Ofsted rates Dorchester-on-Thames Pre-School ‘good’

For those that haven’t yet heard the good news

Ofsted was impressed with staff at Dorchester-on-Thames Pre-School near Berinsfield during a visit last month, and has now rated it ‘good’.

A report released this week by an inspector stated: “The manager leads a dedicated staff team that works hard to improve outcomes for children.

“Children develop the skills they need for the next stage of their learning and their eventual move on to school.

Congratulations to all at the pre-school

Full Article in the Oxford Mail: http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/16234945.Staff_dedication_seals_preschool_Ofsted_success/

 

Dorchester and GDPR

This post has been written by Daniel Duke (a resident, and website volunteer)

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Definition: the “General Data Protection Regulation”

As many of you may have noticed over the past few weeks, there have been more and more emails landing in your inbox talking about a thing called GDPR.  They have asked you to confirm you still want access to the content, whilst appearing to threaten to remove you from the list if you don’t reply by the 25th May.

This is not a threat though, but a legal requirement, brought about by this important (and not pointless) law.  It’s main intention is to ensure that if a company has our data, and that they use it for marketing, research, or anything else, that we have specifically said that we definitely want our data used in that way.  Complex privacy policies are not good enough anymore, neither are preselecting checkboxes, or just writing an email on a scrap of paper and saying that it counts as consent.

The main points are: a user must give consent, they must have known they were doing so, and you should have a record showing exactly what they filled out (and when).

Now, it is worth noting I do am not an expert in GDPR, and if you are concerned, then it may be worth talking to an professional advisor on this matter.  The purpose of this article is to help the small community groups in our village to understand what needs to be done.

There are a lot of sites that can help though, in particular the checklist on this page, which helps you to easily work out if you need to do something based on how you acquired the data:

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/lawful-basis-for-processing/consent/

If you think this is useful, please do share to others in the village via email/facebook/twitter/etc. So that all people with mailing lists for their events/groups/teams knows that they may need to do something.

Also, the Parish Council will be updating their Privacy Policy about GDPR by the end of the coming week to help inform you all on how they have to use any information given to them.

 

Exemptions:

As with any law, there are of course exemptions, which can be found here

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/exemptions/

But on a basic note, this page lists all the security/health/legal things you may not be working with.  

On a small business basis though the exemption which may be of most interest to you would be ‘contractual’ (https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/lawful-basis-for-processing/contract/) now this doesn’t get around the fact that you should only store data necessary to perform the task (do you really need to know someones gender to quote for some electrical work?), but if you have been asked to give a quote, or are providing a service, then for this purpose (and this purpose only) you have been given suitable consent to use their data.

Of course, if you are considering whether an exemption applies to you, contact a professional to confirm if it does or not.

 

Example 1: The village newsletter

Issues with our signup form

  • The 2 extra lists (village announcements and lost/found alerts) were pre-selected. You (the user) must specifically click on one of them to approve
  • As we had these sub-lists, we should also have had one for the general bulletin too (so people can sign up for lost/found, but not the bulletin)
  • We did not have suitable text explaining exactly how your information would be used

 

What we have therefore done

  • An email has gone out asking for people to confirm they still want our newsletter
  • The new form does not auto-select the checkboxes
  • The bulletin has it’s own checkbox
  • On the 25th May, we will delete ALL users that have not yet confirmed they want to receive the bulletin still

 

Example 2: A community group in the village hall

What may have been done in the past:

  • Signup by writing an email on a blank/vague piece of paper
  • Word of mouth
  • A general request for information (but not to join)
  • A historic signing up, but no obvious way to leave the group

What could now be done:

  • A proper paper form, explaining what they are signing up for, and what their data will be used for (you must keeps these forms)
  • When emails are sent out, always explain in the footer how they can unsubscribe from the list
  • Email all users now to reply to confirm they want to stay on this specific list (be very specific, and you must also keep these emails)

 

Example 3: Event planning

What may have been done in the past:

  • You may have slowly created a manual email list of volunteers/donors to contact
  • You may have collected emails of people that have attended before
  • You may have collected details through raffle/competitions

What could now be done:

  • You need those users to confirm they want to be on those lists, so similar process’ to that in example 2.
  • An exception MIGHT be possible for businesses whose details are public anyway (equivalent of looking on their website and contacting them).

