Exam Results
Students up and down the country have this morning been waiting anxiously to get their GCSE results.
Some have achieved what they wanted, others have done better whilst others have gone away disappointed.
On a general scale in our area, it appears the percentages are up.
Dinnington Comprehensive School got 54% A* to C, compared to 43% last year, whilst Maltby Comprehensive School increased by 3 percentage points from last year to a 41% A* to C.
Congratulations have to go to Aston Comprehensive School who managed to get their highest results ever - an amazing 66% A* to C and 51% A* to C including Maths and English.
Although some will criticise the results saying that the exams are getting easier, the fact that these are the product of years worth of hard work shouldn't be overlooked.
With results like these I'm sure these students have plenty of opportunities for the future.
Well done to everyone and it appears that this year, the hard work has paid off.
Published Date:
23/08/2007
Modified Date:
23/08/2007
Swimming Pools
In the past two issues of the Dinnington Guardian, there's been coverage of the Dinnington community coming together to save their swimming pool.
The pool was opened as a community facility by the people of Dinnington and the surrounding areas for their local community.
Yet now it's going to be closed, despite being against what the residents want, because all the money has been spent on the new centres.
I agree that the whole of Rotherham needs improved leisure facilities and the new one at Aston will be of great benefit when it's finally opened. It's definitely a step in the right direction.
The problem comes in the form of money and the council simply don't have the money to keep the old swimming pools open and run the new ones.
And at the end of the day I think that the new leisure facilites will be of greater use for the community than a load of old swimming pools.
However, I don't think that the Dinnington residents should give up.
Instead I think they should follow the example of the North Notts Community Arena in Worksop and form a group of residents who wish to form a charity and privately run the pool themselves.
This way the borough could benefit from the four new council-run leisure facilites and there would still be a local pool for the people of Dinnington to use. Everyone would be happy
This has worked in Worksop so I dare say that it could work in Dinnington.
Whatever happens, at least there will be new leisure facilities and if the worse comes to the worse at least it's not that far to travel from Dinnington to Aston.
Published Date:
26/07/2007
Modified Date:
26/07/2007
Final Potter Well Worth A Read
Here's something a bit different from usual - a book review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
It takes something special to get people to queue for hours outside of a book store on a Friday night.
And last Friday it was something special as fans were rewarded with the release of the last Harry Potter novel, some ten years after the first book hit the shelves.
I personally didn't queue up; instead I went out early Saturday morning to get my hands on a copy and then spent the rest of the day being absorbed in the wizarding world of Harry Potter.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows picks up straight from the end of book six (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) with Harry continuing with the task that he'd been set.
Throughout the Half Blood Prince, Lord Voldemort wreaks havoc over the country trying to become the dominant ruler.
Meanwhile Harry spends his year at Hogwarts trying to find a way of defeating the Dark Lord, one of the greatest wizards of all time.
At the end of the Half Blood Prince, it's revealed that Voldemort had split his soul into seven parts in order to stay alive.
And it's these parts of the soul, called Horcruxes, that Harry must destroy to be able to defeat Voldemort once and for all.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows therefore charts Harry's quest to eliminate the horcruxes and rid the world of Voldemort.
Unsurprisingly this means that the story is quite dark and I think that the mood was reflected perfectly throughout.
However, the idea of destroying horcruxes and Voldemort sees Harry, and friends Ron and Hermione, going off on their own accord and not returning to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry for a seventh year.
Arguably this isn't such a good idea as it was at Hogwarts where the magic and characters really came to life.
However JK Rowling manages to capture the magic successfully in her writing both with Harry, Ron and Hermione searching for the horcruxes and with Voldemort's supporters trying to find and stop them.
Another problem with just the three main characters going off on their own means that there isn't as much interaction between characters as there usually is.
This I felt was a bit disappointing as it was the interaction that really made the characters come to life, although there was a lot more development of the relationships between Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Without giving too much away, I think that it takes too long before any real progress is made by either side, which is a bit of a downfall of the book in my opinion because it means that the tasks in the latter half are rushed in order for one side to prevail.
