The South Glos Post

Hundreds of delegates have today descended on the Bristol & Bath Science Park for Venturefest Bristol 2011, organised by Science City Bristol.

The aim of the event is to bring new, technology and innovation based business ideas together with the funding and support required to make them grow. Core to Venturefest Bristol 2011 is the ‘Innovation Showcase’ where new businesses will be demonstrating their innovative products and services. New entrepreneurs will also be perfecting their techniques in ‘The Pitch at Venturefest’.

Other highlights include keynote speeches by Paul Magelli, serial entrepreneur and founder of Bristol based Apertio, sold to Nokia Siemens Networks; and Nigel Risner, author, television presenter, motivational speaker, and experienced business coach.

The business community in the West of England has joined forces to support the organisation of Venturefest Bristol 2011. The four universities in the Bristol and Bath area have all provided sponsorship and are represented at the event. They recognise the positive impact that an event like Venturefest can have on bringing businesses and academia together to commercialise new technology.

Read more about the organisations attending Venturefest 2011 »

Source: Science City Bristol

South Gloucestershire Council has welcomed the launch of SPark, the Bristol and Bath Science Park, following its official opening by the Rt Hon David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, on Monday 26th September.

The 59-acre site in Emersons Green is set to become a new powerhouse for research and development in the region creating an anticipated 6,000 highly-skilled jobs.

Council leader John Calway said:

“South Gloucestershire is already home to many of the region’s most innovative and high-tech companies and [its] launch is very welcome.”

“I look forward to seeing SPark flourish as a hotbed for cutting-edge innovation and enterprise, bringing even more new, high-quality jobs to our local economy.”

“South Gloucestershire Council’s planning team has worked hard with SPark’s developers to help realise this landmark project and will continue to do so in the future.”

Bristol is one of six Science Cities in England, recognising its many achievements in world class scientific research, innovation and development. The other Science Cities designated by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, in 2005 are Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and York.

To date, Bristol has been the only Science City in the country not to have a science park and creating one is a major step forward in promoting the region’s concentration of highly-skilled people as well as creating a hotbed for future innovation.

Read on for more news about the park and its official opening »

Staff and pupils at Emersons Green Primary School are having a double celebration, as the school’s 10th birthday coincides with an “outstanding” report from schools regulator Ofsted.

The school was inspected in May, and was one of the first to be inspected nationally as part of a new pilot being run by Ofsted. It achieved “outstanding” ratings in leadership and management, achievement, teaching and learning, and behaviour and safety.

The report said the school has “An exciting curriculum, with a fully inclusive range of opportunities, helps pupils develop into responsible youngsters, well prepared for the next step in their education.”

“Since the last inspection, the inspirational leadership and management continue to relentlessly raise expectations in teaching and learning. This has led to consistently very effective teaching and higher academic standards.”

Headteacher Jan Isaac said: “We are all thrilled by the results of this inspection and it is a testament to the dedication of the staff, pupils, parents and governors that our overall effectiveness should be judged as outstanding. Our challenge now is to maintain and build upon this success for the future.”

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Staff and pupils at Blackhorse Primary School in Emersons Green are celebrating after being rated ‘good’ by Ofsted inspectors.

During their visit last month, inspectors found that the South Gloucestershire primary school “has improved significantly and is now a good school.”

Acting Headteacher, Philip Winterburn, said: “This is a fantastic result for Blackhorse which recognises the huge commitment and hard work of the staff, children and families. To have Ofsted confirm that we are a solidly good school is a moment of huge pride for everyone associated with the school.”

Many areas of good practice were highlighted, including the pupils’ behaviour which was praised by inspectors as “good and sometimes outstanding” as a result of “positive relationships between staff, parents and carers.”

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Reception Year) were found to, “settle quickly, making a good start to their education.” It was also observed that, “as a result of the effective teamwork, good leadership and well-organised, imaginative teaching, children (in Reception) become happy and confident, making good progress in lessons.”

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Source: South Gloucestershire Council