01/12/2011 Look North (Yorkshire)

Good evening. On Look North tonight, more protesters parents this time

take to the streets. A wage on the day school turns into an academy.

They say they are -- they say their concerns have been ignored. We will

hear from a local MP, who says the process of schools turning into

academies needs changing. The seasonal fight against drunk

and drink -- against drug and drink driving begins.

And and you take on Old Masters. Who is in line for Yorkshire's

biggest creative prize? A cold week to come. There could be

some icy patches in the West. All Welcome to Look North. There is

further controversy over the decision to turn a West Yorkshire

school in to an academy. Today was the first day that Prince Henry's

Grammar School in Otley no longer came under the control of Leeds

City Council. They have been protests, we have been reporting on

them, walkout by teachers and several of the governors have

resigned. Now the local MP has got involved on the day it happened. He

has written to the Education Secretary to complain about the way

the whole process has been handled. We will hear from the head teacher,

Janet Sheriff. First, here is Spencer Stokes.

Academies are appearing all over the country. Some are welcomed,

others are opposed. Bin Otley, the conversion of Prince Henry's

Grammar School into an academy has been fiercely resisted. There have

been strikes, public meetings and protests. Even today, with the

battle finally lost, parents have been continuing their campaign at

the school gates. They say they have simply been ignored. These

parents believed that had they that hundreds of other has been allowed

to vote on the issue then Prince Henrys would not have become an

academy. The Education Secretary Michael Gove keeps saying he wants

parents and teachers to be at the heart of decisions on education,

but that must apply to everyone in the country apart from Otley

because parents and teachers were ignored here. Governors vote stick

-- governors voted by ten-nine to break from Leeds City Council but

that lead to resignations from the governing body and six days of

strike action. Today, Otley's MP, speaking for the first time, said

the process of becoming an academy is that undemocratic and wants to

see it reformed. The rules to changing to an academy were drawn

up by Tony Blair's government. They were not fit for purpose then. They

are not fit for purpose now. There should be clear rules that make

sure that there is a two-thirds majority of any governing body who

wishes to convert to an academy and then clear guidelines on what a

consultation process should involve so that people do get the

opportunity to express their views and can be confident that those few

as well be properly heard. But any rule change will not affect Prince

Henrys. It's officially an academy and will remain so for the next

seven years at least. The school says moving from local authority

control guarantees it an extra �42,000 every month, but that

windfall will not all underpinned a classroom. Some of the cash will be

spent on human resources support, strengthening the finance team and

an external auditor. The conversion has been to visit. Even those who

opposed the Academy now accept it is time to move on -- it has been

divisive. People very -- people feel very hurt that this has

occurred. We have to start building relationships again and making sure

that we can work together in the future, going forward. Across

Yorkshire another 100 schools want to become academies. Head teachers

and governors may now be wondering if they too will see parents

fighting with as much vigour as they have done in this small town.

With us now is the head teacher of the new academy, Janet Sheriff.

Your school has always been very much part of the community. What

you have done at the moment is split the community in two, by the

sound of it. Well, actually, we need to keep things in proportion.

There are a group of the community who are being very vocal and very

anxious about... Is it a small part of the community, or a big part? It

seems to me the other majority. you put it into context we have

done consultation, lots of consultation with our parents and a

community. We wrote letters to nearly 3,000 parents and

prospective parents and we wrote to them and asked them to send their

views through an e-mail account, we asked them to two separate public

meetings, we put a notice in the local paper and invited all members

of the community to writing. many turned up to the meeting?

had approximately 100, 100 to the first and just over hundred to the

second and there were some mixed views. There was a lot of people

who came to the meeting who had lots of concerns about the

conversion to the Academy and the governors listened to those

concerns. We had lots of e-mails that came in. Greg Mulholland has

said the whole process is wrong, so is he wrong? Well, I am not at

first to looking at the process of how Academy conversions take place

but we, the governors and senior leadership team, we followed the

democratic rules as they were set out, we followed the government's...

Some of our viewers who don't know the detail will not know that quite

a number of your governors actually resigned, so strongly did they feel.

The governors did not support it all away. Some left as a result.

All of the governors before the resignations, we all decided how we

were going to go about doing the consultation process, we looked at

the possibility of having... sure you did everything above board

but the fact of the Matarrese that you split your governing body as

Harris suggested and the community so much so that some of the

governors resigned. Absolutely, I am really sorry that some of those

governors chose to resign over this. We had some really valuable

governors that had contributed a lot to the school but moving

forward we have a governing structure now that has an even

higher proportion of their elected parent and staff governors so did

community representation will still be there and we would love to see

some of the members of the community that have been anxious

about academies to work with us and look positively towards the future.