Despite these faults, I still think this was a particularly good book with JK Rowling's style capturing the wizarding world perfectly.
You also got a real sense of belonging and as if you were actually with the characters on their quest.
And as with all of the series, the Deathly Hallows provided many twists and turns making it a truly gripping novel, especially towards the end.
One thing that was particularly good was that all the unanswered questions from the series were finally answered and all the plots eventually made sense.
I loved the line 'just because it's in your mind doesn't mean that it's not true' - a little suggestion that Harry could really exist?
Whether he does or not, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is definitely worth a read and a fantastic end to a remarkable series.
Published Date:
26/07/2007
Modified Date:
26/07/2007
The Floods
Looking out of my window I can at last see blue sky but the destruction and clean-up will take a lot longer to clear than the rain clouds.
Last week heavy rain pounded South Yorkshire causing flash floods and saturating the ground, but this was only the start of much worse problems for our region. Yesterday, more heavy rain lashed down on us, overflowing the already swollen rivers causing severe floods. Meadowhall became an island, Sheffield became a mass of water and the remaining roads were gridlocked as people tried to get home. In fact I was trying to get home from Sheffield and it took me two hours as opposed to the usual twenty five minutes because of all the traffic and the diversions in place. However, it appears that I was one of the lucky ones as at least a bus was able to get me back home. Many others were simply stranded and had to spend the night anywhere they could.
And it was no better today either - Worksop is completely submerged under water, there's next to no way of getting into Rotherham and there's a much larger threat that the Ulley Resevoir could break the dam wall and release millions of litres of water to the surrounding areas. Catcliffe, Treeton and Whiston are already flooded and have had to be evacuated even more as a precaution in case this dam bursts. Although fire crews are working at the moment to stop the dam from breaking, they've got their work cut out and I can't say I'm too optimistic.
These floods have caused havoc and chaos across our region and I think that in the full scale of things it's lucky that only two people have died; I'm sure it could have been many more. What this has shown though is a great community spirit and teamwork by everyone coming together to help people escape the rising waters, clean-up afterwards and to prevent further floods from engulfing the area. It's good to see that everyone has come together, although it's a shame it takes an event like this to do that.
My fingers are crossed that nothing else happens and this chaos can be brought to an end but what with the Ulley Resevoir threatening to overflow and more rain forecast on Saturday, I don't think it looks too promising.
Published Date:
26/06/2007
Modified Date:
26/06/2007
Thug Park
When I read about the new equipment to be placed at the Nursery Road Park in Dinnington I thought 'this will be a good idea' and would provide some much needed equipment for children in the area to be able to use.
But unfortunately it's been commandeered by teenage yobs who are ruining it for everyone. They aren't using the facilities for anything good other than a place to mess around on and cause trouble, as is captured quite nicely in the pictures in this week's Dinnington Guardian. I suppose this was inevitable. It happens everywhere as soon as anything new and nice is put in, there are some people who are intent on ruining it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against young people using the facilities appropriately as many people, including myself, have used similar style parks as a place to play football. The difference was that we were a small group that used an open space of the park, not the children's play area section, and we didn't cause nuisance to other users. If the facility is used properly, people of all ages can use it together and there is no problem at all. I'd like to think that everyone can use the park but I can't see it happening.
I suppose at least the children can still use the area during the day but it won't stay like this for long. I just wonder how long it will take before it ends up in ruin...
Published Date:
05/04/2007
Modified Date:
05/04/2007
ASBOs for Young People
If you looked at the front page of last week's Worksop Guardian then you would have seen the face of a 16 year-old boy, who has just been given an ASBO after terrorising Worksop's streets for months on end. And yet again it's another negative story for young people. It's people like him that give young people a bad name and give the impression that all young people are up to no good. Let me assure you, this isn't the case and it merely is a minority of idiots who are tarnishing society's image of all young people.
There are lots of young people who are actually helping society and not wrecking it. A prime example recently is the Thurcroft Action Group. Here, young people are playing a vital part in helping themselves and developing the future by working towards getting new facilities that they want and on improving the facilities they already have. Consultation with young people is important for their future as it will be the young people and not the adults who will be using these facilities, and it's proven that after consultation, there have been some successful facilities. The new shelter in Thurcroft is a great example as the young people said that's what they wanted and now instead of congregrating in other places such as shop doorways and bus stops they now meet there.
