Reggae, Strauss and Gershwin – it must be Dorset Island Discs

8 February 2023

Pauline Batstone has spent a lifetime working with ex-offenders as a probation officer, and spends retirement working for her community

Pauline Batstone was born a stone’s throw from Dorchester. Her parents moved to Mappowder when they were offered a tenancy on a small council farm.
‘My parents were delighted to have their own farm – father was a dairyman when they took it on in 1954. Although it wasn’t considered a ‘small’ farm in those days – they were all that size back then! There were a number of council-owned farms around Mappowder; most were about 40 acres. Ours was about 70 acres.
‘Now I find myself chairman of the committee which deals with the management of Dorset Council farms. I have come full circle!’
Having moved away in the late 1960s as she entered her working life, Pauline returned to Dorset as a probation officer in 1975 – a job she held in various forms until she retired in 1990.
‘I seemed to change roles every three years – that was the way it what was done in those days. My first probation officer job was working with the families of offenders in the middle of Bournemouth. There followed three years in West Howe, again with families. Then I moved on to Poole where I covered some very difficult cases and was regularly in court. A three year spell at The Verne prison on Portland was next, which was a fascinating experience. I did two years doing Duke of Edinburgh’s Award with offenders, which meant plenty of VERY cold nights on Dartmoor, and trying to drag offenders out for walks and away from the pubs!
Next was my time as a senior probation officer, managing the probation centre and officers in West Dorset. I went from there to managing a charity that worked closely with the probation service, overseeing seven projects. Then finally as a senior officer I was managing the two probation hostels in Dorset, initially the one in Boscombe for a year and subsequently the Weymouth Hostel as well.

As part of her long career as a probation officer Pauline Batstone spent three years working at The Verne prison on Portland

I was particularly working with drug offenders during that time, and together with Dr Peter Turnbull and Cllr Steve Spiegel we set up The Providence Projects, an addiction treatment centre in Bournemouth, which is still going strong and which has had some quite well known people going through it’
Providence success stories include footballer Paul Gascoigne. Matt Willis from the band Busted also credits Providence with his own recovery; “I tried three other private rehab centres but this was perfect. I had a life-changing experience here,” he says.
‘Finally, I had ten years to set up and manage the Youth Offending Team for Bournemouth and Poole and for three of those years I was national chair of Association of Youth Offending Team Managers. I stayed there until I retired! Alongside my probation work I became involved in local politics – between 1983 and 1999 I was a district councillor in East Dorset, and a county councillor from ‘90 to 1999. So I’d be at meetings in County Hall in the morning, and then would start work at midday and work through the evening on my probation officer stuff!’
‘In 1999 I stood down from local politics – but I came back when I retired, first as a town councillor, then as a county councillor, then as North Dorset district councillor. Now I’m a town councillor for Sturminster Newton, and also a district councillor.’

A life in music
And so to Pauline’s eight music choices, along with how and why they have stuck in her life:

The Marching Strings
Ray Neil And His Concert Orchestra
We used to listen to the request programme, Uncle Mac’s Children’s Favourites on the radio, and as a six-year-old I took it upon myself to write in to ask for Marching Strings which was played for ME. Much to the shock of my parents and family members as I had apparently done it all on my own – precocious brat!

Singin’ The Blues
Tommy Steele
Aged around ten, I would argue with my best friends Mary and Sheila about the merits of their idol, Elvis Presley, against my favourite, Tommy Steele. Interestingly, just yesterday I saw a programme on Tommy Steele, who’s now 86. I’m still a fan – even more so since I saw the documentary and learned more about him and his career.

Love Me Do
The Beatles
When the Beatles came on the scene it was such a different music from anything that had gone before. It was so distinctive. They were the musical experience to my generation – we were suddenly blasted apart hearing them for the first time….”Love Me Do” I think was the first track I heard, I remember grooving away to it with my classmates in the hockey sticks shed at Lord Digby’s School. Come on, you can’t not. Everyone loves the Beatles!

Blue Danube Waltz
Johan Strauss II
This is just wonderful, and always makes me think of my parents, who loved dancing and especially loved Viennese music. As a small child, I remember being waltzed around the garden by my father to the Blue Danube.
When I was studying for my
A-levels, it was me staying at home in the evening and they would be out dancing somewhere until one in the morning. Me calling ”what time do you call this to come home?”. Even worse, one night they locked their keys in the car down in Weymouth, phoned me, and I set off across deepest Dorset in my old Morris Eight on my own to rescue them with the spare keys!
We still had the farm at that time, so they would get home in the small hours and then get up at 5.30a.m to do the milking!

