Yes, we know it's way too early to start thinking about Christmas, but how fabulous would it be to see your child or pupil's design on one of the Royal Mail's Christmas stamps?
Royal Mail is running an amazing national art competition for primary school pupils to design stamps for Christmas 2013.
Two lucky winners will see their designs on one of the 1st or one of the 2nd Class Christmas stamps from this year’s range.
Only twice before has Royal Mail run a competition like this – in 1966 and 1981 – so this is the first opportunity for more than 30 years for school...
Magistrates in Devon and Cornwall are almost twice as likely to send a woman to prison as courts in other parts of England and Wales, figures reveal today (9 July).
The Howard League for Penal Reform has released for the first time data which shows how sentencing rates for women vary from county to county.
The figures suggest that, while many magistrates’ courts are making good use of community sentences which help cut crime and turn women’s lives around, other benches are imposing prison terms unnecessarily in some cases.
Options for the future of East Devon District Council’s offices will next be debated on Wednesday 17 July at Cabinet. Subject to the outcome of this meeting it will be followed by a special face-to-face event with local stakeholders on 26 July.
The council is inviting representatives from around East Devon, to join councillors and senior officers for a special event where they’ll hear more about the council’s objectives for the project and can talk about any decisions made by the Cabinet.
Among those invited to the event on 26 July are representatives from Chambers of...
East Devon District Council are delighted to announce that the children of Cranbrook have now selected a preferred design for their £240,000 play space, the first in the new community.
The chosen design which includes, sensory play boards, an explorers Island with boat and barrel, animal rockers and a toddler play house was designed by Eibe, a specialist play equipment company.
Eibe was one of five companies who were invited to produce design concepts for the community to vote on. This was part of an ongoing consultation process during which the children had previously...
An exciting family community festival held by East Devon District Council in Honiton on Saturday featured the official unveiling of a special Queen’s Diamond Jubilee sculpture.
The new sculpture on the side of Honiton Leisure Centre has been in place for a little while, but was formally celebrated and officially unveiled at 1.30pm by East Devon District Council's Deputy Chairman, Councillor Christine Drew, as part of the event.
The mosaic sculpture was designed by six-year-old Alfie Gibbins from Fenny Bridges near Honiton after the previous EDDC Chairman, Councillor Peter...
As the Government spells out its spending plans, the Leader of Devon County Council, Cllr John Hart looks ahead to the next four years.
Here he writes: “I won’t be alone in predicting that the next four years could be the toughest local government has ever faced.
“But we won 38 of 62 seats in May and I believe Devon’s Conservatives have a continuing mandate to take tough decisions.
“When we took control with a landslide victory in 2009, we got straight on with the business of cutting costs and making the authority more efficient and more businesslike.
Devon County Council’s latest intake of apprentices have been speaking about their experiences so far in the work place.
The Council hires apprentices annually. This year is the biggest intake as 25 apprentices are now working in a range of council services from social care to transport.
The latest group is continuing to work through qualifications in their allocated area as well as becoming an integral part of the team. They are also paid during their apprenticeship.
Two of the twenty five new employees, Tom Satterly and Lorna Raymonthole, both from Exeter say so...
An East Devon church school has achieved a clean sweep of outstanding judgements from Diocese of Exeter inspectors.
Broadhembury Church of England Primary was rated outstanding in four key areas following the inspection:
The school was said to be outstanding at:
• Meeting the needs of all learners • The effectiveness of its leadership and management • Its distinctiveness and effectiveness as a church school • The impact of collective worship on the school community
Outstanding is the highest judgement that inspectors can make.
Kapes was a small lizard-like parareptile some 100mm long.
It had only been found in Triassic of Russia until a tiny jaw was found in the Middle Triassic Otter Sandstone at Sidmouth in 2002.
230-240 million years old, the Sidmouth specimen is named after Mike Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Bristol University, who has made major studies of the Otter Sandstone fauna. His finds at Sidmouth were donated to RAMM.
The Kapes jaw has recently returned from the University of Helsinki where it has been on loan and the subject of further study by...
Devon County Council will consider a range of measures to reshape its fostering service and attract and retain more foster carers, in a report to be discussed at Cabinet this week (Wednesday 10 July).
With the number of children being placed by the Courts into the Council’s care increasing from 539 in 2008/9 to 693 in 2012/13, the Council's Fostering Service is conversely seeing falling numbers of carers, as people retire or opt out of the service.
During that period, due to lack of in-house capacity, the Council saw significant increase in their use of private sector...