And that brings me nicely on to another point. Just because there are a group of young people standing around, doesn't mean they're up to no good. In fact the majority are just talking, maybe playing a bit of football, and are causing no harm whatsoever. Admittedly, they may be a little loud and intimidating, but at the end of the day, most young people don't seek to destroy what others have put in for them. There is a minority that do want to make people's lives a misery, but it's the same with all groups of society, not just young people.
So the next time you hear of another young person getting an ASBO, just remember that they are in the minority and that we (the young people) aren't all like that.
Published Date:
05/03/2007
Modified Date:
05/03/2007
A Brand New Blog - France and Buses
Hi there and welcome to a brand new blog.
First of all a bit about me. I'm called Richard Atkin, I live in Aston and I'm a student at Thomas Rotherham College. You may have heard my name before as I regularly write pieces for all of the Guardian newspapers, and have been doing so for just under two years. Now, though, I have my own blog where I will be giving my opinion on some of the stories in our area that affect both you and me.
Somewhat contradictory to the above, I'm going to start not with the local area but instead about France.
This past week I have been on an exchange visit with college to a place called Avignon, in the south of France near Nimes. This means that I spend a week living with a French family and then my pen-friend comes over and stays with me for a week, all in an attempt to improve our foreign language skills and get an insight into the different culture.
I have to say it was a good week but it was both difficult and different. For starters the French was spoken incredibly fast and was difficult to understand as quite often the family used other nouns or verbs than those taught in class. Then there was the problem of thinking of an answer in French quickly enough. As I'm sure you can imagine it was hard work. On the flip side though, all the group of English speaking students met up in the day and we all visited some of the local sites of interest including Nimes, Arles, Avignon and the Aix-en-Provence.
I noticed a lot of things whilst I was there (like they don't use a plate when eating bread - they just put it on the table!) but one thing that I found hard to miss wasthe size of the houses. Every house in that area of France seemed to be massive and detached, with swimming pools in the garden and bedrooms more than double the size of mine.
There was also lots of culture about Avignon. As I found out during the day, there is a wealth of history dating back to the Roman era all the way up to modern day. However this has it's downside as I'm sure when the pen friends' come over to Rotherham in March they will be surprised at how relatively little culture there is compared to what they have.
Despite this, I think that there is a need for these exchange visits and I feel that they are beneficial. They improve the language skills first of all, especially the speaking and listening part of it. They also provide people with a chance to really get a flavour of what the country and way of life is like. It's all very well going on a trip to say Paris but in the end you speak very little French and don't really get to experience what it's like to be French because you just stay in a big group. I would recommend an exchange to anyone, though there is a lot of work involved.
Anyway on to something a bit more local, though I am aware that I have written quite a lot already.
Two weeks ago some of the bus routes and times changed in our area down to the renewal of the 'bus tenders', which are pretty much the rights to operate a route. These tenders are renewed and updated every three months for all South Yorkshire transport companies in an attempt to improve the overall services.
With me being a college student, I catch the bus every morning and have been affected by the changes, as some of the routes I used to use have been reworked to get a more efficient and cost effective service. I know that they have caused some problems for passengers and some feel that there's no need to change as the last lot were generally alright but I think that these changes are much more practical. A brief example is seen in the mornings where there used to be two buses to Rotherham within five minutes of each other both going out half full. Now there is one bus with a mixture of both routes which now goes out full enabling the option of another bus going out onto a route that needs it. It makes sense really.
Of course people will grumble as they always do with change but at the end of the day it will (or should) improve services overall, which isn't a bad thing at all. I won't deny that I've suffered a little inconvenience from this, and I know others who've had to change services completely, but as long as it's to make things better in the long run then it can't be such a bad thing.
So there you have it - my first Guardian blog. I will try to update it regularly and perhaps next time it will be a bit shorter and more local!
Regards,
Richard
Published Date:
11/02/2007
Modified Date:
11/02/2007