Town Hall View: Schools getting the support they need

The work our director and his team have put in is nothing short of amazing and I am delighted that our government is helping us nationally to achieve our ambitions locally.

In autumn 2024, schools were invited to apply for a share of a £37m capital grant from the Department of Education to set up new nursery provision or expand their existing provision.

The scheme aims to provide funding to schools to create or expand nursery provision, helping to increase access to early education as well as use surplus space in their schools. Schools could apply to run facilities themselves or work with partners to run the provision and each school could apply for a grant of up to £150,000.

Last week, the Department of Education confirmed that two schools in Peterborough have been successful in this application process, Fulbridge Academy and Hampton Vale Primary Academy.

Both of these schools already delivery nursery education and will be expanding their provision for young children. This will add to the places delivered by 209 settings run by schools delivering early years education across Peterborough and will support the need to increase places to meet increasing demand across the city following the expansion of the early years’ entitlement.

The Secretary of State, Bridget Phillipson visited Fulbridge Academy last week and we have other cabinet members, including the chancellor, Rachel Reeves and Alex Norris due to visit the city soon.

It's heartwarming that our Children’s Services and our schools are getting the support they need to give all of our children the start they need to thrive in our fast-growing city.

The loyal supporters of Peterborough United FC haven’t had a huge amount to cheer this season, with a mid-table finish in League One looking on the cards.

However, the Football League trophy has brought them some memorable moments, culminating in an exciting trip to Wembley on Sunday for the competition’s final.

Posh will start the match against table-topping Birmingham City as underdogs, but their recent record in the trophy is highly impressive, indeed they are the current cup holders, and it would be a fantastic achievement to retain it.

I will be cheering on Darren Ferguson and his boys in blue and wish them the very best of luck. I also hope that all the fans travelling down there have a fantastic day regardless of the result.

It’s now less than one month until residents will be asked to go to the polls to decide on who will represent them as Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough on the Combined Authority.

Just to remind everyone, there aren't any local elections this year, apart from Barnack where former councillor Irene Walsh has stood down, but residents across the whole city will have the chance to have their say on the mayoral election.

You can see a full list of candidates standing in the Mayoral and Barnack elections on the council’s website at www.peterborough.gov.uk/council/elections/election-details

Please don’t forget that to have your say in the elections this year you must be registered to vote and the deadline to do this is fast approaching. If you are not currently registered to vote, you have until midnight tomorrow (Friday 11 April) to do so. It only takes a couple of minutes to register and this can be done online at gov.uk/register-to-vote.

Finally, it’s certainly been feeling more spring-like of late and I’m certainly looking forward to the Easter weekend, which hopefully the warmer weather will stick around for.

The good news for families is that there is plenty going on across the city over the coming fortnight.

Nene Park is hosting Easter Adventures until 21 April, featuring a fantastic line-up of outdoor adventures, wildlife workshops, holiday clubs and an egg-citing Easter Adventure Trail. I didn’t make that last bit up, honest, so don’t blame me! Nevertheless, do visit www.nenepark.org.uk for more details.

An Easter Egg trail is also being held at Peterborough Cathedral on Monday 21 April from 11am until 4pm. You can find out more on the Cathedral’s website: www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk.