New Milton Advertiser 8th Jan 2021

4 · Friday 8th January 2021

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Exams cancelled as classes go online

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Woman attacked ATTACKING a woman resulted in a Bransgore man being banned from contact- ing her for two years. Jonathan Kelly (39), of Avon Tyrell Activity Centre, reversed his original plea of not guilty to admit the assault in Hurn between 4th November and 1st December 2019. The restraining order from Poole magistrates forbids him from contacting the victim or visiting a Lyming- ton street. He was fined £419 and told to pay £367 in court costs. Care home helps AHEAD of its February opening, a Ringwood care home has been surprising hard-working NHS staff by leaving them goodie-bags. Moors Manor also offered staff at nearby St Leonard’s Hospital free use of its car park during the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. Chrissie Heyes, care home general manager, said: “We are so grateful to the NHS frontline staff for all they have done and continue to do to keep us safe during the pandemic.” 19 Fir Avenue, New Milton whole house

School gains 1,000 test kits and nursery boss calls for staff jab By JON WALLER VOCATIONAL exams have been cancelled by Brocken- hurst College amid the chaotic impact on education from the latest lockdown. The college told BTEC stu- dents the move had been made after discussions with the De- partment for Education. It said: “We have been given assurances that students will not be disadvantaged from not taking examinations.” There was no confirmation before the A&T went to press that either Arnewood School or Totton College, which also run the qualifications, had made the same decision. Exams for GCSEs, AS-levels and A-levels had already been cancelled nationally, with the government indicating teacher assessments will be used as the basis for awarding grades at the end of the academic year. Lockdown restrictions mean only vulnerable pupils and chil- dren of key workers can attend schools, which will be closed until at least the mid-February half term, with remote lessons taking place in the meantime. Many schools have already set up track-and-trace systems THE third lockdown has been branded “malicious” by New Forest West MP Sir Desmond Swayne who was among 16 vot- ing against the new laws. Despite rising infection and death rates, Sir Desmond told the House of Commons on Wednesday the detailed regula- tions were “pervaded by petti- fogging malice” and an assault on livelihoods. Prime Minster Boris Johnson

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Brockenhurst College decided to abandon upcoming BTEC exams

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with the help of NHS training, including Arnewood and Priest- lands schools. Arnewood head Nigel Press- nell said: “The school has re- ceived 1,000 test kits and al- ready completed a first cycle of tests with staff and students attending the school during the lockdown period.” He said he “applauded” the effort of colleagues who had “rallied around” to switch to re- mote learning. Priestlands head Peter Main said all students had access to replied: “Pettifogging, yes. Mali- cious, no.” No vote was cast by either Ju- lian Lewis, MP for New Forest East, nor Sir Chris Chope, MP for Christchurch. Sir Desmond’s criticism fol- lowed an intervention over the new year in which he urged the government to consider “alter- native” expertise on the pan- demic other than from the of- ficial Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). He said statisticians leading in their fields would be able to “arm ministers, with the right questions to ask about the va- lidity of the modelling and the data”. He also questioned how ex- perts had discovered a more transmissible strain after the government had wavered in fol- lowing their advice to impose Christmas restrictions. He said if he were in minis- ters’ position, he would find “great difficulty in having the wherewithal to identify and ask the right questions to be sure A CORONAVIRUS testing cen- tre in Christchurch is set to in- crease its capacity by opening seven days a week. The walk-in site at Two Riv- ersmeet car park, where ap- pointments must be booked, is currently visited by a mobile testing unit twice a week. However, from mid-January the location will be in use every day, as will centres in Weymouth and Poole. Rachel Partridge, assistant director of public health for Dorset and Bournemouth,

Microsoft Teams to learn online, adding: “Last term we surveyed all students to identify where therewere issueswithaccessand we have been distributing lap- tops and routers to try and sup- port those who struggle with ac- cess and will continue to do so.” The sole educational estab- lishments that remain fully open are those providing early years provision, such as nurser- ies and preschools. Cheryl Hadland, managing director of Tops Day Nurseries which runs sites at Fawley and

Lymington among 29 across Hampshire and Dorset, has written to the government ask- ing it to put early years workers on a priority vaccine list, amid an increase in cases. An online petition asking for childcare and school staff to be prioritised has so far gained more than 276,000 signa- tures. The GMB union wants them closed completely, claiming the decision to keep them open is a “dangerous mistake”. “Desmond Swayne’s call for ‘alternative experts’ to SAGE is a desperate attempt to salvage his own credibility after he claimed the pandemic ended in the sum- mer and was proven wrong. “The depressing thing is, if people like Desmond Swayne had got behind the measures to tackle the coronavirus pandem- ic from the very start, we would be in a much better place with fewer cases and fewer deaths.” The lockdown vote on Wednesday also featured a plea by Sir Chris that vaccinated older people should be allowed to socialise to celebrate Brexit. Meanwhile, Dr Lewis called on the government to “sweep away” bureaucratic form-filling to enable retired medics to join the national vaccination effort quicker. He said it should prioritise “turning the national vaccina- tion effort into an all-out 24/7 operation,” and publish the number of vacant NHS beds every week and the number of people vaccinated every day. sites will be available every day from January. “We are still very much living with Covid-19 so it is important that testing is accessible to everyone.” Anyone who develops a new continuous cough, a high tem- perature or a loss or change of taste or smell must self-isolate and book a test by calling 119 or visiting www.gov.uk/get-corona virus-test Home kits are also available for those unable to get to a test centre.

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REPAIRS &

MP votes against ‘malicious’ lockdown

Sir Desmond Swayne

Christchurch and Poole, said: “We welcome the news of the walk-in sites at Weymouth, Poole and Christchurch being available every day for residents who don’t have access to pri- vate transport. “We are always reviewing our testing sites to make sure we have enough access to testing for residents who need a Cov- id-19 test.” BCP Council’s cabinet mem- ber for adult social care and health, Cllr Laura Miller, added: “It’s great news that the walk-in that they were on the money, or 100 miles from it”. His comments sparked criti- cism by Liberal Democrat Cllr Jack Davies, from Pennington, who ran against Sir Desmond in the last general election. Cllr Davies said: “Desmond Swayne has, once again, embar- rassed the New Forest with his ramblings in the House of Com- mons. “He has abandoned his main responsibility as an MP, which is to protect the people he serves.

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