 

Example 4: An alert email list

What may have been done in the past:

  • You may have slowly collected emails, and just added to a mailing list thinking people were interested

What could now be done:

  • You have to ask if they want to still be on that list

 

Further Reading

 

DADS Auditions: The Slipper and the Rose

The Slipper and the Rose is based on the 1976 musical film retelling the classic fairy tale of Cinderella. Directed by Bryan Forbes, the film starred Gemma Craven and Richard Chamberlain and featured a supporting cast led by Michael Hordern, Kenneth More, Edith Evans and Annette Crosbie.

Come and be part of this magical family mulsical featuring wonderful songs and constumes which tells the story of Cinderella. If you are interested in being part of this fabulous show, either on stage of behind the scenes, we’d love to hear from you.

We are looking for singers and actors (there’s a number of non-singing roles) and also need people to do all the other tasks which help to make the show possible.

Audition Schedule:
Read-through / Audition – Monday 18th June – 7.30-9.30pm
Singing / Audition – Thursday 21st June – 7.30-0.30pm
Combined Read-through/Singing Audition – Saturday 23rd June 3-5/5.30

Rehearsals are every Monday and Thursday evening in the back room of the Village Hall from 7.30-9.30pm and will start on Monday 2 July.

For more information or to request audition pieces please contact Ann (membership@dads.org.uk)

Bank holiday bin days

South Oxfordshire District Council is reminding householders of the usual changes to their waste collections during the week following May Bank Holiday Monday.

There will be no waste collections on Bank Holiday Monday 7 May.  Everyone’s bins will then be emptied one day later than usual for the rest of that week.

This includes households who normally have their bins emptied on a Friday – crews will be working on Saturday 12 May to catch up as normal on a bank holiday week.

In South Oxfordshire, this is a green bin, brown bin and food waste bin collection week.

See Bank Holiday collections for further information.

Did you know? …the council can now collect cooking oil placed in a plastic bottle (no bigger than 1 litre) inside your food waste caddy.

To keep up to date then try Binzone, the council’s great app, which is designed for smartphones so you can have all your collection dates at your fingertips all day, every day. Search for ‘Binzone’ on Google Play Store (Android) or on Appstore (Apple).

Sheep killed at Bishops Court Farm on the morning of Monday 30th April

I am sorry to have to report that yesterday morning the body of a ewe was found between Bishops Court Farm and the backs of the houses on Abingdon Road. Her throat had been badly bitten and ripped open, probably by a dog.

I have been asked to circulate the standard Police advice about Livestock worrying by dogs and this is below.

The Farm has also asked me to point out that although some residents and visitors to the village may not like the signs that they keep putting up (but which continue to be ripped down!), they are there for the safety of the livestock and the public.

Geoff Russell, Parish Clerk

 

Livestock worrying is becoming an increasing issue especially now that spring has arrived and the lambing season is well under way. It is important that dogs are kept under control to protect the livestock as well as you and your pet.

Livestock that are killed or injured as the result of an out of control dog is a criminal offence. During such attacks dogs can be injured too.

There are simple ways to keep both your pet and livestock safe.

Keep your dog on a lead – Dog walkers that use open access land must keep their dog on a short lead (a maximum of two metres) between 1 March and 31 July. If near livestock this applies at all times.

Stick to paths and public rights of way – Often areas of private land may have footpaths running through them. Mostly, these paths are to the edge of fields to minimise disruption to any livestock in that area, it is important to follow these paths.

Look out for and follow signs – Most land owners will display simple ‘Keep your dog on a lead’ signs, however, at this time of year, some livestock owners restrict access to their land to protect their animals. It is important to follow this advice.

Even well behaved dogs can cause stress and disruption to livestock.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your dog is under control at all times.

For more information on this issue and ways to report rural crime, please visit the Thames Valley Police website.

Message Sent By
J Williams (Police, Neighbourhood Policing Admin, South Oxon and Vale)