Is your child due to start secondary school in September 2020? If so, you have just over a month to apply for a secondary school place for them.



That means children born between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2009 will be making the big step next year and you only have until Thursday 31 October to apply.



Late applications mean parents are much less likely to secure a place for their child at their preferred school.

ReadFest is Barking and Dagenham’s very own literary festival, which aims to deliver a wide-range of local, national and internationally acclaimed writers especially chosen to entertain and inform.

 

Barking and Dagenham Libraries and Pen to Print are proud to host the eighth annual literary festival which takes place between Monday 9 September and Friday 27 September. Supporting Pen to Print’s theme this year, International Storytelling, they are delighted to showcase multinational writers, all based in the UK.

 

Barking and Dagenham Council’s Legal Services have successfully obtained a further ‘borough wide unauthorised encampment injunction’. Working with Caroline Bolton, of Radcliffe Chambers, who obtained the first such injunction for Harlow, the London council assisted Thurrock Council in obtaining its own interim injunction on 3 September 2019.

The Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council has backed the call from the London Fire Brigade to get more people to volunteer with the Fire Cadet Programme.

The annual programme is made up of firefighters, non-operational brigade staff and adults from communities across the borough, who volunteer their time, skills and experience to help support and train the cadets.

Volunteers typically help one evening a week, which varies, depending on where the course is held, with the opportunity to help on weekends too.

A woman has been presented with the Leader’s Recognition Award for helping a young teen whose phone had just been stolen.

Linda Evans-Packham from Romford, was driving home when she saw teenager Melissa Watson distressed and trying to flag down someone for help. Concerned, Linda pulled over only to learn it was Melissa’s first time in London and upon arrival in Barking, her phone was snatched. Melissa had travelled from Devon for an audition at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

After a very successful first neighbourhood funding round, which saw 13 local groups each receiving up to £10,000, Barking and Dagenham Council have now opened bids for the next pot of developer’s cash.

 

The council are calling for local community groups, who may have an idea for a project that will benefit residents within borough, to apply for grants of up to £10,000.

 

A cemetery in Barking and Dagenham that recently underwent a £400,000 extension has received a nationally recognised award.

Chadwell Heath Cemetery achieved gold standard accreditation under the charter for the bereaved, a nationwide scheme operated by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM).

The ICCM, which was founded in 1913, aims to improve bereaved people’s experiences by providing a set of standards related to burial, cremation and funerals, such as checking the facilities offered and information available.

While all eyes were on Westminster in central London this week, it was the illegal fly-tipping activities of three men at Westminster Gardens that feature in Barking and Dagenham Council’s latest Wall of Shame CCTV Appeal.

The trio are clearly pictured dumping a number of black bags illegally on the street, which is close to the A13, and are just some of several new faces to feature in the long-running series.

The Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, Cllr Darren Rodwell, has sent a passionate letter to both the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid MP and Home Secretary, Priti Patel MP, following a recent visit from the Home Secretary, urging action to be taken to help provide a network of Youth Zones up and down the country.

Three in five students (62 per cent) in Barking and Dagenham have achieved the national GCSE standard of a grade 9 to 4 in English and maths – with one student securing a scholarship to one of the world’s most prestigious colleges.

Sydney Russell School pupil Afzal Hussain, 16, delivered one of the country’s top performances as he achieved nine grade 9s and one grade 8 in his exams.

He will go on to study double maths, history and German at the 15th-century college, whose alumni include Prime Minister Boris Johnson and author George Orwell.