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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
It’s a little bit cold, isn’t it?
The Met Office has warned that the cold snap is set to continue this week as we experience sub zero temperatures. One benefit to the weather, some might argue, is that some of Manchester’s boroughs were graced with snow over the weekend.
We could be in line for more snow later this week too, with temperatures set to reach as low as -5C. So, dust off your Christmas jumpers and make sure you’re staying well heated.
The cold weather came just at the perfect time for Manchester’s first ever Christmas parade, which took place on Sunday. Thousands were greeted by the presence of cocky robins, cheeky elves, walking candy canes and even Santa himself as they all took part in the grand procession through the city centre.
Councillor Pat Karney, the Christmas spokesperson for Manchester City Council (what a job!), described the parade as a ‘heart-warming’ success and said it displayed Manchester ‘at its magical Merry Christmas best’.
In today’s newsletter, we’re going to be looking at the primary school children across Greater Manchester who have suffered as a result of the pandemic, the state of homelessness in the city-region based on one family’s experience and the food banks ensuring everyone stays well fed.
3 million school days missed
Primary school pupils in Manchester are struggling with a 'concerning' decline in performance due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, emerging statistics have found.
Manchester City Council said those who missed out on face-to-face learning during the pandemic have fallen further behind other children in the country. The widening gap was linked to Covid-relating restrictions and a high infection rate in Manchester, which resulted in more than 3 million days of face-to-face schooling missed.
The development of children under five has declined with only 53 pc achieving the expected level of learning, compared to 66 pc in 2019 and 65 pc nationally, reports Joseph Timan. The percentage of Year 1 pupils meeting the required standard in phonics fell by 10.7 percentage points across the city, with only 68.4 pc scoring well.
The Department for Education says it has committed to record levels of spending in schools, including two million tutoring courses for students, but education bosses fear tutoring will not be enough help those still acquiring basic skills that they missed during the pandemic, and have called on the government to take urgent action and provide more funding.
"They will be the lost generation,” Lisa Vyas, the headteacher of three primary schools in Manchester, warned. "Unless you put the building blocks in place, then you're building on sand. You can't expect a child to read when they haven't got basic speech and language and communication."
The headteacher at Cringle Brook, Green End and Ladybarn primary schools said she has seen a 'massive' difference in speech, language and communication skills. She said she felt it was because many children who are now in Year 2 and below missed out on play-based interaction with their peers during the pandemic.
It has resulted in many schools in Manchester needing to adapt their curriculum and recruit additional staff to help children work on their speech and language skills. But with major budget cuts already in place, headteachers say it’s difficult to find the resources required.
Manchester council education director Amanda Corcoran said there was no 'quick solution' to the situation, while Labour councillor Garry Bridges, who is Manchester's executive member for early years, children and young people, has written to the Secretary of State over his 'deep concern' about the 'lack of a serious coordinated plan' from the government to address the fall in attainment.
Labour councillor Garry Bridges, who is Manchester's executive member for early years, children and young people, has written to the Secretary of State. In the letter, he shares his 'deep concern' about the 'lack of a serious coordinated plan' from the government to address the fall in attainment.
He said that despite the fantastic work of Manchster’s schools, the figures are a 'real warning sign'. He said: "Someone missing a day of school in Manchester just means more than someone missing a day of school elsewhere. I don't think we've quite grappled with that as a country yet."
‘Treated like this by a city I call home’
Given a key to their room at Fallowfield Lodge, a mother and her young children felt like they were finally getting back on track with their lives. In August, Kim, 32, who has asked to stay anonymous, presented as homeless to Manchester council following a family fall-out. Unable to afford a deposit on a private rental place, she said she had no other option.
In the three months since, Kim and her family have found themselves in seven different properties - six hotels and B&Bs, before finally being given a temporary home at the Lodge. Around 180 other families in similar ‘hidden homeless’ situations are thought to be housed in temporary accommodation across Greater Manchester right now.
While their room was nothing special, containing just two single beds and no cooking facilities, Kim felt it was a roof under their heads - especially as the weather got worse. But Kim, originally from Wythenshawe, soon realised that they were living in the same place as an alcoholic and a registered sex offender, not to mention a rat infestation too.
Council bosses said that whilst they were unable to comment specifically on Kim's case, they acknowledged that B&B-type temporary accommodation is ‘very far from ideal, especially for families’.
Kim said she was told they would be rehomed within six weeks, but had to wait for more than ten weeks. She's on a huge waiting list of nearly 13,000 for social housing in Manchester. That number is lower than it was during the pandemic, but with just 263 new social rent homes delivered in the city of Manchester last year, a major shortage still exists.