I think you could come a lot of parents and teachers down and they

have contacted us directly, concerned that you will close down

the swimming pool and cut staffing toffs -- costs by reducing salaries.

Addressed this two issues. Both of those things because this is an

example of some of the myths and misconceptions that has been

propagated in recent weeks about what becoming an Academy means.

First of all the swimming pool, the swimming pool is always come of the

decade since it has opened, it has been funded by Leeds City Council.

They fund community swimming. There has never been a time when schools

budget can be used to fund community swimming soap

Conversion... But has done nothing to do with this? Conversion does

not affect this at all. It is a red herring. And staff salaries.

Absolutely, we have given every assurance to staff and the unions

that we have no intention of changing the terms and conditions

or the pay grades of any of the staff. We want a career that

forward. The reason we have converted to academy status is to

try and build on the real strength of the school. It is a real

community school and make sure that it is successful in the future.

have to stop there, thank you very much indeed. At 10pm we will

discuss the controversy surrounding the Academy's with a number of West

Yorkshire's MPs. A mother whose son died when he was mown down by a

drunk driver in this job for his begging people not to drink and

drive. Karen Strong's 16-year-old son

Jamie was killed on New Year's Eve. Karen, from Otley, says she never

wants any other parent to suffer like she has. Her warning comes as

two Yorkshire police forces launched their Christmas drink-

driving campaigns. We will hear more about them in a moment but

first, Ian White has an exclusive report.

Karen Strong should be decided what to buy her son for Christmas.

Instead she is visiting his grave. I have brought you here to meet my

son, killed by a drink-driver last year. 16-year-old Jamie was killed

last New Year's Eve. The man responsible, Max McRae, is in

prison serving a four year sentence. He was twice over the link -- legal

drink-drive limit, was speeding and had been on his mobile phone. Jamie

was knocked down on the pavement while going to buy some Chinese

food. His mother cradled him in her Rance for 45 minutes. He died in

hospital Shotter before midnight. As everyone was singing Auld Lang

Syne and wishing everyone a new year, I was breaking the news that

the brother and Branson had been killed by a drunk driver. Because I

saw so as much on New Year's Eve to do with Jamie, being with him for

the last half an hour of his life, the things that doctors and nurses

had to do to try to save him, I have flashbacks, I have nightmares,

I have panic attacks, all because somebody got behind the wheel of a

car after drinking too much. What are your feelings for a driver?

couldn't possibly say. I don't want anything could happen to him

because he doesn't know how much he has devastated our family,

absolutely devastated us. Karen says the laws should be to from

people who drink and drive. They are so wrong. There are so many

flaws. If Max McRae had been stopped for drink-driving on New

year's to eat he would have lost his licence straight away but

because he went back one stage further and kill someone, he kept

his driving licence until 11th August. The justice system is so

wrong in this country. As Karen Strong prepares for the first

anniversary of Jamie's death, she hopes telling her story to Look

North will stop another story going through the same from a. From a

police perspective they cannot get the message through which is why I

felt strongly I needed to bring you down here to meet Jamie, to get

somebody not to get behind the wheel this party season. It would

mean the world to me. That was Karen Strong talking to

Ian Wright. It is sad stories like this one, and there are many more,

which make the police anti- drugs and drink-driving campaigns so

relevant this Christmas. Two of our forces launched their campaigns

today and South Yorkshire's has the hallmarks of the James Bond film as

James, are you sure you should Well, that should have shaken if

not stirred them in South Yorkshire. Meanwhile here in North Yorkshire

this year's Christmas safety campaign you might say is more of,

well, California dreaming. Tabak cast -- Tadcaster based traffic

constable Yvonne Taylor has spent three weeks in Sacramento learning

very special new skills. Now she is one of just seven drug recognition

experts in the country. It has given me a broader knowledge of

each individual category of drugs and what they particularly do to

the body. This car wreck from last Christmas in the Skipton airier is

a stark reminder of the problems faced by Yvonne Taylor and her

colleagues. But now she can bring her specialist drugs detection

skills to the roads as she shows in this stage demonstration. Can you

tell me if you have had anything alcoholic drink today? No. Nothing

at all? When I tell you I would like to raise your right foot six

to eight inches off the ground, keeping your legs stayed with your

foot parallel to the ground. You would tip -- touched the tip of

your nose with your finger. That is a series of tests, divided

attention tests, which asks people to do something physical whilst

using their brain as well to think about something. It divides the

retention and it helps us to identify whether they may be a

beard -- under the influence of drugs. She has reached a high level

of expertise in relation to her training. We are delighted she is

doing the work for us. Hopefully we will get the message to drivers who

are taking drugs, illegally in its own right, that they are lethal and

dangerous behind the wheel of a car. Police say drug and drunken drivers

will be caught this disc -- Christmas. They believe Yvonne

Taylor's new expertise can help Later on Look North. The final

journey home. Rifleman Sheldon Steel from Leeds is given for not -

- for honours at Brize Norton after losing his life in Afghanistan.

A 22-year-old man from Rotherham accused of murdering his former

lover has been found not guilty by a jury at Sheffield Crown Court.

Ishaq Hussain was accused of plotting to kill off 17-year-old

Laura Wilson with a friend. Laura's body was found in the South

Yorkshire Navigation Canal in Rotherham last October. Ishaq's

friend, 18-year-old Ashtiaq Asghar has already admitted murder.

A 47-year-old woman has been remanded in custody after a hammer

attack on an 84-year-old woman in Leyburn in North Yorkshire on

Monday. The woman has been charged with attempted murder and appeared

before magistrates in Northallerton this morning. The victim has been

discharged from hospital. The White Rose shopping centre in

Leeds 6 B is a huge increase in visitors yesterday, the day of mass

strike action across the country. More than 52,000 people shopped

there, the midweek average is 30,000. Other retail outlets across

the region also reported increased footfall.

York City Council has agreed to use any money saved as a result of the

strike action towards services for vulnerable people. It says it will

have saved up to �107,000 on its wage bill, and �10,000 will be used

for free parking on Boxing Day. The body of a Bramley soldier,

Sheldon Steel, has been returned to Britain. He was killed by an

improvised explosive in Afghanistan. Today his family and friends

travelled to Brize Norton to see the coffin come home.

A homecoming with honour, but no cheers. Sheldon Steel's body,

returned at RAF Brize Norton, to his family and friends, those that

loved him in life and now mourn his passing. Sheldon Steel was 6 ft 4,

he stood out in many ways. A man not of one of his goal's most

successful football teams, a gifted student with 11 GCSE ease. He

started doing A-levels, but chose a soldier's life, and died a sort

of's death. He it is tough, because you have mixed emotions. Proud of

him for what he did, but sad, for the family, because we know the

family and still teach one of his sisters. His brother is still in

school. We are aware of how it affects them and the community.

As a community, they mourn him. As a community, they half-expected

this. If not Sheldon, another brother, another son you hear it on

the news weekly if not every other night, there has been a death or

somebody killed in action. Because we have so many students at the

school who have gone into the forces, you think one day it will

be somebody we know. This is an area with a long and

proud tradition of service. Many people live here who have been or

still are members of the armed forces. Many others, like Sheldon

Steel, made the ultimate sacrifice. Before 7:00pm.

With a little help from his friend - the champion racehorse he is

still up for a top prize. And we preview the Northern Art

Prize finalist who uses the genius of Old Masters to create modern

pieces. Tanya is here with the sport, and

there is more information about how football will pay its respects to

Gary Speed. It will be an emotional weekend for

everybody. Clubs up and down the country will be paying their

respects, there will be applause at all the matches, and at Leeds

United and Sheffield United we have seen scarves and flowers and shouts

being laid all week as a mark of their respect for him. They are

planning special tributes to their own former player and former

manager. He started his career at Leeds United. They are going to

name a sweet after him, and ahead of their match at Millwall there

will be a minute's applause. Gary McAllister, Gordon Strachan, will

be on the pitch. How popular he was. Yes, they will

they wreath at either end of the ground, and you will have the

chanting from the fans. We also have a special match-day programme,

and they are saying to people, do keep bringing the shouts. Down at

Sheffield United, they will have a minute's applause and they will

have wreath laid by Chris Morgan and the former Welsh international

Robert Page. Match-day programmes are being dedicated to him, black

armbands up and down the country are being warned. At Sheffield

United Babel have images of Gary Speed in the car-park until the

rest of the season. Elsewhere, Doncaster's Taekwondo

type world champion Sarah Stevenson has forced a disappointment for the

lack of any woman on the shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of

the Year. She won the world title against the backdrop of finding out

babble of her parents were terminally ill. Since she won gold

in May, bald and have passed away. She feels that editors who have

voted for the award need to look at the lesser known sports. There are

people out there that care the best in their sport, and they deserve to

be recognised for that. It is going to be difficult for me to get

another chance, I think, because even if I won gold in 2012 there

will be so many other sports where people will get gold in higher

profile sports. So it is a lost opportunity, I think.

