:00:52. > :00:55.The fate of private school in North Devon remains unclear this evening
:00:55. > :00:57.following two emergency meetings held for parents and staff. Parents
:00:57. > :01:00.of pupils at St Michael's near Barnstaple received letters earlier
:01:00. > :01:10.this week telling them that the school was in financial
:01:10. > :01:12.
:01:12. > :01:15.difficulties. This woman has an 11 year-old son at St Michael's. She
:01:15. > :01:18.arrived at the school after getting a letter saying there would be a
:01:18. > :01:21.special meeting for staff and parents. I feel like I am in
:01:21. > :01:23.mourning. I really do. This is such a family environment for the
:01:23. > :01:26.children, parents, grandparents, everything. St Michael's is a co-
:01:26. > :01:29.educational day school overlooking the Taw Valley. It also has a
:01:29. > :01:32.popular nursery. A representative from the NUT said numbers and the
:01:32. > :01:36.main school have been falling. essentially we are faced with here
:01:36. > :01:38.is the complete closure of the school. It is not a question of
:01:38. > :01:41.individual redundancies and things of that sort. In that sense, for
:01:41. > :01:44.the school community, the staff as well as the parents and pupils,
:01:44. > :01:47.there is only one word, catastrophe. After two hours parents left the
:01:47. > :01:50.meeting, many were hopeful the school could be this good, others
:01:50. > :01:54.were angry. It is a wonderful school. I think on the whole it is
:01:54. > :01:57.going to be very positive and I think we will be OK. Other schools
:01:57. > :02:00.are offering places for pupils. are here principally to help
:02:00. > :02:03.children and families who are in a real crisis at the moment and who
:02:03. > :02:07.are anxiously looking for a place for their children for next week.
:02:07. > :02:13.That is why I am here. St Michael's motto is, where bright futures
:02:13. > :02:15.begin, now its future is in the balance. The MoD has named the
:02:15. > :02:19.Royal Marine who died in Afghanistan three days before
:02:19. > :02:25.Christmas. Captain Tom Jennings was fatally injured in a bomb blast in
:02:25. > :02:35.Kabul. They said he was a true leader and archetypal Royal Marine,
:02:35. > :02:40.
:02:40. > :02:49.he was devoted to his wife and their two sons. New rules on cage
:02:49. > :02:59.sizes are being introduced on the 1st January after which hens will
:02:59. > :02:59.
:02:59. > :03:03.have to be housed in a particular size of age. These chickens were
:03:03. > :03:08.ought to be the last which will ever live in the old style battery
:03:08. > :03:17.cages. People were queuing up to offer them new homes when they were
:03:17. > :03:21.released. Battery chickens need a home. I thought, OK. It feels
:03:21. > :03:26.absolutely wonderful. I could not be more happy that this is the last
:03:26. > :03:31.day we will be taking hens out of those tiny cages. While it is good
:03:31. > :03:38.news for the chickens many are concerned that other European
:03:38. > :03:46.farmers will not be adopting the rules. Foreign egg products will be
:03:46. > :03:55.coming in. �400 billion has been spent to upgrade in the UK and it
:03:55. > :04:00.is not happening in the rest of Europe. -- 400 million. This is the
:04:00. > :04:10.first time the have been outside and seen delight and freezing cold
:04:10. > :04:13.
:04:13. > :04:17.rain! On the whole, it should still be a happy day for them. New
:04:17. > :04:22.scanners are being introduced on roads in the south-west to reduce
:04:22. > :04:26.the time roads are closed after crashes. E T D laser equipment
:04:26. > :04:31.makes images of the whole crash site so that investigators do not
:04:31. > :04:38.have to take photographs individually of the scene. -- the
:04:38. > :04:44.3D lasers. It is a massive Christmas present. There will be a
:04:45. > :04:50.big cheer from so many people. We estimate that for every hour that
:04:50. > :04:55.the M5 is closed by a serious accident it costs the local economy
:04:55. > :05:05.about �1 million. It is fantastic to see that the police now look as
:05:05. > :05:08.
:05:08. > :05:13.if they are going to be able to get this bit of kit. Now we are looking
:05:13. > :05:23.back at these stories of the Year which inspired you and made you
:05:23. > :05:23.
:05:23. > :05:26.smile. What were thought to be Britain's last battery chickens
:05:26. > :05:31.left their site today. The British hen welfare trust today collected
:05:31. > :05:35.the last hen's housed in old-style This car has rolled 200 ft down a
:05:35. > :05:38.cliff and hangs precariously 300 ft above the sea. What is even more
:05:38. > :05:41.incredible is that the woman inside this car has had to wait 18 hours
:05:41. > :05:45.to be rescued. There will be many fond memories of HMS Cornwall but
:05:45. > :05:49.for the fighting 99 as she is known, the fighting is over. I could feel
:05:49. > :05:53.me sinking and then was just waste deep in mud. Things had gone badly
:05:53. > :05:57.wrong after cockle hunting. needed to be pulled to safety by
:05:57. > :06:03.coastguards. I put her on the board and she rode back in, from that
:06:03. > :06:11.point I realised I had a surfing dog. It has been six years since St
:06:12. > :06:17.Denis was first suggested as the site for Cornwall's waste generator.
:06:17. > :06:27.-- incinerator. He took the vital call from supporters and the High
:06:27. > :06:30.
:06:30. > :06:37.Court. We've done it! Yes! My home was going to be ruined by it. Now
:06:37. > :06:42.they have passed it I have got my home back. -- now they have quashed
:06:42. > :06:45.it. Emily Lewis Clark was no lone striker here, her whole team were
:06:46. > :06:50.right behind her. Their goal was to overturn a rule that would force
:06:50. > :07:00.Emily out of the team when she turned 11. I am so happy that I can
:07:00. > :07:05.
:07:05. > :07:09.carry on playing football. Time now for the weather with Emily. Some
:07:09. > :07:13.wet weather on its way for tonight. There is a weather system currently
:07:13. > :07:18.over the Atlantic which is moving very quickly and will bring rain
:07:18. > :07:22.foremost a buzz by tomorrow morning. This evening it will cloud over
:07:22. > :07:29.with rain arriving during the second half of the night. It will
:07:29. > :07:33.feel milder as time goes on. There will still be brisk west to north-
:07:33. > :07:38.westerly winds. Tomorrow will have generally lighter rain at first, it
:07:38. > :07:44.will turn heavy for a time tomorrow morning and staying wet pretty much