For children starting school in West Sussex next year, it’s now time to apply for places. Applications are now open for children who start in reception at primary and infant schools in September 2023. The quickest and easiest way is to apply online and the deadline for applications is 15 January 2023. Children born between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019 are eligible to start school next September. Children who are currently in Year 2 at infant school will also need to apply for a place to start junior school in September next year. It is strongly advised that parents and carers apply on time, before 15 January 2023, so as to give themselves the best chance of being offered one of their three preferences. Those who apply late are far less likely to get a place at one of their three preferred schools and will still need to apply, as they will not automatically be given a place. Nigel Jupp, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: “Helping people and communities to fulfil their potential is one of the key priorities in Our Council Plan and our schools play a significant role in helping to achieve this.“ When considering your three preferences, I encourage families to do as much research into the schools as possible. Please look at a school’s website and make contact with schools directly to ask questions and find out about their open days.” All of the information about applying is on the Council website. Free use of computers with internet access is available in all West Sussex libraries, there’s no need to book. Those unable to apply online can request a form through the post by calling 033 301 42903. Parents/carers are advised to include three preference schools on their application, listing them in order of preference. Parents/carers who want their child to go to their catchment school will need to include that school as a preference for it to be considered. If parents apply after the closing date they are far less likely to get a place at one of their preferred schools. County Council admissions staff are available for those who need help with their application. Contact the admissions team by phoning 033 301 42903 or emailing the admissions team north: admissions.north@westsussex.gov.uk or the admissions team south: admissions.south@westsussex.gov.uk Secondary school applications are currently open for September 2023 and close on 31 October 2022.

Saturday 15th October 2022

Jane, on Rushams Road, wishes to make our local residents aware of the fact that she is closing her produce stall on Rushams Road shortly.

The stall made about £645 for “Tommy’s Baby Loss Support” charity.

In addition Jane had received an amazing £1000 donation from a Trafalgar resident! She is very grateful to the residents for the support given!

Jany stays:

…’The support from local residents has been great, particularly some of the help received from the Birds Farm allotment holders who have regularly donated produce to sell on the stall.‘

LAUNCH EVENT!

Horsham Matters are promoting their Household Budget Support Services, which includes benefit and debt advice to ensure everyone is making the most of their money and getting the benefits they are entitled too.  Horsham Matters have seen a huge increase in the number of people using their foodbank, and with the cost of living going up, they are expecting to see this number continue to rise.

Swifts have been thriving for about 70 million years, when they would have been nesting in crevices in rocks and trees alongside the last of the Tyrannosaurs. But despite millions of years, something has now gone dramatically wrong, and UK numbers have plummeted in the last 25 years.

These extraordinary birds can remain in the air for three whole years because everything else apart from nesting is done on the wing. Only when they reach maturity and start to build will they touch anything solid.

No other bird can fly faster in level flight. They eat insects, drink raindrops or water from a lake, even mating and sleeping on the wing, up near Earth’s stratosphere. Their huge eyes are surrounded by bristles that act as sun visors and their feet are incredibly strong and so needle-sharp and tiny that they are unable to hop or walk, so they fly directly into the holes, cling to walls or slip into spaces where they can easily drop back out again.

Swifts originally used caves, cliffs and tree-holes for nesting, but have used man-made spaces since Roman times. Older buildings tended to have easily accessible eaves and lofts, but as these and other habitats disappear, so do the swifts. Swifts are ‘site-faithful’, so if a building has been demolished or renovated they need to find somewhere new, quickly. If an alternative site can’t be found fast, the entire breeding season is lost.

A nesting pair of swifts may need 20,000 insects a day, but widespread chemical use and habitat loss have led to crashes in insect populations. Climate change also has impacts on swifts with increased frequency of extreme weather events and disrupted weather patterns affecting their insect food as well as their own journeys.

We know via data loggers (tiny backpacks weighing one gram) that UK-bred swifts spend the winters in Africa, so we can’t save ’our’ swifts by creating nature reserves – an average swift flies 4 million miles!

Fortunately, there are now over a hundred swift community groups across the UK, including ‘Swift Cities’ and towns such as Bristol, Oxford and Harleston in Norfolk which lists swifts as, “economic drivers, social melders, educational, biodiversity indicators and activity generators”. Their spectacular aerial acrobatics and piercing screams are welcomed as signalling the arrival of an English summer.

So what can we do here?

Making insect-friendly gardens with a pond is great, and possibly more importantly, joining in the Citizen Science project to see where we need to put swift boxes. Swifts are only with us from May till early August so we would love you to log a swift diary of ‘when & where’ sightings over Horsham for the next 8 weeks or so, to help compile evidence as swifts usually nest within the same area as others and young birds will research potential nest sites during May and June, in anticipation of returning to breed there in future.

Please send your Swift Log by 24th August to swiftshorsham@gmail.com

Also enjoy Swift Mapper