Devon

More Devon children have been offered a place at their first choice secondary school for this September.

97.6 per cent of the families who applied to Devon County Council have been offered their first choice school compared to 94 per cent for last year.

It means Devon County Council has bucked the downward trend in many parts of the country.

In all, 99.5 per cent of applicants were offered one of their three preferences compared with 97 per cent in 2015.

The county council received 6,706 applicants from Devon pupils for a place at secondary school in...

Exeter School is welcoming three authors to school for World Book Day.

To celebrate the theme of Imaginary Worlds, pupils in Exeter Junior School will be carrying out story telling workshops with Katy Cawkwell on Thursday 4 March.

Storyteller Katy creates performances for adult, family and school audiences, based on traditional source material and has worked regularly in a wide range of schools, museums and other organisations, including Royal Opera House, English National Opera, The Barbican, The British Museum, The Museum of London and The National Gallery.

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Stagecoach Group has launched its 2016 Champions Awards for employees – and is inviting bus and coach passengers in the South West to nominate their favourite member of staff for the Customer Service Champions Award.

This is the seventh year of the company’s Group-wide Champions Awards which recognise staff achievements in a number of categories including safety, environment, health, innovation, community and customer service.

The awards are open to employees across Stagecoach’s bus and rail operations in the UK and North America.and around 120 staff members have been...

A holiday park in Devon has helped raise nearly £5,000 for the Exeter Foundation Charity to help a host of local good causes.

Staff at Ladram Bay Holiday Park raised £4565 for the charity of the Exeter Chiefs, through a series of events held at the park on the Jurassic Coast between Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton.

Exeter Chiefs’ CEO and chairman, and Exeter Foundation Trustee, Tony Rowe, invited members of Ladram Bay’s entertainments’ team including manager Greg Crutcher and Pickles the Parrot, on to the pitch at half-time in Sunday’s clash with Bath Rugby. The foundation...

Cranbrook in Devon has won a bid to be an NHS “healthy new town” to help residents lead healthier lives.

One of 10 across the country, the developing eco-town will test creative solutions for the physical and mental health challenges of the 21st century, including obesity, dementia and community cohesion.

NHS England is bringing together renowned clinicians, designers and technology experts to join-up design of the built environment with modern health and care services.

Initiatives being considered for Cranbrook, which will eventually have 8,000 homes, include:...

An audit by national Citizens Advice says that the independent Exeter charity is providing very good advice to its diverse range of clients.

The audit, in November 2015, rated the quality of advice provided by the charity as ‘very good’. In addition, the charity passed an organisational audit in January with flying colours.

Dennis Mardon, Chairman of Citizens Advice Exeter, said: “This is a real endorsement of the work that we do and we are very pleased with the result. It shows that you can be confident of getting good advice from Citizens Advice Exeter. I would like to...

Fourofakind galloped home the 17 lengths winner of the Higos Insurance Services Devon National at Exeter on Sunday (28 February) in an incident packed race where just two of the 12 runners finished.

Trained by Harry Whittington in Oxfordshire, he was sent off the 9-2 joint favourite along with Wizard’s Bridge who pulled up four fences from home.

Gavin Sheehan gave him a superb ride, holding him in midfield until turning into the home straight when he took up the running from Saroque and guided him to a comfortable win. Part owner Andrew Sawyer said: “The main target was the...

Devon County Council leader John Hart has shelved plans to ask schools to pay for their own lollipop men and women after reviewing representations from families across the county.

The authority had planned to save £250,000 as part of its £26 million budget cuts for 2016/17.

But, since the budget meeting earlier this month, Mr Hart has received considerably more feedback from Devon families and schools than in either of the formal public consultations on the issue last year.

Councillors were set to debate what measures could be put in place to improve road safety...

Strong winds are set to batter Devon tomorrow, with gusts of up to 70mph forecast.

A band of showers will cross the region on Wednesday morning with winds strengthening in association.

Isolated gusts of 70mph are possible in exposed areas and around west and northwest facing coasts, with 50mph gusts possible inland.

There could be some localised disruption to travel.

The five day regional forecast for Devon is as follows:

Today: Cloudy and windy today with prolonged spells of rain through the morning. After a drier spell, more showers arrive from the...

Agri-tech specialists, a dairy farm and pop up caterers are amongst the firms that have made it to the final of Devon’s new Fast Track to Growth Programme, it was revealed today.

Fifteen companies across the county have been selected to progress on to the programme that will help them develop their plans for growth in 2016. One stands the chance of winning £15,000 worth of financial strategy, PR and marketing supporting for the rest of the year.

Shortlisted are Bluebird Care, Custodian Solutions, eCow Devon, Holiday Toys, OneFlow and Pickle Shack from Exeter, Care Control...