Parish Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer for Blewbury Parish Council

Blewbury Parish Council is looking for a clerk and RFO. This part-time position will take between 65 and 75 hours per calendar month, working from home apart from monthly council meetings on the second Wednesday of each month, the annual parish meeting and finance (& other) committee meetings. These are all generally held in the evening.

The clerk provides administrative and clerical support, as well as managing the council’s finances. Local government experience would be an advantage but is not essential – training and personal development is actively encouraged.

We’re looking for a proactive self-starter who can demonstrate a calm, organised approach to work, and show attention to detail. You should have good communication skills, and we’d expect you to be  used to working in Word and Excel. The council uses Scribe to process financial information – prior experience of this not essential.

Salary will be at the appropriate point on the scale LC2 SPC18–28 – between £15.84 and £19.66/hour – depending on experience. There is an allowance of £26/month for working from home, plus pension contributions.

Please contact the clerk at blewburypc@gmail.com for a full job description and application form. The deadline for applications is 31^st January 2025.

My warmest wishes for the new year. It was wonderful to join in local social and festive occasions such as the switching on of Christmas lights.

Before parliament ended, I was able to address ministers about important matters. These included: how local communities can benefit from clean energy schemes, the need for improvements in services provided by coroners following the sudden deaths of those with epilepsy, and the need to address electoral reform. Some responses were more helpful than others!

I was able to speak in debates about the problems faced by those with disabilities, shared concerns raised by poor estate management, and championed the BBC (which I am sure many of us watched and listened to over Christmas).

The Transport Select committee meet to hold the Department of Transport to account. Two key areas discussed have been rail services and infrastructure, and the backlog of driving tests, which so many constituents have aired concerns about.

Flooding remains a significant concern. I chaired a meeting with Thames Water and the local councils to facilitate working together. I will continue to provide updates about this vital piece of work as we need to see real improvements.

My team provides support for all our constituents. Please contact me if I can help, or if you would like me to attend a local event or meet with a local organisation. My parliamentary email address is olly.glover.mp@parliament.uk

If you use social media, you can follow me for more regular updates on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OllyGloverLD/ and Bluesky – as I have moved away from X/Twitter: @ollyglover.bsky.social

I look forward to meeting as many as of you as possible in 2025.

Olly

The Blewbury Bulletin is grateful for the fantastic response to our November appeal for a new editor; we had a good number of great candidates.

As a result, we are  pleased to announce that Neville Hargreaves (left) will be taking over the hot seat from early 2025. Neville and his wife Sarah have  lived in Blewbury since 2015 and are part of the team running the Blewbury Garden Market. He works in the renewable fuels industry, on a project to make jet fuel from household waste; he will be going part-time in January which should allow him to spend more time walking – and to edit the Bulletin.

At the same time, Brian Mills (right) will be taking over as online content manager and webmaster. Brian has also lived here since 2015 and works part-time as an IT programme manager.

A Taste of Honey:  all about bees and bee keeping, including honey tasting

Monday 10^th March, 8.00pm Melland Room, tickets £6 including a drink of your choice

Yvonne Parkes, Trustee and Membership Secretary of the Oxfordshire Beekeeping Association, will be talking to us about different types of bees in the UK and why they are so important to our eco system. We’ll learn how we can help our pollinators and enjoy a taste test comparing shop-bought and bee-keeper honeys. Tickets on the door.

Blewbury School is delighted with the outcomes from its recent Ofsted inspection, which gave the School an overall grade of ‘Good’ with its Early Years provision being graded as ‘Outstanding’.

The now published Ofsted report recognises the School’s ‘high ambitions’ and how children work hard, behave well and achieve well. It states that leaders ‘have high aspirations for pupils. They share the same inclusive vision and keep pupils at the heart of decision-making’. Inspectors also praised the School’s focus on reading, and how it ‘provides well for pupils’ wider development’ with a range of experiences such as pupil leadership opportunities, trips and clubs.

The ‘Outstanding’ Early Years provision is highlighted, with the report stating that ‘children get off to an excellent start. The early years curriculum prepares children well for the next stage of their education. Children cooperate extremely well with each other and happily share resources with friends.’

Headteacher, Jo Reeder, said: ‘We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the inspection. The first sentence of the report ‘pupils are proud of their inclusive and caring school’ absolutely reflects our ethos. I am incredibly proud of the staff team for their hard work and dedication; and am grateful to governors, parents, carers and wider community for supporting the School on its improvement journey. I am delighted with the way pupils articulated and showed our values to the inspectors, who particularly commented to us on how respectful and tolerant they were of each other’s views and differences.’ 

The successful inspection outcome marks an important milestone for our School which joined multi-academy trust Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust (ODST) in January 2020 following a previous inspection that was not so positive. The School has since undergone a transformation with new leadership and support from ODST.

Anne Dellar, ODST Chief Executive said: ‘Ofsted inspections are rigorous and to be graded ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ for Early Years education is a remarkable achievement. Children really are getting the best possible start at Blewbury. I’m extremely proud of the School leaders, staff and children, who make it such a happy and inclusive environment in which to learn. Blewbury strives for excellence and ODST will continue to support the school through this next exciting chapter.’

The School governors, led by Ann Parham, have also congratulated the School for this huge commendation for its work.

In the photo: Headteacher Jo Reeder (left) & Chair of Governors Ann Parham with four jubilant House Captains