National School Meals Week has been running since 1993 and is organised by the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA). The week encourages schoolchildren to enjoy a healthy school meal that meets the nutritional standards laid down by the Government.

Get Remembering Day on Friday November 11 is part of National School Meals Week when young people across the country will be encouraged to think about those who have given their lives or been injured during war.

Children in Cardiff will be able to enjoy a Get Remembering themed menu which features traditional British fare such as roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and gravy. The menus for the day will include information on many foods that were rationed during the war years.

Cardiff children have played a key role in promoting Get Remembering Day, following the visit of Falklands War hero Simon Weston (pictured) to Hawthorn Primary School earlier this year to film a video message, which now features on the National School Meals Week website, as part of the National School Meals Week campaign.

Former Welsh Guardsman Simon enjoyed a tasty lunch after speaking to the children at the Llandaff North school about Remembrance, the wartime diet and the importance of eating healthily.

Cardiff Catering, the Council’s in-house education catering service that provides approximately 33,000 meals a day at over 140 locations across the city, is a strong supporter of National School Meals Week. The service is committed to providing healthy, nutritionally-balanced meals using top quality produce from ethical sources.

Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “Eating a healthy, nutritious meal during the school day is essential for children’s wellbeing. A school lunch helps young people recharge their batteries to be at their best for afternoon lessons.

“We’re very proud of our school meals service in Cardiff and are pleased to once again be supporting National School Meals Week.”

The Executive is recommended to exercise its wellbeing powers in the disposal of the Victorian school building to the Steiner School subject to their confirmation of funding, which would retain the premises for educational purposes and secure its future as a feature of the local community.

Since the amalgamation of Hawthorn Junior and Infant Schools and the subsequent establishment of the new Hawthorn Primary School on the site of the former infants in 2008 with considerable investment, the junior school site has been surplus to the Council’s requirements.

Following the referring back for further consideration of an application for residential redevelopment of the site to maximise land value by Planning Committee, Council officers embarked on an expression of interest exercise designed to establish the extent of various interests in future use of the property.

Following exhaustive consideration of the various bids, including a community bid which was effectively withdrawn when it was deemed unsustainable, officers are recommending that the bid from the Steiner School be accepted.

Executive Member for Finance and Service Delivery, Cllr Mark Stephens, said: “The Council has had to carefully consider balancing the need to obtain the best possible return for this site with the local community’s desire to see the buildings retained.

“This option would still deliver a reasonable capital receipt which would be invested back into schools in the city while The Steiner School have also confirmed that they are prepared to discuss wider use of the building with the local community.”

In a year when more students took ‘A’ and ‘AS’ Level examinations in Cardiff than in 2010, the performances of the city’s schools were improved for all key measures and once again were above the Wales averages.

This is the second year in which candidates have studied ‘A’ Level specifications designed to stretch and challenge the ablest students, with an A* grade to mark exceptional achievement; 8.6 per cent of students in Cardiff gained this prestigious grade compared to just 6.2 per cent in Wales. The overall pass rate (grades A*-E) was 97.6 per cent, and higher than the all Wales figure. Almost three tenths of the grades awarded were grade A* or A, significantly higher than the overall percentage for Wales. Nearly four out of five grades awarded to Cardiff’s students were grades A, B or C, also higher than the figures for Wales.

In the ‘AS’ examinations a higher proportion of students than in 2010 achieved a pass grade and grades A-C. Over one in five of the grades awarded were grade A. These figures are, once again this year, well ahead of the all Wales outcomes.

Cardiff Council Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Councillor Freda Salway, said: “On behalf of the Council, I congratulate Cardiff’s students after another very successful year. They can be truly proud of the high standards they have achieved. The success of these students has been realised through sustained hard work, the support of parents and the dedication and skills of teachers.”

Chris Jones, Chief Education Officer, said: “I am delighted to once again congratulate Cardiff’s sixth form students and on their success which is the outcome of much dedication and hard work over the course of their studies. I am sure that families and teachers across the city will be as pleased as I am with their considerable achievements. I wish them all the very best for their future careers.”

Most parents will know the local schools in their area and which one they would like their child to attend but parents must complete and return a preference form.