Do The Reggae
Toots & the Maytals
Reggae music was the soundtrack of my time in Bristol. I went to secretarial college down in Bridport, where they ‘provided young ladies with a good education…’ I learned to do shorthand, typing and bookkeeping, and went on to work in Bristol in 1968. There were a lot of West Indians living or arriving in St Pauls in the years after the Windrush. I used to help with an Anglo-West Indian youth club, and made some great friends. I still have my steward’s badge from the first St. Paul’s Festival. My new friends were also country people who had moved to a big city – we were all constantly locking ourselves out thanks to Yale locks which none of us were used to!
Although their countryside roots were very different from mine, obviously, our experiences in Bristol held many similarities.

Waltzing Matilda
Christina Macpherson
My uncle was living in Australia when I was a child, and I grew up constantly hearing about it. My own first trip to Australia was in 1971, to visit uncle, aunt and cousins in Fremantle. I was on a British Council Scholarship and had two months working in the immigration department at Canberra before travelling to the other side of the country to my relations in Fremantle, crossing the Nullarboor Plain by bus. It was before the roads were made up with hard surfaces all the way!
Subsequently I discovered that my great grandparents had migrated to Australia (NSW) in 1867 and I had family there. My great great grandmother (originally from Winfrith Newburgh) was actually called Matilda. I have since linked up with the cousins on the eastern side of Oz as well and I think I have been over to visit at least ten times now. It’s my second home.

Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin
I just … love it. The Jazz Age – the fashion, the music … Gershwin brings so many memories. And it’s such a moving piece of music.

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony Movement IV – Ode to Joy
It’s just fantastic! It is beautiful in its own right, and makes me think of being in church (I’m the church warden at Mappowder) when we sing the Gloria. As a politician it also reminds me of the utter stupidity of Brexit …

A book for a castaway
I think I’d take Robert Young’s The Poems of Rabin Hill.
Robert Young was the son of a tailor in Sturminster Newton, and by the 1880s he was a prosperous businessman and property owner, affluent enough to build one of Stur’s finest houses, The Hive, to live in. He owned several others in town, including the one in which Thomas Hardy lived.
He was known for writing comic poems in the local dialect – Rabin Hill was one of his characters.
Robert wrote an account of Rabin Hill coming down from Stoke Wake in a trap; he’s never seen a train before, and is determined to see the train at Stur. He goes on a train ride to Templecombe and back, and can’t believe how quickly they were back again.
He also thinks he sees the devil on the train but it was the stoker, black from the coal and the smoke! I recommend it, the poems are fascinating.

A luxury item?
A satellite phone.
I don’t care if it’s cheating, I’m smuggling it in anyway.

One to keep?
And if a giant wave was coming, and there was only time to snatch ONE record, which would Pauline save from the water?
‘Gershwin. Always the Gershwin. It’s the most moving of them all.’

Click here to listen to Pauline’s palylist on Youtube

You can’t suppress the optimism

Editorial team

8 February 2023

The times are challenging, says Dorset Chamber CEO Ian Girling, but businesses are ignoring the negativity and keen to move forward again

Hello and welcome to my February column! I am so pleased to see the evenings starting to draw out and even see the first signs of spring in my garden – one of my favourite times of year.
Christmas already seems like a long time ago and business in Dorset has quickly got back to full-speed. Many businesses I speak to are optimistic about the future. But there is no doubt we are still seeing some challenges: access to finance is still a problem for many businesses, Brexit has had an extremely negative impact on export activities and many are still facing severe recruitment problems. And of course the energy cost crisis continues, genuinely threatening to put many out of business.
However, it was encouraging to see that inflation has dipped to just over 10%; nowhere near the 17 to 20% that was predicted not that long ago. The sharp intervention of raising interest rates to 3.5% by the Bank of England, the highest rate for 14 years, seems to be working.
Although this brings much pain for many with mortgages and loans, interest rate rises are one of the primary weapons for tackling inflation by decreasing money circulating in the economy.
It’s a hard pill to swallow but one that we must. Despite this, I still see much optimism from the business community; many are simply switching off from the constant negative messaging in the media and just want to get on with things.
I totally understand this; we must maintain a positive approach, look for solutions if we encounter problems and, crucially, not be afraid to seek help and ask for advice and guidance.
Research shows that businesses that take advice at an earlier stage have a far greater chance of survival than those that leave it until later. There is help out there and if Dorset Chamber can support in any way, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Dorset Apprenticeship Awards
National Apprenticeship Week begins on 6th February and I am delighted to announce that once again we will be running our Dorset Apprenticeship Awards in partnership with the Dorset and Somerset Training Provider Network.
The awards are completely free to enter and open to people of all ages on apprenticeship programmes and all sectors.
They naturally celebrate the contributions of apprenticeships to business but also the personal journey and achievements of apprentices themselves. From Monday you can apply for the awards on our website (dorsetchamber.co.uk) – we will celebrate finalists and winners at a special ceremony on 16th May.
If you are on an apprenticeship programme, or employ an apprentice, I’d really encourage you to enter!
Until next time, Ian.

