15/07/22

Here is the latest update from Cardiff Council including: advice from Public Heath Wales on the extreme heat; the Stronger Fairer Greener Strategy; the expansion of the children's Flying Start programme; the expansion of Pentyrch Primary School moving another step closer and the expansion of special educational needs provision in the city.

Take care in the extreme heat

Experts at Public Health Wales are warning people to take extra care in the extreme heat that is forecast over the next few days.  Temperatures are expected to reach the early to mid-thirties by Monday in some parts of Wales.

Very hot weather that lasts for a few days, or more, can cause dehydration, overheating, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.  It's very important to look after children, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. Check in regularly with loved ones, friends, family and neighbours.

It is advised to make changes to your usual routines to cope with the extreme heat.  This includes avoiding strenuous activity in the middle of the day when the sun is at its hottest, drinking plenty of water and wearing a hat, sun cream and light coloured, loose clothing, ideally with long sleeves. Keep rooms cooler by closing blinds and curtains and closing windows.

Read more here:https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/29470.html

Plans for a Stronger, Fairer and Greener Cardiff approved by Council Cabinet

A vision of a Stronger, Fairer and Greener Cardiff and the strategy to help deliver it over the next five years revealed by the city's leader last week has been approved by the Council's Cabinet.

In it, Cllr Huw Thomas, the leader of Cardiff Council, will share the vision with invited stakeholders and city partners at an event in Cardiff's Parkgate Hotel on Tuesday, July 19, where he will tell guests that he is intent on building a powerhouse economy in Cardiff that can benefit everyone as the cost-of-living crisis bites.

Cllr Thomas said: "Back in 2017 we launched our Capital Ambition policy vision and over the next five years we made great progress, bringing more and better jobs to the city, building new schools and improving education standards, but the world has changed significantly over this period.

"The Covid-19 pandemic created new problems and exacerbated existing challenges and, more recently, the war in Ukraine has threatened to prolong the current cost-of-living crisis. With the worst of the pandemic behind us it's time to focus on leading a city-wide recovery - which is why we are preparing to launch a new, ‘Stronger, Fairer, Greener,' five-year policy agenda for the city. Cabinet will consider this new policy agenda at its next meeting on Thursday, July 14, and on Tuesday, July 19, I will set out our vision for Cardiff to city partners and stakeholders at an event in the city centre."

The strategy includes contributions from all of the council's Cabinet members who outline how they will help deliver and implement it through 10 portfolios of responsibility.

Cardiff Council is to expand the Welsh Government's flagship ‘Flying Start' programme into new parts of the city and reach an additional 400 children up to the age of three.

Newly eligible families will receive an offer of funded childcare for their two-year-olds as well as advanced health and parenting support from birth.

The scheme, first introduced in Wales in 2006, is intended to improve the health and life chances of children in deprived areas by offering a range of benefits through the council's Early Help service and health boards. They include:

Enhanced health visiting

• High quality childcare for two-and-a-half hours, five days a week over the school year
• Parenting support, including one-to-one support in the home
• Early identification of children with additional learning needs (ALN)
• Help for vulnerable children, including those in homeless hostels and children of young parents, refugees and asylum seekers

Ambitious plans to increase the number of pupils at Pentyrch Primary School and establish 32 places in a new nursery unit for three-year-olds has moved a step closer.

After a wide-ranging public consultation process on the proposed changes took place in the winter, the plans were published in May.

Cardiff Council's Cabinet has now reviewed the objections at its meeting on Thursday 14 July and has approved the works going ahead.

Pupils across Cardiff are set to benefit from a wide-ranging expansion of special and additional learning needs education provision, with proposals creating more than 270 additional spaces over the coming years. 

A comprehensive consultation exercise into the special needs sector was carried out over the winter and Cardiff Council has now completed the statutory notice period for eight proposals. After receiving only two objections, Council's Cabinet has approved the plans at its meeting on Thursday (July 14). 

At the core of the plan is the creation of more than 200 additional places at eight schools across the city, by establishing:

• A 20-place base for primary-aged children with complex learning needs (CLN) atMoorland Primary School(from September 2023)
• A 30-place base for learners with CLN atWillows High School(from September 2023), and
• A 30-place base atYsgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaffor learners with autism, alongside the existing base (from September 2023), and increasing
• The number of places for learners with autism from 20 to 45 atLlanishen High School(from September 2022)
• The number of pupils atTy Gwyn Special Schoolfrom 198 to 240 (from September 2022)
• The number of pupils atThe Hollies Special Schoolfrom 90 to 119 (from September 2022) and from 119 to 150 (September 2023)
• The number of pupils with CLN atLlanishen Fach Primary Schoolfrom 20 to 30 (from September 2023), and
• The number of places for learners with autism atPentrebane Primary Schoolfrom 20 to 24 (from September 2022)

Read more here:https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/releases/c25/29407.html