Children born between September 1, 2007 and August 31, 2008 should start primary school in September 2012.

The Council wants to make the process of applying for a school place as easy as possible for parents and carers and are currently targeting parents of pre-school children who are not known to us as they are not attending any community nurseries or funded settings.

The Council is encouraging those parents to provide their children’s details by the September 5 2011 deadline in order for them to receive a preference form when they are issued in October.

Parents of children already attending a community nursery or funded setting do not need to contact the Council as their child’s details are already held and a preference form will be sent out automatically.

Become a history detective and join the Holiday History Club at Cardiff Castle where children can delve a bit deeper into the past.  Each session will cover a particular period with themed games, trails and craft activities.  Amongst the activities planned will be the chance to dress up as a Roman soldier, see what life was like as medieval knight, help with some household Victorian chores or visit the Castle’s Wartime Shelters for a taste of life on the Home Front.  Entertaining, informative and great fun, these activities will make the summer fly past:

July 28 – Roman

Aug 4 – Medieval

Aug 11 – Tudor

Aug 18 – Victorian

Aug 25 – WWII – Home Front

All sessions start at 10.30am and run until 1pm.  Please note anyone arriving late may miss part or all of an activity.

Children can choose to join the Holiday Club for just one day or attend every week, but places must be booked in advance as numbers are limited.

Tickets:  £10 per session per child.  (One free adult place for up to 3 child tickets)    Please note children do need to be accompanied by an adult.  Not suitable for under 7s

For tickets call: 029 2087 8100

St Paul’s Church in Wales Primary School has been presented with £500 to spend on books as part of Cardiff Council’s Reading Power campaign to drive up literacy standards across the city.

The Grangetown school earned the reward for being the school with the highest attendance at the Reading Power Roadshows last month. The roadshows were held at Channel View Leisure Centre in Grangetown, Eastern Leisure Centre in Rumney and Dusty Forge in Ely to encourage and support parents and carers to spend time reading with their children.

Hundreds of families attended the roadshows, where literacy specialists from Cardiff Council were on hand to provide advice, resources and support, with St Paul’s pupils coming out on top for attendance with their parents.

The prize was presented at the school assembly this week while the secondary school with the highest attendance at the roadshows, Llanrumney High, has already received £50 worth of books for their library.

The Reading Power campaign was launched last autumn and is fronted by the Power Readers, a duo of reading superheroes who encourage parents to give their children the power to read  because ‘Knowledge is Power’.

A website provides parents with information on how they can help their children, containing tips and advice as well as recommending books and links to other websites that promote reading as an enjoyable pastime, as well as an essential skill.

Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway said: “Congratulations to everyone at St Paul’s Primary on this fantastic prize which will enable the school to buy many more books for the children to learn and enjoy. It was great to see so many families attending the Reading Power roadshows and taking a strong interest in their children’s learning.

“It’s very important the Council, schools and parents all work together on this, in a bid to drive up standards and ensure every child is equipped with the basic skills to succeed in their education.”

St Paul’s headteacher, Susan Jones, said: “A big thank you to all our parents who have been a great support helping us to raise standards of achievement in reading with their children. The money will be put to good use as we intend to restock our class libraries with some exciting new reading material requested by the children.”

Officers from the Neighbourhood Learning team will be joining shoppers on Queen Street on Saturday, July 16 to promote the new prospectus that is packed full of courses for adults covering computer training, languages, arts and crafts and much, much more, suitable for all ages and abilities at a variety of centres throughout the city.

There’s also the chance for visitors to Central Market and Central Library (9.30am to 3.30pm) to find out what’s on offer, speak to the team about the learning opportunities and pick up a free copy of the guide.

The Council has a range of courses available for people who are completely new to learning and want to broaden their horizons or for learners who want to build on skills or continue with hobbies they have pursued before.

Enrolment for courses, which start in September, opens on Monday, July 18 so there’s never been a better time to find a course that will inspire you to learn.

