Category: Thame news

RECENTLY released statistics show that crimes committed by juveniles is declining in Oxfordshire compared to the rest of the country. All in all, 272 individuals under the age of 18 were brought into the Youth Justice System in the last 12 months ? nearly 60% less than in the previous year and 78% down from figures in 2006.

Reasons for the significant drop are cited as being linked to preventative measures put into place by the Youth Justice Board and the Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service. They include targeting potential offenders from a young age and enrolling them in programmes aimed at restructuring their attitudes and habits alongside those of their families, schools and wider communities. Such an approach is seen as helping to end cycles of violence and disorder, thereby breaking negative habits that could lead to children becoming involved in criminal activity.

Sarah Burrows from Oxfordshire County Council said: “This is an excellent result and shows that the methods we employ really do work to improve the lives of young people and the Oxfordshire Community.”

“By targeting vulnerable young people at an early age we are able to intercept and work positively with them to lead them away from a potentially troubled stage of their lives by working closely with them. Credit must go also to the young people who we have worked with as they have responded so well to the methods we use.”

Councillor Louise Chapman, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families, said: “This hugely positive outcome is an excellent example of how partnership working and a preventative approach can bear fruit for all concerned. Our success will reduce costs to the taxpayer as fewer young people are going through the courts.”

What is the Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service?
The Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service (YOS) is a partnership between council departments (Social and Health Care, Community Safety, Resources), Thames Valley Police, County Magistrates, Mental Health Trust, Oxfordshire NHS, and the Youth Offending and National Probation Service.

It was set up in 1999 to:

Reduce the likelihood of offending by children and young people.
Prevent re-offending by these who enter the criminal justice system.
Help young people repair the damage they have caused by thinking about the effect on their victims.
Encourage young people and their families to take responsibility for their offending.
Re-integrate offenders into the wider community.
Contribute to protecting the public by supporting local crime-reduction strategies.

What is the Youth Justice Board?

Overseeing the youth justice system in England and Wales, the Youth Justice Board is a network of organisations that work together to administer justice and help children and young people to live a life free of crime and anti-social behaviour.

The Board has a wide programme of work to prevent offending, reduce reoffending, increase victim and public confidence in the youth justice system and ensure safe and effective use of custody.

IMAGE: Courtesy of Guardian.co.uk

THE stress and anxiety of waiting is over at last, and once again Thame A level students and teachers at Lord Williams’s school have made the town proud, by achieving a 97% overall pass rate.

A creditable 46% of results were at A stars to B grades, and 73% at A star to C grades.

This is the first year that A* grades have been awarded at A Level for exceptional performance so special congratulations go to Joanne Ford and Hannah Scott who both achieved three A* grades.

Other students achieved a combination of A* and A grades including Nicholas Keith, Annabelle Pearson, Beth Richardson and Harry Wiles who achieved four each and Lucy Brown, Sian Burgess, Tom Eaton, Cara Evans, Sarah Evans, Alex Feuchtwanger, Heather Lawson, Katie Niedzielski, Alex Richardson, Gemma Roberts, Haitham Sherif, Harry Slater, Emily Stapleton-Jefferis, Fay Underwood and Katie Whittaker who achieved three A* or A grades each.

Three students are particularly pleased with their results as they will be able to take up their places at Cambridge University. They are Beth Richardson, Haitham Sherif and Harry Wiles. Sarah Evans and Hannah Scott have successfully secured their places to study medicine.

Headteacher David Wybron, commented: “This is the time to celebrate just how much effort these young people, supported by their parents and dedicated school staff, have put in to achieving these grades. Their success is very well deserved.”

Kate Sheehan, Head of Sixth Form added: “We are immensely proud of all our students; they should be congratulated on their fantastic achievements which are the result of two years of very hard work. We are so pleased that these results will enable our students to progress on to their chosen field of employment or to university. They have a bright and exciting future ahead of them and we wish them all the very best with whatever they decide to do.”