The trainers of a North Yorkshire horse are travelling to a

prestigious awards ceremony in London tonight in the hope of

coming home with silverware. Almaty Express from Middleham is a nominee

in the all weather category. But he would be nothing without help from

a special friend. Meet Almaty Express, nominated for

an award in the all-weather horse category. His unusual stablemate is

a god called Billy. He has agog as at Jan -- a companion. During

summer time it is fine because he goes out in the paddock every day,

but the goat keeps him happy. When his breed more money, and you get

more owners come to the yard, so when this is what it is all about.

He has not shown nerds at Wolverhampton. He has chalked up

more wins than any other horse since 1993. Above the stables in

Middleham, a horse prepares for his next race. His success on the track

means John, whose dad and grandad were both trainers, will attend the

racehorse owners' awards at London's Park Lane Hilton. The

family tradition began with any's dad Jack. After the Second World

War he got a trainer's licence. Unfortunately he died when I was 23

years old, he died in 1958. That would make you the youngest trainer

of the country? I was, I was the youngest trainer. And visitors to

the trainers can always hear when things are going well. Every time

we have a winner we ring the spell. This is one of the first main --

racing stables in Middleham, and the rest a round used to have one

as well and they used to bring whenever there was a winner. But

this is the only one left and in use. No horses are invited to the

awards, but if he wins, he will get a few of these.

If he wins, he would dedicate the award to Billy! It is a joint

effort. Sir Elton John will be performing

in Harrogate for the first time next summer.

Sir Elton and his band will bring their live show to the main stadium

at Great Yorkshire Showground. It is on 5th June, 2012. He is the

first artist to perform there. are elated to get the news that he

will be here in our main stadium, it is the first time we have had

somebody here doing a concert. We have horses, showjumping, but never

a concert. My favourite Elton John track is

Philadelphia Freedom. The Northern Art Prize is a

region's answer to the Turner Prize. It awards one northern artist every

year after a rigorous selection procedure for shortlisted artists

have their work on show at the City Art Gallery.

Now as week we saw the work of two of them, now Cathy Killick can

introduce us to the wacky work of The Northern art prize totals

�20,000. For artists are vying to win, last week we concentrated on

two of them, this week it is the turn of the other two.

Leo Fitzmaurice likes to reorganise familiar objects to give an you

take on things we are used to. He has done that here, rearranging old

masters from the Leeds collection to get a huge new landscape called

Horizon. This is the other part of Leo's show. He has built a shipping

crate, and inside is a slide show of seven years' worth of photos. He

has taken them on a mobile phone. They tell a story of how my mind

works, in a way similar to the paintings, it was an editing

process. When you go out into the world you see things in and unite.

Richard rick is the youngest shortlisted artist. He uses

carpentry among other skills to make play for sculptures.

A I cannot deny that art can be bewildering at times, and here it

is as if the artist is playing with that idea. Chairs, that are not

shares. It is a visual puzzle which becomes a mental puzzle. What is it

all about? I do not know, but they are very beautifully made. I think

it is slightly unsettling. So you want to unsettle people? Are not

immensely, but do I do not have any aims to do that. It would be nice

if that was the upshot. The his exhibition is free and open

to all. All you need to bring it is an open mind and let it wonder. It

Can I ask you something? Everybody has been talking about

drought. How are we with water here?

We are all right, Yorkshire Water issued a statement estate stocks

are 75%. The eastern side has been dry, the driest November on record.

We are doing OK at the moment. This is from a gym and is a lovely shot

of Whitby. -- This is from June. Keep your pictures coming in.

Tomorrow we so see some sunshine, it will turn to -- it will tend to

cloud of a. Our weather system brings some rain in from the West,

and then over the weekend it turns unsettled. Derby next week a cold

snap. The first snow of the season in the form of showers. Not too

many problems. At the moment there is a problem in the fact that we

have scattered showers across the Pennines. They have been persistent

over the last few hours and will clear away, but a skies clear there

could be a problem later tonight. The cloud gradually melts away, a

widespread frost across Yorkshire tonight, and where there has been

showers across the Pennines look out for icy patches after midnight,

towards dawn tomorrow morning. Temperatures from zero to-two

Celsius. The sun will rise in the morning at 8:02am. Those are your

high water times. Watch out for that Frost, a few icy patches. The

best sunshine tomorrow will be in eastern areas. Further west, one or

two showers possible. It will cloud of a from the West by the end of