For those not out and about in the city centre on Saturday, On Course can be downloaded by visiting www.cardiff.gov.uk/learn  or from their nearest Neighbourhood Learning Centre. Alternatively, email adultlearningquery@cardiff.gov.uk

Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “There’s something to suit all ages and abilities in this year’s On Course guide. Saturday will be an opportunity for visitors to the city centre to get some advice on courses they are considering and whet their appetites for something new.”

A team of six Year 8 pupils entered the Faraday Challenge at the university, competing against students from other high schools in the Cardiff and surrounding area. The event was one of 50 Faraday engineering challenge days involving pupils from 300 schools across the UK, organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Amber Arnold, Gethin Jones, Jamal Mohamed, Catherine Nicholls, Tejan Sesay and Jodie Voss tackled the challenge brief to develop a remotely-controlled surgical instrument that would allow surgeons to operate on their patients without actually touching them.

Marks were awarded for the initial designs, the video log, teamwork and the final challenge. The challenge organisers were extremely impressed with all the teams’ efforts, praising the high scores of the top three schools in Cardiff and the excellent engineering work from all involved.

The Cathays team won with a score of 155 out of possible 175 and were presented with a glass trophy which is now on display in the school’s reception area, and £15 worth of iTunes vouchers for each team member.

Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “Many congratulations to the team of young engineers from Cathays High School. The Faraday Challenge sounds like an extremely interesting event and it’s good to hear that the competition in Cardiff was of such a high standard.”

Design and Technology teacher, Mrs. Karan Durrant, said: “I knew that these pupils had what it takes to win this challenge. They went about the day in an organised and mature manner and did themselves and their school proud. Most importantly though, these pupils were introduced to engineering and how much it can affect life in the real world.”

A report detailing the past achievements and the existing financial model in the Schools Organisation Plan will be received by the Executive next week as it considers a future funding strategy in preparation for the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools investment programme.

In tackling issues such as surplus places, school building repair backlogs and the increase in demand for Welsh-medium provision the Council has committed significant investment as part of its vision to offer good quality learning opportunities in order to raise standards of achievement at fit for purpose, local schools for local children. This is illustrated by:

• £7m for 10 new nursery units (five granted and five being progressed) including investment in primary provision also
• £3.9m for three new Welsh-medium primary schools, including investment to Bryn Celyn Primary
• £7.9m for two existing Welsh-medium primary schools transferring to new build premises
• £14m for the award winning state-of-the-art new special school, Ty Gwyn, in Caerau
• £17m for amalgamations of 10 sets of infant and junior schools into all-through primaries (six complete and four underway)
• £6.5m for four new Integrated Children’s Centre facilities (two complete and two underway)
• £12.2m investment at the two existing Welsh-medium secondary schools,  Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr, including new Special Educational Needs (SEN) facilities, technology and teaching blocks as well as upgraded sports facilities
• Planning permission has been submitted for the construction of two new secondary schools – St Teilo’s (which is being relocated to new premises) and the new high school in the east of the city, while there are plans for the refurbishment of the existing St Teilo’s premises to create the city’s third Welsh-medium secondary school. The St Teilo’s plan also includes investment in Cardiff High School and Llanishen High School. The total amount of investment committed to these projects is £63.6m.

The report outlines how the Council has been the body driving investment in Cardiff’s school buildings with 70 per cent of funding to date being provided by the Council and 30 per cent being provided by the Welsh Government. However, for future schemes the majority of funding will need to be provided by the Welsh Government.

The Council is awaiting the outcome of its bid for 21st Century Schools Band A funding to continue its investment programme in schools in Cardiff where it is hoped that investment from the Welsh Government over the entire programme will at least match the investment delivered by the Council. The report also highlights a planned consultation with head-teacher representatives on Cardiff’s School Budget Forum which could enable some £6 million of investment in schools IT to transform the learning environment for the 21st century.

Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “We have accomplished a great deal over the last few years as part of our vision of creating 21st Century schools across the city. The level of investment in schools is evidence of this Council’s strong commitment to education in the city.

“We are keen to keep the ball rolling and ensure that the excellent progress we have made is continued. 21st Century Schools funding from the Welsh Government will be key to ensuring we can make further progress with our plans to provide all children and young people in the city with the best opportunities to achieve their potential.”