One student, who failed to get the Maths grade he was hoping for to get into Aberystwyth, was nontheless happy: “I havn’t done well,” he admitted, “but I’m not sour. Others deserved the place more than me. I’ve got into Southampton Solent University to study Computing so I’m happy. The next month though is going to be completely hectic organising everything.”

THE NATIONAL PICTURE

Nationally, One in 12 of all exams were awarded the new A* top grade while more than one in four entries (27%) were awarded an A grade – up from 26.7% last year.

Overall, the pass rate rose for the 28th year in a row, with 97.6% of entries getting a grade E or higher.

THAMES VALLEY POLICE carried out a drugs raid in Thame early this morning 19/08, at a flat above a shop in the town.

Inside the property were six people, two females and fours males, one of whom was arrested on suspicion of possessing class B drugs and remains in custody.

To see a video of the raid, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fXq0M9n6b8

PHOTO: Police force open the door of a flat in Thame town centre this morning, to gain entry to a property suspected of containing illegal drugs

SOUTH Oxfordshire has the eighth lowest child road casualty rate in the country, with one casualty in 800 children.

This was one of the findings of a new survey from Road Safety Analysis Limited which looks at published road casualty figures from local authorities across the country.

The survey looked at 408 councils.

The report also showed children most at risk were ?those from families of lower incomes who often live on large council estates where there is little owner occupation?.

Children are most likely to have an accident on a Friday and the second most likely day is Saturday. Sunday is the least likely day to become a casualty.

In winter, child casualties drop by 25 per cent but the worst month for such accidents is May. Child pedestrian accidents are lowest in August.

Perhaps the most shocking statistic in the report showed that over the first 16 years of life, one in 27 children, less than the size of an average class, will be reported as injured or even killed in a collision.

THAMES Valley Police want to know about any anti-social behaviour issues occurring in your area. They have issued the following statement:

As the Area Commander for South Oxfordshire I am very keen to address issues of anti social behaviour, ensuring those living in the varied communities across the region are able to enjoy life without the hindrance caused by the inappropriate behaviour of others. Such behaviour can significantly impact on individuals or groups such as the elderly and vulnerable.

Not all anti social behaviour is related to alcohol, however it is a contributory factor in many incidents from the individual whose behaviour changes through alcohol consumption, to youths who are not accustomed to drinking or drink in excess to impress their peers.

We find that opportunities to put a stop to anti social behaviour as soon as possible also prevents it leading to other minor crime such as criminal damage or minor assaults. Therefore I would encourage everyone to report incidents in the early stages to the police or Community Safety teams through your local council.

Superintendent Chris Sharp
Please report any incidents where you suspect that alcohol is being bought to pass on, or where under-age drinking is happening or where antisocial behaviour is fuelled by alcohol.

Report these incidents or any other relevant information to the police on 08458 505 505.
Your information can also be passed onto Trading Standards who will be able to carry out test purchasing where ?under age? or ?proxy sales? are suspected.

Don?t want to speak to the police? – Don?t want to give your name?
Call Crime stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

Maddy Fry (Source: Press release)

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Hospitals NHS Trust is to hold a series of public meetings over how to make the best use of community hospitals within Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, including Thame Community Hospital.

Fears over reductions in NHS funding in recent months have prompted concerns that many community hospitals, which provide nursing services and care for the terminally ill, could be closed down. Thame has already seen a reduction in the number of beds from 12 to eight since September last year but

THIS is a Community Message from Thames Valley Police. On Monday, August 9, at approximately 15:00hrs, a property in Kingsey Road, Thame was the target of a distraction burglary.

A Male called at the property and gained entry by stating he knew the aggrieved. The aggrieved left the room and on returning, discovered cash had been stolen from a wallet and the offender had gone.

The offender is described as a white male, approx: 5?4?, aged 40 yrs, short blonde hair, well built, wearing a long sleeved beige shirt and blue jeans.

Please be extra vigilant and remind any elderly neighbours NOT to let any unexpected callers into their home. Anyone concerned about their security can contact their Crime Reduction Advisor at Thames Valley Police for FREE home security advice.

