour was followed with a run of sold out shows. Tonight, his first performance in Glasgow, was upgraded from St Luke's to the glorious surroundings of the Old Fruitmarket. And as the daybright noodlings of opener Joker Lips gives way the angst of On Your Knees the antique hoardings are rattling. With a sound that veers from the ethereal sadness of Sparklehorse to Ragged Glory era Neil Young, you'd be forgiven for thinking MJ Lenderman was a man of advancing years but at 26 he's got an eye for a sharp line. The swagger of youth, pushed on by his understated delivery, puts him at the centre of what feels like a slacker resurgence. But this is not grunge mark II - never has a calmer man wielded a Gibson SG. A faithful cover of Sparklehorse's Maria's Little Elbows ramps up the melancholia with its refrain of 'Loneliness' before the blissed out blues are over. The facade of millpond calmness slips with the steady pulse of She's Leaving You. A gently chugging ode to the collapse of a relationship and a highlight from the album which builds, like so many things, to nothing. Collapsing into itself with a haze of backing vocals as Lenderman's wandering guitar vanishes and ushering in jagged riff of Wristwatch, a two-fingered rebuttal, which explodes from the stage. A string of facetious boasts 'I've got a houseboat up in Buffalo/and a wristwatch that's a compass and a cell phone/and a wristwatch that tells me you're all alone' are trapped by slashed chords and brooding bedroom vocals. To play two of your best known tracks mid set is a bold move. But confidence is not something lacking tonight. With youth often comes a sense of naivety and Bark At the Moon is a paean to inexperience. Chugging chords flirt with day-glo guitar solos before admitting: "I've never seen the Mona Lisa/I've never really left my room/I've been up too late with Guitar Hero/Playing "Bark At The Moon". Sharp tongued and slight of frame MJ Lenderman may well be this year's great white hope for alt rock but don't let that put you off. He may be young but in this game youth doesn't always equal inexperience - let's hope his first time in Scotland isn't his last.
BBC News
22-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
York church hall to be replaced in £760K project
A church hall is set to be demolished and replaced, as part of a £760,000 project. St Luke's Parish Church, in York, is holding events to try and raise funds for the work and said the 60-year-old hall had come to the "end of its useful life". About £300,000 has already been raised through donations and bequests and the church staff said they hoped grants could cover much of the remaining price for the new building, which will be integrated with the church, include accessible toilets, a catering-standard kitchen and more storage space. Dave Pownall, who is leading the project, said: "We have a church hall which looks like a glorified scout hut. "Window frames are rotting, the roof leaks, so we need to replace it. "Our church hall is already a hub for our community but we want to create a much better and more inclusive place." Public events planned for Friday evening and Saturday morning aim to gather feedback on the proposals."We need feedback from our community to say they want the project, so we can include it within applications to funding bodies," Mr Pownall added. St Luke's said it was committed to raising 10% of the remaining costs themselves. Vicar at the church, Reverend Anika Gardiner, said: "Updating the old hall is important but more so is creating a hub, connecting people and creating a safe, accessible space for young and old alike within our community. "Having a youth work background myself, it would be fantastic to be part of creating more opportunities for young people and families in our area, strengthening the links with our local schools and offering a space for people to get together." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
