No failing primary schools here

People interested in schools may have seen a story about a month ago that primary schools that were regarded as persistently failing would be made into Academies to try and boost performance (See the Telegraph version of the story).

If you've been wondering if any Camden schools would be effected by this - there won't be.  The council says:

There are no such (failing) schools as measured by Ofsted or the DfE for standards. Currently
the following is true of the following settings; Early Years, Primary, Primary Special
Primary schools (41)
• 13 - Outstanding, 25 – good, 3 - satisfactory.
Special (primary) schools (1)
• 1 – outstanding
Nursery schools (1)
• 1 - outstanding
Pupil referral unit (primary) (1)
• 1 - good 

It is well known that Camden schools outperform our neighbours in Islington and Brent.  Such a shame then that there still aren't enough of them - and that so many children have to travel outside to poorer schools elsewhere.
My colleague, Tom Simon, Lib Dem councillor for Belsize, has done sterling work in trying to get more primary school places in the area. As the need for more places continues to grow - we'll carry on fighting for more primary school places.

Transition film night

The fledgling Transition West Hampstead group is continuing to spread its wings.After a successful launch event - and a confident presence at the Jester Festival, the group is planning a Film Night on 18th July - details below.

Dear Transitioners,

Just a quick update on what's been happening with Transition West Hampstead and to tell you about our next Film Night on 18 July.

Many of you attended our very successful launch event on 6 June. You can read more about it here:

http://westhampsteadlife.blogspot.com/2011/06/west-hampstead-transition-town-kicks.html

We also ran a stall at the Jester Festival on Fortune Green last weekend and got a very good response from local residents.

Our next event will be another Film Night on Monday

18 July at 7pm at St James's Church Hall, Sherriff Road. We'll be showing two short films:

'The Power of Community' (about urban organic farming) and 'The Story of Stuff'.

Below is a flier for the event. Please feel free to invite your friends and neighbours to join us that evening.

We are also hoping to set up Transition sub-groups on the following topics:

Energy

Food

Transport

Well-being

Please let me know if you interested in helping to set up one of these groups, or would like to join our Steering Group. You can contact me either by email or on 07724 894145.

Best wishes,

David Abrahams

Been burgled? Lost power tools?

The police are making an interesting use of social media now that they've recovered over 2000 items from an address in Camden Town.

See their press release below - and if you see anything that's yours - get in touch!

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Police in Camden launch Flikr page to return over 2000 items of stolen property.
Last October police in Camden successfully led a proactive operation, responding to information received about handling of stolen goods at an address in Camden, NW1. An investigation was carried out, which resulted in officers executing a search warrant. Thousands of stolen items were recovered including, power tools, electrical equipment, pedal cycles, laptops and car software. On 7th February 2011 officers seized further items from a vehicle on Royal College Street.

We are now launching a new campaign aiming to return the stolen items to the rightful owners. All of the stolen items have been photographed and are being stored in the hope that they can be identified.

Officers are using every method they can to try and return the missing property and have now set up a Flikr page. This is the first time that police in Camden have used Flikr. This site will allow the public to search through pictures of the property to tryto identify anything that might belong to them.

The Flikr page goes live today and contains thousands of images of the stolen items. Many of the items are brand new and it may be difficult to identify them, however officers have managed to provide pictures of the property registration / serial numbers to assist with identification. Other items will be much easier to recognise by their unique markings, for example one item has a white smiley face spray painted on the front.

We are appealing to anyone, who has had property of this type stolen prior to 7th February 2011, to visit the site and see if you recognise your property.

If you do recognise any of the stolen items you are asked to email: Op.Diamante@met.police.uk
When emailing please include the following information:

• What property was stolen
• Photograph title on Flikr
• When the property was stolen (Please only get in touch if your property was stolen prior to 7th February)
• The serial / registration number on the property and any other identification marks
• If the item has been reported to police as stolen, if so, to which police force and the crime reference number.
• Your contact details

Detective Inspector Gary Randall said: "We have already managed to identify many victims and return their stolen property. I hope that by launching a page on Flikr it will allow more people to look through the images and recognise their property. The aim of this campaign is to establish if these items have been reported as stolen and return as many of these items as we can, I would encourage anyone who has had power tools, electrical equipment, pedal cycles, plant equipment etc to visit the site."

The Flikr page can be accessed by following the instructions:

• Visit the Metropolitan Police Website www.met.police.uk
• Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the 'Flikr' icon
• You will now be on the MPS Flikr page, click on 'Recovered Power Tools, Camden' in the right column
• You should now be able to view all of the images

Mill Lane works about to commence

It seems that difficult times in the housing market/construction industry aren't holding back the developers at the site of 1 Mill Lane back any more.

Residents have received letters from this morning letting them know that works are about to begin (see below).