If you have any information relating to this message, please call the police on 08458 505 505 and quote URN 316 of 12/08/10.

Source: Press release

FOLLOWING the statement about complaints of lack of communication about the future of the Thame Day Centre (LINK)from NHS Buckinghamshire PCT, the Chair of the day centre committee has issued the following:

“Thame & District Day Centre Trustees circulated a letter to Members and their family and friends informing them that we do not expect to receive our grant from Oxfordshire Social Services to be extended after April next year so we will have to look elsewhere for funding.

“The amount of money we are looking for is

THAME’s MP, John Howell, has taken on the challenge of improving the low Broadband speeds that many areas of the Henley constituency have to put up with.

A study by the Independent Networks Cooperative Association earlier in the summer showed that the Henley constituency (which now runs from the edge of Bicester to the edge of Reading) was likely to be at best only partially served by Next Generation Broadband (http://www.inca.coop/NGA-map).

?The broadband revolution has forgotten too many of our villages. Speeds are so slow that they are practically unusable. It?s a problem for many in the constituency. Those wanting to work from home and businesses in a rural area like ours find it difficult. Those that are ill may not be able to get on-line healthcare information. Students often cannot do research for homework and it is cutting people off from the social networking broadband can bring,? said John Howell today.

?More and more villages in the constituency are asking ? why us? Local groups of businesspeople are approaching me to point out how much more dynamic our local communities could be if the problem of superfast broadband was tackled,? he continued.

The MP has already held talks with BT to understand the work they are undertaking to ensure the constituency is covered. He has also raised with the county council the possibility of villages being able to use the broadband networks which are associated with village schools and remain unused out of school hours and for large stretches of school holidays.

Discussions with BT have focused on the cost of providing the ?extra mile? cabling between the schools and individual houses. This follows proposals around the country to open up fibre optic links used by many local authorities and services.

To take this forward, the MP says that he has identified six steps:

Identify the examples of how this problem has been solved in other areas (see notes to editors)

Keep the pressure up on BT as a key provider to tackle the problem in the constituency as quickly as possible

Work with other providers to facilitate solutions for the area

Work with local Parish Councils to identify the not-spots in the constituency and to identify the market for the use of fibre optic cables in local authority facilities such as schools

Work with the County Council to encourage the use of school facilities

Work with James Elles MEP, on the associated problem of mobile broadband

The MP pointed to DEFRA information that one third of all farmers have no internet access and yet it is increasingly assumed they will file their forms for payment online. It is also a major disadvantage to those without access who cannot download information on weather, disease patterns and market prices ? all essential tools of the industry.

John pointed out that the Government?s strategy aims to make us the first country in Europe to extend superfast 100 Mbps broadband across most of the population. There are four broad components of the strategy:

to roll out a broadband service level of at least 2Megabits to those parts of the country still without basic access by 2015

to establish three superfast broadband pilots in rural areas

to open up and co-ordinate our existing infrastructure to bring down the costs of laying new fibre by opening up BT?s ducts to competitors, easing planning rules and boosting competition to encourage a market led solution.

where necessary, to make sure rural areas have access to this new infrastructure, it will use the element of the television licence fee used for digital switchover, stimulating investment in next generation networks.

BT is already spending

THAME residents have been nvited to name a new development due to be built in Windmill Road, on the former site of Thame United.

Paul Moran, Sales Director for David Wilson Homes Southern, said: ?It may be that there is someone who has made an impact on the town or perhaps there is an historic tradition that would make a good name, and we hope that the chosen name would hold significance to local residents.?

The proposals for the new development include 59 two, three and four bedroom homes. In addition to the private homes the plans include 40 Extra Care units as a facility for the frail and elderly.

Call Rachel Colgan on 07795 126562 with any suggestions for a suitable name for the proposed development.

PHOTO: One of the last football matches played on the site of Thame United’s old stadium in Windmill Road, Thame, soon to have houses built on it. (Oct 2004)