Yesterday I took my camera along to have a look round the new development and facilities at Hethersett Academy and the only word I could conjure up to describe what I saw was WOW.
Wow, wow and thrice wow. I was shown round by Gareth Stevens whom I have known for a good few years ever since he was appointed Principal of the Academy. Gareth is now Secondary Director for the Inspiration Trust overseeing nine schools in Norfolk, but is still based in Hethersett.
As I walked round I couldn't help but think at virtually every turn "they didn't have facilities like this when I was at school." Now I know that was in the dim and distant days of dragons and mythical beasts but education has come on so much.
It's great to see the Academy thriving and becoming the school of choice thanks to outstanding OFSTED reports amongst other things and the new £8 million building is really something else.
I don't think I would be telling stories out of school if I said that not so long ago the behaviour of many pupils at the school left much to be desired. It was no surprise when it went into special measures and hurtled towards that unwanted description of being "a failing school."
What has been achieved over a relatively short period of time is almost beyond comprehension and the new building puts the icing on a very attractive cake. I don't really think that the photographs here do justice to what I was shown.
Classrooms full of keyboards attached to computers to allow for musical composition, 3D printers, art and design machines only usually seen in industry, a photographic lab and the piece de resistance a 200 seater theatre with retractable seating and state of the art equipment.
The list of what they have at the Academy is virtually endless and I must mention the two new bright blue tennis courts with their special squidgy surfaces that are kind to the knees and ankles and built to Lawn Tennis Association standards and specification.
I had a long chat with Gareth and details of that will be included in the next edition of Hethersett Herald.
No sooner had I got back from the Academy and finished typing up a story for the Eastern Daily Press newspaper on the educational revolution in Hethersett then it was onto the laptop for a very newsy parish council meeting.
There is a contentious issue in the village at the moment. In July the council decided to stop paying for grass cutting of the village churchyard in order to save just over £3,000 a year. This didn't go down well with the church authorities and a number of local people.
The council could have voted last night to re-visit the decision in October but not sufficient support was forthcoming for this, although it was agreed to place it on the agenda for the January meeting. There were only eight of the 14 councillors present when the decision was made in July. Once again you can read the full story in the next Hethersett Herald and a piece should be appearing in the local media over the next few days.
There were plenty of other topics discussed at the meeting and once again I will be reporting on them fully in the next Herald which I'm hoping to get out exclusively online by next Wednesday.
Finally today some news to cheer us all up. I have had it confirmed that Hethersett King's Head is being taken over by the landlord of the superb Green Dragon at Wymondham. At the time of writing this I am hoping to have a chat with Justin Harvey but it looks like the venue could be open again in early November with a re-decoration programme both inside and out in the New Year.
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I am very pleased to say I now have 88 members of my daily blog Facebook page and a few still joining. Would be nice to get it over 100. So if you enjoy my ramblings please tell your friends and if you don't enjoy them what are you doing reading this?
And finally finally today, my story on the closure of permissive paths has appeared in the EDP at
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/environment/landowner-blocks-access-to-village-walking-routes-1-6847234