Can I be forced onto a pre-payment energy meter?

Editorial team

7 February 2023

A local expert from Citizen’s Advice provides timely tips on consumer issues.

Q: “I currently pay for my electricity via direct debit but recent fuel price increases mean that some months I am struggling to afford to pay my bill. I read in the newspaper that my energy supplier might try to force me onto a prepayment meter. Can they do this?”

A: “Yes they can in some circumstances, and this can have devastating consequences for people who then cannot afford to top-up their meters.
Citizens Advice knows that some people prefer to be on prepayment meters for budgeting reasons or because it stops debt collection, including threats of bailiff visits and unexpected bills but last year, 3.2 million people across Great Britain ran out of credit because they couldn’t afford to top up their meter.
When a prepayment meter isn’t topped up the household electricity or gas supply is completely disconnected. From its latest work, Citizens Advice knows that more than two million people are being effectively disconnected at least once a month and that almost one in five prepayment meter customers who were cut off in the past year then spent at least 24 hours without gas or electricity. This is particularly dangerous for disabled and otherwise vulnerable customers.
Your supplier can’t make you move to prepayment if it wouldn’t be safe or practical. This means you can refuse to move to prepayment if an illness or disability means you’d be harmed if your gas or electricity was cut off. However, research shows that the rules are not always being followed. As a result, Citizens Advice asked the government to put in place new protections to stop people being fully cut off from gas and electricity and the Business Secretary is now calling on suppliers to do more to protect vulnerable energy users.
If you are struggling to top up a prepayment meter, please talk to your energy provider as soon as possible. You might be able to get temporary credit or your supplier might add this to your meter automatically. If you run out of temporary credit you should explain your situation to your supplier. They might give you extra temporary credit under certain circumstances, including if you’re disabled, have a long-term health condition or if you are above the state pension age. For more help with this, please check the information on the Citizens Advice website on the prepayment rules your supplier has to follow or contact your local Citizens Advice office.
Information is correct at time of writing.

The weight of accusation

Editorial team

7 February 2023

Farmer James Cossins looks back at the strain of the last month – caused almost entirely by a complaint about his animal care

As I write this in the middle of January, once again the weather has been the main topic of conversation on the farm. In the last four weeks we have received nearly a third of this year’s annual rainfall, with rain nearly every day. The Tarrant is now flowing strongly, with parts of the meadows flooded – it’s difficult to believe that, right up to the beginning of October, parts of the Tarrant were barely flowing at all on the farm. With the recent record of extreme weather, it will be interesting to see what weather patterns 2023 decides to throw at us.
Apart from the heavy rain over the Christmas period, the plan for everyone on the farm having some time off worked well, with a timetable in place to ensure everyone took their turn for the cows to be milked and the feeding and bedding up duties to be carried out. We had no major breakdowns, but it was interesting to see over the festive period which carried on in a small way and which shutdown completely; most of our agricultural suppliers continued in some form or another.

