London

A brilliant teacher, an amazing school cook or an inspirational teaching assistant? Hackney School Stars is back for a second year and is a chance for members of the community to nominate any member of schools or early years staff for a special award.

Residents all know school staff make a huge difference to the lives of Hackney’s children. The Council is asking parents, guardians, school governors or young person who would just like to say thank you, to nominate their school star.

For the last few years Hackney council has recognised its hard working staff through the Hackney Stars scheme, and for the second year schools stars winners will join them to receive an award at Hackney Town Hall, presented by the Mayor, Philip Glanville, Deputy Mayor Cllr Anntoinette Bramble and Chief Executive of Hackney Council, Tim Shields.

The categories are:

• Teacher of the Year (for all teaching staff)

• Hackney Schools Star (for all non-teaching schools support workers, those who work in schools who aren’t teaching but are delivering a service in a school)

• Lifetime Achievement Award (for teaching and non-teaching staff who have worked their career in Hackney for over 15 years)

More about the categories:

Teacher of the Year

Teachers have some of the most challenging but extremely rewarding jobs. We want to make sure that they get the recognition they deserve. We are looking for outstanding teachers who continually strive for their pupils, support them to achieve, who have improved results, who are innovative and forward thinking, and make a real mark on our children and young people. What they do shapes and changes lives: please nominate your amazing teachers.

Hackney Schools Star

It's not just teachers who make a good impression on children, parents and guardians; whether they are staff who are cooking meals, cleaning, managing facilities and keeping things running, caring for our early years children, providing brilliant clubs or special educational services - without these dedicated staff - schools would struggle to reach the high standards we expect. Often in the background - our support staff are essential to meet all of our children's needs on a daily basis.

Lifetime Achievement

This award is to recognise a teacher or schools staff who has proved their dedication and commitment to Hackney. They will have served over fifteen years in their organisation or in service to children in Hackney. The judges will be looking for someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the borough, and deserves recognition for being an amazing ambassador over their years of service.

Nominating is easy! Please go to www.hackney.gov.uk/hackney-schools-stars where you can find an online form, or print off a paper version. Nominations open on Wednesday 10 October.

Deadline midnight 7 December.

Don’t weaken planned vehicle safety measures – say leading academics and safety experts.

Leading road danger reduction and safety organisations and academics have written to key committees of the European Parliament and to national delegates asking them not to weaken EU Commission proposals to improve vehicle safety, including designs to remove blind spots in lorries.

See below for how you can ask your MEP (Member of European Parlaiment)  to support the safety measures and not allow them to be weakened.

The letter is a response to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA)’s attempts to weaken the European Commission’s proposals on new vehicle safety measures.

The full letter is here. It is signed by:

Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director, European Transport Safety Council

David Ward, President and CEO, Towards Zero Foundation

Prof. Oliver Carsten, Professor of Transport Safety, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds

Stephen Russell, Secretary General,ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardization

Paolo Cestra, President, TISPOL, the European Traffic Police Network

Bernhard Ensink, Secretary General,European Cyclists’ Federation

 William Todts, Executive Director, Transport & Environment

 Jeannot Mersch, President, FEVR, European Federation of Road Traffic Victims

 Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General,POLIS, Cities and Regions for Transport Innovation

 Geert van Waeg, President, International Federation of Pedestrians

 Prof. Pete Thomas, Loughborough University

It includes the following includes a paragraph about improving direct vision:

Direct Vision: better driver reaction times

The Commission proposal includes direct vision requirements for trucks and buses, which would mean automotive companies sell vehicles where the driver can see more of the road space around their vehicle. “Direct vision” is the term given to what drivers can see directly through the windows of their vehicle. This is different to “indirect vision”, which is what a driver sees on a monitor or in a mirror. ACEA claims that a sensor system that detects cyclists or pedestrians is more effective. Seeing something “directly” though has been proven to increase reaction speeds by 0.7 seconds. In practice, improving reaction speeds by 0.7 seconds means a reduction of 5 meters in stopping distance if a vehicle is traveling at 25 km/h. 5 meters of additional travel before stopping can be the difference between life and death.

Furthermore, surveys have shown that cyclists and pedestrians feel a greater sense of safety when they can make eye contact with truck drivers. This is a more effective safety solution than only having sensors, as sensors can be ignored or require time to identify the source of the alert. Sensors have a key role in improving truck safety, most importantly in areas of the truck where direct vision is not possible.

If you want to alert your MEPs (London has 8 MEPs) to the letter you can send this link https://etsc.eu/letter-aceas-attempts-to-weaken-the-european-commissions-proposals-on-new-vehicle-safety-measures/ to them.

The London MEPs are (with emails below)

Claude Moraes(Con), Syed Kamall(Con), Mary Honeyball(Lab), Gerard Batten (UKIP), Lucy Anderson (Lab), Charles Tannock (Con), Seb Dance (Lab); Jean Lambert (Green)

office@claudemoraes.com ;syed.kamall@ep.europa.eu; mary@maryhoneyball.net; gerard.batten@btinternet.com; office@lucyanderson.org; charles@charlestannock.com; seb.dance@ep.europa.eu; jeanlambert@greenmeps.org.uk

Full details of MEPs are here: