18/01/2017 South East Today

Welcome to South East Today, I'm Polly Evans.

Crisis talks as teachers threaten strike action,

after a pupil allegedly carried out a serious attack

A return to a full service on Southern is promised next week,

with Aslef union members suspending strike action.

We'll be live in London with the details of the talks and political

reaction. The Kent family desperate to raise

a quarter of a million pounds for pioneering cancer treatment

for their two-year-old daughter. The last south of Florence willing

to her third birthday is the happiest tumour taken out of there.

-- to have this. The call for a bald emoji

to represent hair loss from a Sussex woman who suffered with alopecia

for eight years. And a rare find - the letters

uncovered in an historic Kent house shining a light on the life

of 17th century nobility. A Kent school has held crisis talks

after teachers said they would go on strike following a "serious"

assault on a member The National Union of Teachers has

accused the administration at St Gregory's Catholic School

of 'failing its duty' to protect staff after the assault,

which is believed to have The industrial action

is being called "unprecedented" and could take place

next week due to concerns that the student involved

had not been expelled Tonight, the NUT said "the safety

and welfare of staff and other Our education correspondent

Bryony Mackenzie reports. The school said the incident

happened before Christmas when the students were described as being in

very high spirits. The people in question was suspended but it is can

now return to school. Parents today were concerned about the situation.

I can understand that teachers want to ballot to strike because of their

safety. The pupils should be expelled or bring the parent into

sort out the situation. In a letter to parents today, the school said,

please be assured the school has followed procedures as they take

such matters very seriously. They say they been working closely with

the union to resolve the issue. A recent survey of teachers found that

four in ten had the violence from pupils. -- experienced violence. The

no touch rule has since been scrapped to give more control to

headteachers to remove pupils from classroom. They watch to weigh up

all the factors. Is it a repeat incident? Is it a particular one of,

strong incident? There are very tight rules. The Government once the

number of exclusions down. You shouldn't feel unsafe in your

workplace. That should never be a scenario that has to happen with a

teacher in position they have the When something happens and a pupil

could then cause trouble again, it has to be stamped out because every

other people seized and he's getting away with it. Talks between the

draft and the union are an getting July. -- the trust. -- are ongoing

tonight. Well, Bryony Mackenzie

joins me in the studio. Do we know what more

happened during this incident? We guarantee. That is the sticking

point. There is clear disagreement between the teacher and head

teacher. The teachers think it will threaten their safety but the

headteacher and it is not serious enough to the pupil. The Government

guidelines say expulsion has to be a last resort and excluding pupils

with special educational needs should be avoided. This is

unprecedented. We are waiting to hear about the outcome of the

meeting between the trust and the union tonight but if this goes

ahead, other teachers who experienced violence in classrooms

will be looking towards this action are thinking, we experienced this

every day, is this something we should consider as well? Thank you.

Hundreds of thousands of long-suffering passengers who use

Southern Rail have been promised the return of a full train service -

The announcement by Southern comes after Aslef, the train

drivers' union, suspended three days of strikes next week,

as well as an overtime ban, to allow fresh peace talks

Southern says it will run more than 70% of its trains next Monday -

when RMT Union action is taking place -

that's 10% more of its normal timetable than operated

And routes which were previously suspended -

to Hastings and Lewes to Haywards Heath -

Could the talks going on behind these walls finally bring an end to

this bitter dispute? Southern's build an announcement that services

will return to pre-industrial action levels suggests the train company is

confident, something even the Prime Minister reflected today. The Prime

Minister read dot-mac share my cautious optimism that this action

from Aslef and Southern can provide a long-term solution? I do. I have

those around the table agreed that we can see an agreement reached

national enable passengers to get on with their lives, jobs and not

suffer the misery brought about them any striker Nicklas Place. -- by the

strike. Amongst all this talk of overtime, strikes, and sickness

days, Aslef announced it would suspend action while toxic place.

They best time, from the TUC, that they will get somewhere. We need to

get this resolved and people say it's time the railway service

divided the service it is mostly. This has been each year for Southern

to restore its full service. That means, in Sievert, getting their

trains back after weeks of replacement bus services. --

Seaford. We have people trying to get to work, university, hospital

appointments. Crucial journeys have become an all-day experience at

times and people will be very Damocles the train service is back.

-- very pleased. How confident are the edge of their back to normal? If

they say it all go back to normal, I am confident because they have been

firmly know so far. 70%. Not confident at all. Why? Because it's

been going on so If they are talking, great. I would like a

resolution, though. The people paying the price are hard-working

people. From staff and passengers the management and ministers, there

will be able to finger crossed over the next few days. There certainly

well. In a moment, we'll be getting

the reaction in Westminster from our political editor,

Helen Catt but first we'll speak to our reporter Sara Smith

who is outside the building where the talks between Southern

and Aslef are being held In the last couple of minutes, we

have been told that those talks have finished for the day. The message

from those sharing the talks is that they had constructive discussions

and are looking forward to continuing tomorrow. -- chairing.

They will be back tomorrow. Southern must be fairly confident things will

be resolved otherwise why make that announcement about the timetable? If

the talks then failed got people's hopes up for no reason. Then the

reputation would be in tatters. The strike goes ahead from Monday but

from Tuesday, normal service should resume. Thank you.

Our political editor Helen Catt is in Westminster.

The Prime Minister said she was optimistic. Do the MPs relay this?

You heard the phrase cautious is correct. It's something that has

filled the post banks of MPs for months now, terrible stories from

constituents but there is a real recognition that resolving the

dispute is just one part of sorting out the longer-term problems on

Southern. -- post bags. If it is resolved, we will see an immediate

switch of political focus back to sorting out the long-term problems.

Getting Government and vestments to sort out the tracks, scrutiny of

southern and how they operate. All those arguments about stripping the

franchise and breaking it up to something small that getting brought

right back to the fore again. Thank you.

How a population boom in Medway means the local hospital

A Kent family say they've been left "speechless" and "humbled"

after more than ?80,000 was raised in less than 48

hours for pioneering medical treatment to save their two-year-old

daughter, who is battling a rare, cancerous tumour.

Carolyn and Rodney Jackson from Tunbridge Wells are desperate

to raise a quarter of a million pounds to fly their daughter

Florence to New York for what they hope is "life-saving" surgery.

They said it's their last attempt after doctors in the UK said

it was too dangerous to remove the tumour.

Due 1/2-year-old Florence is very poorly. She has a tumour in her

abdomen. According to her parents, they say they are unable to remove

it and that Florence may just have weeks to live. But the family is not

giving up hope. -- Two and half years old. We need to get this

tumour taken out of her otherwise it will kill her. You like your child.

You say, no, I'm not giving up. We need to know we've exhausted all

avenues. She is two years old. She doesn't deserve this at all.

Florence's parents are trying to raise money to take her to New York

in the hope that a specialist surgeon then we'll get her

life-saving surgery. They've yet to speak the surgeon concerned and it's

not clear whether or not he can help, but, in little over two days,

the family has raised more than ?80,000. He has a consumers out

there that are deemed impossible to take out any UK, so that's why we

are putting our Lascaux on him. -- he has taken out tumours. --

Lascaux. Florence had surgery last March but doctors were unable to

stop its growth through radiotherapy and chemotherapy. At a charity, we

see this every day, where the options have been explored in the

NHS and families were to travel abroad often to the U S a and that's

where, often, there are clinical trials and new options for treatment

available. -- USA. Florence is being cared for at this hospital, who

wouldn't tell us why surgery was not possible. Her parents say she is due

to have more chemotherapy this weekend in attempts to reduce the

tumour's size. A Surrey police officer has been

convicted of sex offences and sentenced to seven

and a half years in prison. PC David Harriott, aged

61, was on secondment to the National Police Air Service,

from 2012-2015 and previously the Air Support Unit at the time

of the offences and has been suspended since his

arrest in July 2015. A handyman has been

jailed for stealing from 66-year-old Michael Ward,

from Chatham, was sentenced to ten months in prison after the court

heard he stole jewellery worth around ?2,000 from the victim

between 2013 and 2015. Eurotunnel has told the BBC

that it has stopped 21,000 migrant attempts to get

into Britain in 2016. The company unveiled its latest

security initiative today, a fleet of drones -

which, combined with 570 cctv cameras and miles of fencing,

have created what it calls Both the British and French

governments have backed the initiative and tonight the MP

for Dover called the figures from Eurotunnel shocking and said

they demonstrate why it was vital A fancy video and a fanfare praising

French and British co-operation has resulted in Fortress Eurotunnel.

That is the view of one French official at the launch of new

security measures today. The boss of the Channel Tunnel said cutting edge

technology has made the site safer than ever before. We have electronic

sensors, cameras, barriers, anything we can do, day or night, full

control of the general. A major improvement in security and that is

because last year, Eurotunnel said there was 21,000 attempts to break

into the side. Despite that, no services were halted as an addition

to this, Eurotunnel has committed to spend 20 million euros each year on

security. This has all been welcomed by the UK border force. A new, 2015,

people were literally walking in, thousands the night. Can that happen

now? I would say the measures we have taken place, the figures are

seeing as resulted in a massive decrease in this. Infrastructure

measures have slowed the building down. No, we will not get to those

levels again if we are honest. The new security centre, with its

grounds and 570 cameras, costs 3 million euros. It's unclear how much

is paid by the British governments. --. A secure Eurotunnel site in

Calais, it said, is good for Britain. We want a strong message to

get out. Don't try to make your way towards Oracle PL with the help of

coming in without papers. Because the border is secure. You'll

detected and that's not a way into the UK. -- Calais. Even though the

so-called jungle migrant camp has been demolished, the threat is still

there. One of the country's biggest

hospital trusts could be forced to relocate as council bosses assess

the impact of a planned population The Medway Maritime Hospital

in Gillingham currently serves 100,000 patients at its A

department each year - some 55,000 more than it

was built to cope with. Medway Council this week

launched a consultation looking at the possibility

of moving the Hospital. There was unprecedented demand

on Medway Maritime's emergency department over Christmas

with little let up since. 300 patients still seeking

treatment every day. In the short-term, a new ?18 million

extension to A is near In the longer term, health

bosses say relocating the hospital to a new site may be needed

in the next 20 years. For Joyce Simmons and

her daughter, talk of change is worrying, even though

they see services are stretched. They are on the gall

every time I'm there. I mean, my mum lives

at the bottom of She can't get here, so I've got

to be here to take her up. If it was further afield,

I don't know what would happen. Medway already has high

levels of obesity. Life expectancy for men is below

the national average. By 2035, it's predicted

there will be an additional 31,000 residents

over the age of 65. Medway Council's local plan

is looking at what services I think we're all aware

of what has been going on, certainly over

the last year or so, with Medway

Foundation Trust and in fact with many of the hospitals

across the country, say that they are beginning

to creak at the seams. Therefore, we believe

that the time is right to... Let's just have a look

at what may be But one big question,

who would pay for any We need to see the health

service resourced properly I'm concerned we don't

have the resources coming that we do need today, let alone

in 20 years' time. We need to make sure

that as well as plan we need, as well as houses,

we need infrastructure, Some big issues that may need

some radical solutions. Simon joins us from outside

the Medway Maritime Hospital now. Simon, how likely is

it that the hospital Well, if it happens, it will be

quick because a local plan is examining the period until 2035.

There are also a separate plan being produced by the health bosses for

the next five years and that makes no mention of moving the hospital.

If it happens, it'll be ten or 20 years before it does. The population

of Medway is going to grant by 60,000 over the next 20 years.

That's why it has to look at all possibilities but it's stressing

this is a consultation just going them are getting underway and no

final decisions have been made. --. Thank you.

It's has just gone 15 minutes to seven, this

A Kent school has held crisis talks after teachers said

they would go on strike following a "serious" assault

The National Union of Teachers has accused the administration at St.

Gregory's Catholic School of 'failing its duty' to protect

staff after the assault which is believed to have

Hidden under the floorboards for centuries - the historic letters

that reveal more about life among Kent's nobility in the 1600s.

And we had to of minus seven Celsius in rural sports last night. Will it

be as cold tonight?- the details later in the programme. -- lows.

Three letters written in the 1600s have been

unearthed beneath floorboards at Knole Park in Sevenoaks.