Animal welfare at Rawston
The farm did have some disturbing news – which we only discovered via social media – of perceived animal welfare issues on the farm.
The first call we received was from the NFU, reporting that they thought our cattle had been videoed apparently showing them in a poor state (although the NFU agreed this appeared not to be the case). Then our local vets called to warn me the farm had been targeted with complaints to them – but again they could see no issue with the cattle. Next our milk buyer called and advised me that their farm liaison officer would come and visit us; he arrived the next day and again could see no problems, but suggested that we should have a full Arla farm audit within the next seven days to give us a clean bill of health.
Ordinarily this would have been fine, but during that seven day period I was due to have a hip operation (just to add to all the stress…). The audit was scheduled for the day after I returned from hospital. Still hobbling on crutches, I delegated to my son and the whole farm team got involved in showing the auditor around the cattle and the buildings. The cattle were given a clean bill of health with no issues. The final visit I had was from an officer of the government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency; we were once again inspected, and once again no issues found. This particular visit did save us from a subsequent visit from the RSPCA as there was nothing to report.
Whoever put up the original social media post could perhaps have saved a considerable amount of anxiety by just calling into the local vets for a chat rather than putting an ill-informed opinion out into the world and hiding behind its potentially damaging effects.

James Cossins assessing the harvest at Rawston

The strain
This single social media post has obviously caused me, my family and the entire farm team a considerable amount of mental stress. With a hip operation in the middle of it, I had the added pleasure of a large amount of physical stress too, and I was beginning to feel I was heading for a dark place – who was going to contact me next?
Thankfully I have my family, close farming colleagues and the whole farm team, who have all been incredibly supportive.
But the experience has made me look at what mental health support there is for others in such circumstances, feeling as though there is unbearable pressure from external sources.
I know that agriculture as an industry is not alone in having mental health pressures as an industry, but it is a growing concern in the community. Farmers are working alone, dealing with huge outside-their-control issues such as the weather, animal diseases like Bovine TB and bird flu, the constant financial pressures and often even the stress of working as a family – and those are just off the top of my head!
The NFU provides good support for members through the group secretary network and also The Farming Community Network, the RABI (the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution is a national charity providing local support to the farming community) and YANA (You are not alone, a rural mental health charity) to name but a few other sources of help.
Sadly, agriculture has one of the highest suicide rates of most industries and at long last it is now being recognised as a problem, so help is out there. Please use it.
As I look out of the window the sun is shining, which makes us all feel better. Before long it will be spring again – all us farmers and growers will be out in the fields and smiling once more!

Sponsored by Trethowans Law as it should be

Tales of a Blandford blizzard | Then & Now

Editorial team

7 February 2023

Roger Guttridge recalls a Victorian snowstorm that cut the town off – and the local newspaper publisher who abhorred the evils of drink

The Blandford Express office in 1891 (or possibly 1881). Image from the Barry Cuff Collection

A light dusting of snow on my lawn today prompted me to dig out this Victorian picture as a reminder of what a serious dose of the white stuff can look like.
The eminently recognisable location, of course, is the point in Blandford where Salisbury Street divides and Whitecliff Mill Street peels off to the left.
The horse-drawn cart appears to be loaded up not with the latest issue of the Blandford Express that was printed in the building behind it but with snow, shovelled from the streets outside.
Whether the boys lined up outside the office window were waiting for copies to deliver or just posing for the camera, we will probably never know.
Printer J. A. Bartlett launched the Blandford Express in 1869 (some sources say 1859) and it continued to roll off the press until its closure in 1894.
Bartlett was a devout Christian, and he used his professional situation to further the campaign against alcohol abuse that was ruining so many lives in Victorian Britain. His newspapers also included the Dorset Abstainer and the enticingly-entitled Dorset County Temperance Advocate.
Bartlett lived at The Plocks and died in 1900 aged 73.
At some point the Blandford Express building’s original attic area was extended with the addition of three gable windows and, in keeping with Bartlett’s views on the evils of drink, became a coffee house and temperance hotel.
The date of the photograph is disputed. Most sources date it to 9 March, 1891, when a blizzard produced 10ft snow drifts and cut off the town from the outside world.
The Blandford Express’s competitor the Dorset County Chronicle reported: ‘The snow storm made its appearance on Monday afternoon and continued with increased severity until just after 11pm Tuesday.’
The railways and the postal service ground to a halt – so no change there then.
Dissenters from the 1891 date are Mark Ching and Ian Currie, authors of The Dorset Weather Book, published in 1997. They claim – unconvincingly in my view – that the picture dates from 18-19 January, 1881, when a ‘furious blizzard’ swept Dorset, claiming three lives. Henry Hawker was fatally entombed in a snowdrift within sight of his home at Thorncombe and two children suffered a similar fate while trying to walk from Hamworthy to Morden.

