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Clevedon School pupils to leave tents as school building approved

Clevedon School pupils to leave tents as school building approved

BBC News16-05-2025
Pupils will soon be able to move out of being taught in tents after a new school building was approved.Children at Clevedon School had to be taught in two marquees since 2023, after the discovery of high alumina cement concrete (HACC) caused 22 classrooms to shut.Plans to build a new school building have now been approved by North Somerset Council's planning committee on 14 May.One parent wrote on the planning website: "This is desperately needed so that children don't have to be educated in tents anymore. They are freezing in the winter, sweltering in the summer and not sound proof so lessons are disrupted by noise from the next classroom."
HACC is a weakness in concrete that can lead to sudden and catastrophic collapse. The planning application for the new building was submitted and funded by the Department of Education.Planning committee member Hannah Young said approving the plans was "critical". Another member, Clare Hunt, added: "Everybody has really done their best to keep the school going throughout these circumstances and I really hope that this will be a good intermediate solution to these problems and in the end they will get the school they deserve."However, there were people objecting to the plans on the council's planning portal, saying they were "gutted" that the plans will mean the loss of the school's long jump and running track. One parent of children who compete in athletics said: "With this facility gone, where do our children - the next Olympic athletes - train?"Tom Quill, speaking for the plans in front of the council meeting, said the long jump and track was the "only appropriate location" and other locations, like the football pitches, was "used more".Planning permission for a replacement track will be submitted within three months.
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My father finally acknowledged my stepmother's cruelty. How do I ask him to reconsider their marriage?
My father finally acknowledged my stepmother's cruelty. How do I ask him to reconsider their marriage?

The Guardian

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My father finally acknowledged my stepmother's cruelty. How do I ask him to reconsider their marriage?

I have a stepmother who my brother and I really despise. She has made our relationship with our dad really hard, and has tried to stop him seeing us at points. She has resented us since we were little. My dad has recently admitted that he thinks she is jealous of us and has a lot of regret for the way we were treated in the past. The trouble lies in the fact that he has said if anything happens to him (ie if he dies first) we would need to make an effort with her will-wise, to ensure we were treated fairly, as he doesn't quite trust she would do the right thing. It feels incredibly hard to acknowledge this and agree when he has essentially admitted he doesn't trust her with his dying wish. I also find it really hard to deal with the fact he is finally acknowledging how cruel she has been, but still insists we have a relationship. It makes me think he's a coward. I really want to bring this up to him, but have no idea how to say: 'Do you not think you should reconsider your marriage, based on the way in which you have shown you don't trust your wife, and believe she is jealous of your children?' Eleanor says: First non-philosophical thing: if you haven't already, I think you should get legal advice about the will. Is it that he might die intestate, and he's hoping you'll all sort it out? Or has he made arrangements, but worries she might challenge them? Legal advice would clarify what can be done now to avoid a horrible tangle later. That's hard – nobody likes to get into the details about their dad's death. Or indeed their own. But it'll be so much harder, emotionally and legally, if your first advice about a possible estate conflict only comes after he's died. To your question. You said you weren't sure how to say what you wanted to say. When we say 'I can't figure out how to say such-and-such', I always think the answer is to just say the such-and-such. You wrote it: 'Do you not think you should reconsider your marriage, based on the ways you don't trust your wife, and believe she's jealous of your children?' A heady thing to say, for sure. But it's not the word choice that makes it heady. You'd be asking your dad why he's still married. You can soften the phrasing, but it's the content of that question that makes us flinch, not the way of asking it. More frightening still is the fact that he might have an answer. Through your (and my) eyes that question is almost rhetorical: why stay married to someone you don't trust and who's mean to your kids? However, the fact that they are still married and that he wants you to have a relationship with her means that, for him, there might well be an answer. He might have considerations on the other side of the scale that outweigh the fact that she's mean to his kids. Maybe he likes her enough. Maybe he doesn't want to be alone. Maybe he thinks he's too old, he's not willing to make the change. Maybe he thinks the conflicts between her and his kids aren't his concern. Maybe what look like obvious dealbreakers to you are just some considerations among many for him. The point is, your real question for him might be an even bigger flinch. Not just 'why won't you act on your judgment?', but 'why isn't it your judgment that you should leave?' It's possible he has bona fide answers – things that, to him, are more important than the way she treats you. It is hard to say which would hurt more: him not being brave enough to act on what he values, or this being exactly what it looks like when he does. I truly don't know which of these it is. I feel for you the same in both cases. I don't know whether you should ask him either question out loud; I don't know how conversations with him tend to go, or whether his answer would make you feel better. I do know that when someone isn't acting on what they say they see, it isn't always that they lack the courage of their convictions. Sometimes they're showing us their convictions through inaction.

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