It's one of those discoveries which set tongues wagging among

experts and historians - because they're in excellent

condition after centuries abandoned in dust and rubbish.

They were found during early work in ?20 million project to open

secret parts of the National Trust property to the public.

Robin Gibson was given exclusive access.

I pray provide to be sent to moral in a cart. Their paper time

travellers, re-materialised after more than four centuries. Slightly

worn but still readable. One great fire shovel for your nursery. It is

an earth shattering stuff. More every notes about everyday things.

Like messages between people of the 1600 who didn't make the history

books. But somehow, that is better. We were just investigating what was

under the floorboards, basically. In this area. Even better that they

were discovered by chance as a volunteer archaeologists pick his

way through the tender during conservation work. You certainly

feel that the centuries have disappeared briefly. Looking into

the past and wondering exactly how things were at the time. The

discovery came about because the National Trust is conserving these

vast attic spaces at the back. We're not the first people to be under the

floorboards. There have been people doing things. That has meant

disturbing the floor. In that instance, they swept up and didn't

put in dustpan at the brushing it altogether. They've never thrown it

out. They left it there and watched it on the carpet, the floorboards.

The letters have now been carefully considered for public display. Even

just to CD quality of the paper, a little notes, the nuances of the

handwriting. It's beautiful, you have to say. -- to see the. They are

just bits of paper, but they do bring us closer to people who lived

and worked hair any 1600. It makes you think what other historic gems

are lying, waiting to be discovered here. -- here in the 1600s.

When she was 16, J Jarvis from Eastbourne started losing her hair.

She found it very strange full -- stressful. She wants the world's

smartphone makers to make an OT is of bald people. The -- emojis..

Emojis are little pictures used on smartphones -

and they've become increasingly popular - but also controversial -

Back in 2014 Apple announced plans to increase the ethnic diversity

of emojis after complaints the majority were white.

In 2015, 1000 people backed a campaign to

Jade Jarvis wants emojis of bald men and women to help represent

Eric Kay, said, it started on this side. J Jarvis manages to keep her

hair was well hidden. This site is worse. -- Jade Jarvis. Now 24, her

alopecia started when she was 16. It was really difficult and first.

Really stressful. It was only a knee side of a 50p piece at first. As

much as it was stressful, it was easy to disguise. It wasn't until it

started spreading up the side of my head that it was harder to deal

with. -- the size of. I wouldn't leave the house without a hat or a

food that I could put up. -- hood. When looking through her phone, she

realised there was no emoji with no hair to represent her, so she

decided to speak up. We've got many people who are looking, not just

people with alopecia, so I thought I would speak under half of the whole

hair loss community to try and get Apple to install it. Jade had served

hair that she has lost will grow back Monday but has to be there for

the worst. -- has hoped. Alopecia affects 10% of the population so

it's good to raise awareness. It is also seen as a bit of a taboo at

times with women not wanting to admit they have it. Jade hopes this

will change with a new emoji. It's time for a check on the

weather. Glorious today, Rachel. Yes, hopefully more of the same

tomorrow. Yes, we saw temperatures dropping at

as low as minus seven Celsius. Sir Edward 's good budget is cold.

Glorious sunsets here as well. Average is really poorly denied

again. -- temperatures really fall away again tonight. Not quite as

chilly but still dropping below freezing. Miners to Celsius in more

cruel sports. Just hovering above freezing along beaches. A good deal

of sunshine around. Still this area of high pressure and, for us in the

south east, we still have this really cool air that we are dragging

in from the continent. Lots of sunshine during the morning. By the

afternoon, still some cloud cover around. Quite a bright day. Still

cold. Metal band to day. Today, we reached highs of 2-3 C. Tomorrow,

5-6. Into Friday, less cold. Temperatures hovering around

freezing. Staying drive. There will be some sunshine around. Size of

eight Celsius. Thanks to much, Rachel. That's it

for now. I'll be back at HDM and at 10:30pm.

Hello. I hope you're well. I really do.

Because if you're not, then chances are the NHS won't be able to

look after you as well as it should. And that's wrong.

Because the Labour Party created the NHS 70 years ago on