A similar view today minus the snow. Note the addition of the second-floor gable windows.
Image: Roger Guttridge

The perennial struggle of local media
The Blandford Express did well to survive as long as it did. Its other rivals included the Blandford Weekly News, which published from 1885 to 1892; the Blandford, Wimborne and Poole Telegram, which appeared from 1874 to 1886; and the Blandford Gazette and Three Shires Advertiser, which survived barely five months from August to December 1903.
Throughout this period the Blandford papers also had to compete with the Dorset County Chronicle and two big regionals, the Western Gazette and the Salisbury and Winchester Journal, both of which survive to this day.
More than 130 years later, the former Blandford Express building is now a hairdresser’s.

Businesses we want you! North Dorset Schools Careers Day

Editorial team

7 February 2023

Calling all Dorset employers.

Exhibit for free at the North Dorset Schools Career Day. Showcase your key roles, apprenticeships, and career progression. Meet and engage with young people from years 8 to 11 from five Dorset Council area schools – your potential future employees. The twilight session is open to other schools, year groups and parents.

When – Thur 9 March 10am – 6pm

Where – The Exchange, Sturminster Newton

Wanted: Umbrellas for hymn singers (and cash for a new roof)

Editorial team

7 February 2023

The village of Shillingstone is rolling up its sleeves – a huge community effort is required to save the village church

The roof of Shillingstone’s church has a 20ft hole

Worshippers in Shillingstone could soon be looking for umbrellas and buckets; the roof of their parish church of the Holy Rood is in a worrying condition. Where tiles have slipped there is already a 20ft hole in part of it which has had to be covered with tarpaulin to protect the church’s north aisle.
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) has called in architects and other experts to assess the damage and risks. Their verdict is the need for a complete re-roofing of this ancient grade 1 listed building dating back to the 12th century.
The estimated bill the village faces?
In the region of £340,000.
Major fundraising efforts are now under way to enable the first phase of works, which is estimated to cost some £140,000 and must go ahead as a matter of urgency.
Phase two, the main part of the roof, is expected to require the additional £200,000.

The parish church of The Holy Rood, Shillingstone

A place for a thousand years
An appeal has been launched, grants are being sought, and fundraising events are being planned. Appeal leaflets have gone to every household in Shillingstone and to as many people as can be found who have had connections with the parish in the past; perhaps through the former girls school, Croft House, the village school, those with family links, and former villagers who have moved away.
PCC treasurer Anne Powell says: ‘It’s a daunting prospect, but I am optimistic that the money can be raised to hold the weather at bay for another 100 years or more.’
PCC member Ray Suter said in a message appealing for villager’s help – in cash or kind: ‘Our Parish Church has served as a vital meeting place for a thousand years. Not just for worship but for a millennia of Shillingstone’s weddings, baptisms and funerals as well as national celebrations.
‘During war and peace it has served as a place for private prayer and thanksgiving. The church bells have rung out across the village to celebrate notable events down the ages. Our ancestors are buried around our church and their graves are a precious reminder of how much they contributed to the village we now call home. It must be unthinkable that we could lose this precious, historic building which has been loved and preserved by so many.’
Before any work can begin on the church roof, however, the small matter of the bats has to be resolved! Experts have said there are, quite rarely, at least four different varieties of these protected mammals present, all of which have called Shillingstone church their home for years.

Countdown to the big night

Editorial team

7 February 2023

As the Love Local Trust Local Awards night approaches, founder Barbara Cossins looks back at where it all began – and why

When the Love Local Trust Local (LLTL) journey began in 2018, it was because I was so fed up with hearing visitors at our Open Farm Sunday say they wanted to support the British farmer – but didn’t know who to trust any more.
This was the time of some food mislabelling scandals, alongside the story that fake farms were appearing on ‘own brand’ products on supermarkets shelves. Some supermarkets have faced legal challenges over the practice.
Cheap imported meats were – and still are – coming into our country labelled with the Union flag because the item has been re-packaged or processed in the UK, not grown or reared here.
It’s all so misleading.
We British farmers need to stand up, get ourselves heard and explain the important facts about farming and food production to the general public and the people eating these foods.

