SOCIAL media star Nutmeg is the inspiration behind a bid to raise £2,500 to name a new guide dog puppy. The yellow Labrador who keeps Alan Fletcher on the straight and narrow, had more than 900 birthday wishes when she turned nine last month, prompting borough councillor Russell Holland to start the fundraiser. He said: “Everyone was a bit down because of lockdown. Lots of people know Alan and Nutmeg so it was about people coming together for a good cause. What is great is we can carry on with fundraising after lockdown. It’s a really good cause and Alan is great. People spot him going round the area, he is a great local character.
Abbey Farm Primary School Children living in Blunsdon St Andrew will be offered a radical curriculum at a new primary school. The Department for Education has been granted planning permission by Swindon Borough Council to build Abbey Farm Primary School on land in Diamond Crescent, near the new houses that surround Swindon s speedway stadium. The school will have two classes per year and room for 460 pupils and 40 places in its nursery school. It will be run by Educate Together, an Irish company which already runs schools in Bristol, Keynsham, Bath and Weston-super-Mare. The company says all children will have equal rights of access to the school – and children of all social, cultural and religious backgrounds will be equally respected.
UNIONS have urged the Government to put teachers closer to the front of the queue for Covid vaccinations to help get pupils back into school. They say more than 1,600 teachers in Swindon younger than 50 will have to wait longer than people on the lowest rung of the priority list to be immunised. UTC Swindon head teacher Jon Oliver said: “I think there are a lot of priorities the Government has, but keeping young people in school is certainly one of them and vaccinating people who work in schools is a very good idea to get students back. “The spread of coronavirus within schools has been limited but clearly there are still going to be people who can contract it and transmit it. The figures we have seen recently show that something needs to be addressed, I think vaccinating in schools is definitely a priority, and vaccinating teachers would be a good step forward.”