Hairy Bikers
The new series of The Hairy Bikers Go Local has become an unexpected ambassador for everything our LLTL food label and movement stands for. The series is all about what is grown and produced locally in each county around the UK, helping viewers understand what comes from which part of the UK and at what time of year. This is something LLTL have talked about before.
The series is also highlighting the importance of trusting local businesses producing excellent food and drink close to where you live.
Music to our ears!
One of the key objectives of LLTL has always been to help tell the stories of local Dorset food and drink businesses, letting people know where they are and how to buy their products. Social media has been terrific for spreading the word of what our hardworking Dorset producers are doing.

Roll on awards night!
During the 2022 judging, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing so many wonderful stories. I’m still meeting fantastic new producers and learning from them. We will be celebrating their achievements on
Thursday 9th February
with a gala dinner at
Kingston Maurward College in Dorchester.
I would like to thank all our sponsors – especially Laura and Courtenay at The BV, who have been supporting LLTL from the very beginning.
Next month we will be showcasing the award winners and in the months to come we are delighted to be sharing their stories.

Three Oxford blues for Clayesmore

Editorial team

7 February 2023

Three students at Clayesmore School are celebrating after they all received Oxbridge offers.
Seth, who now has a place to read German at St Hilda’s College, was quick to say that none of the friends felt confident in their applications: ‘We were all expecting to be rejected. Reaching the Christmas holiday was a relief, but then it was a very long wait!’

From L-R: Tasmin J (Chemistry at Hertford, Evie A (English at Balliol) and Seth C (German at St Hilda’s)

‘It was a really long, hard process, and you have to do it on top of your already-packed A level studies’ says Tamsin, who was offered a place to read Chemistry at Hertford College.
‘By the time we had done everything we could and it was out of our hands, we were shattered!’ agrees Evie, who is thrilled with a place to read English at Balliol College.
So what made them stand out from thousands of applicants?
‘It’s not as predictable as you’d think’ says Tamsin ‘another Chemistry student in my year got the same predicted grades as me, does as much extra-curricular activity as I do, and yet they weren’t offered a place.’
‘I think it’s a lot to do with you as a person, how you come across in an interview’ agreed Evie ‘most students should have the same level of subject knowledge and the part of the personal statement that allows for describing your extra-curricular activity is tiny. It never even came up in my interview.’
‘Nor mine’ agrees Seth, ‘but I think that all my extra activities and my job in Tescos have built me as a person, and that’s what shines through. I was originally applying for a different college, and it was suggested I’d fit better at St Hildas – it was more of a personality fit, and it was absolutely the right decision.’
Tamsin added ‘I don’t think they’re looking for specifics so much as an inquisitive and can-do attitude. I actually said in my interview – which was filled with impossibly hard maths – that 2×1 equals two, so they’re obviously not looking too hard at the interview specifics!‘

Thank you Mr Carpenter
Do the teenagers all have a firm career plan mapped out?
‘Journalism, or perhaps a documentary maker’ says Evie. Tamsin added, ‘You’ll end up in politics, you’ll be great!’
Seth is aiming for a probable career as an academic, following a traditional Masters-PhD-lecturer route, though he acknowledges he’s also drawn to education as a career.
Tamsin cheerfully admits she’s open to what the future holds ‘Chemistry often leads to law or politics, as it aligns with the analytical thinking, but I’ve no fixed ideas yet.’
Were the Clayesmore staff keen to push the teenagers on to the Oxbridge route from the start?
‘Not in the least – we had to ask for it!’ says Evie
‘The school have been amazing.’ agrees Seth. ‘Absolutely no pressure, but once we decided it was the right plan they just scooped us up and supported us the whole way.’
‘We couldn’t have managed without their amazing support’ says Tamsin. ‘I’m not even an English student, but Mr Carpenter (senior deputy head and English teacher) gave me so much time and help. He even let me take over his office to practice in the week running up to my interview.’
‘Mr Carpenter was amazing!’ Seth and Evie exclaim simultaneously in agreement.
Clayesmore are proud to be a school that doesn’t focus on a traditional academic route, but instead ‘celebrates future thinkers, makers and creators’. Other student’s have offers from Durham, Warwick, Exeter, Nottingham and the Royal Agricultural University, to name but a few, with an excitingly diverse range of courses including History, Nursing, Architecture, International Festival and Events Management, Journalism, Fashion Marketing and Management and Global Sustainable Development.
Jo Thomson, head of Clayesmore, says, ‘As ever, I’m incredibly proud of all our pupils. Their success is a direct result of their hard work and commitment, and their teachers’ unwavering belief in every single student’s potential.’

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