The average time spent in temporary accommodation for families in Manchester was 227 days (around seven months) in June, and is now predicted to be higher with local charities warning that the situation is only going to get worse. Manchester-based organisation Justlife found a 40pc increase in the number of families staying beyond the legal limit of six weeks in temporary accommodation that is a privately-owned B&B.
Kim said the situation was having a big effect on her family. "I'm at breaking point, but I am having to manage because I have children and I am all they've got,” she told reporter Sophie Halle-Richards. “It's having a massive impact on my autistic son.”
She added: "I definitely didn’t imagine to be treated like this by a city I have called home my entire life. It is disgusting. Being a special needs mum I’ve always had to fight for stuff but I didn’t imagine having to fight to get a roof over my family’s head."
She has since finally been offered a temporary house, but said it is still miles away from her son's school and friends and family - but it was the only place on offer to them.
Ruth Cox, Operations Manager at Justlife, said this is something that continues to be an issue. "The out of area placements are far worse than the quality of buildings," she said.
"If we continue to keep placing people in different boroughs we completely hamper their progress. They are placed in an area they don't know and have to start again with the services.
"Mental health issues won't get addressed, you can't put roots down so you probably turn to drink or drugs. It's happening all the time. You've got Manchester placing people in Bolton for instance and then vice versa."
You can read the full report here.
All aboard
We’ve heard over the last few months about the chaos that can come with getting on board a train at the moment, or not as the case might be.
But train passengers this morning found themselves pleasantly surprised as they arrived expecting widespread difficulties with the introduction of Trans Pennine Express’ bi-annual timetable change.
In the past, new schedules for train operators have resulted in chaos for passengers across the north but the timetable changes did not lead to huge disruption at rush hour at Piccadilly on Monday morning, reports Ethan Davies . Between 8am and 9:30am, only one train — a service to Newcastle — was cancelled at short notice. Several TPE trains were still delayed, however.
“I was quite shocked," Paul Mason, a freelance gym trainer, said of his train being on time. Helen Gouldthorpe, a clinical lead nurse who works between Manchester and Leeds, added: “This morning it was fine, it was really quiet."
TransPennine Express says that it has recruited more drivers than ever before, while the new timetable has also seen the phased reintroduction of services on the West Coast Main Line.
This news could be a welcome relief to those planning to travel in the near future, but don't hold me to that, just in case...
A bit of reassurance
On the doorstep of her house in Blackley, a woman starts to unload the crate of food that has been brought directly to her door from food bank Humans MCR. As she collects the shopping bags, she starts to cry.
She is just one of hundreds of Greater Manchester residents being given a helping hand by the organisation this winter. M.E.N reporter Nicole Wootton-Cane spent a day doing the rounds with delivery driver Steve Steenson. The trip sees them go from Blackley to Hulme, Salford and beyond visiting families and individuals who are just trying to scrape enough together to live day to day.
Steve, who has worked as a delivery driver across a variety of food and retail services for decades, said his job with Humans MCR is different. As Nicole puts it, he is more than just a driver, he's an unofficial guardian.
"All delivery drivers would normally interact with people,” Steve explains. “But this kind of interaction is different, you have to listen. If you do drive the miles, you will definitely get the smiles.
"It's reassurance that they're not on their own. Fundamentally, they are not on their own."
You can read Nicole’s piece in full here.
Popping to the shops
Never has popping to the shops looked so glamorous as it does in this picture taken on Manchester New Road in 1973.
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Weather etc
- Temperatures: Foggy and icy. -1C.
- Trains: Special timetable operating on Transpennine Express and Avanti West Coast due to shortage of train crews.
- Trivia question: The last giant santa to embrace Manchester town hall at Christmas was given a nickname for his bug-eyed resemblance. What was he called?
Manchester headlines .
- Etihad expansion: Manchester City are considering a potential expansion of the North Stand at the Etihad Stadium, as well as the possible development of a hotel and other entertainment facilities.
- Mad Friday strike: Uber drivers are to strike this Friday over the company's use of ‘smart pricing’. Drivers say they believe the firm is using this to take a bigger slice of the fare they earn. More here.
- Blossoms : Stockport band Blossoms will perform a huge show at Castlefield Bowl next year. The gig is the first of 2023's Sounds of the City series to be announced. Find out how to get tickets here .
Worth a read
We all have our own opinions on what makes for a good Christmas dinner. Some (myself included) are passionate about Pigs in Blankets, while others are diehard on the Bread Sauce. But there's also some people out there who just don't want the usual Christmas dinner at all.
Keen to appeal to those, street food restaurant Bandobust is serving up a festive feast like no other this year, as What's On Editor Jenna Campbell has found out . The venue, located on Oxford Road, offers sprout bhajis, mince pie parathas, biryani balls and even a festive dhal, which is described as being 'warming and smoky'.
Of the dahl, Jenna writes: "This Christmas variation of the popular creamy lentil dish packs flavour with the medicinal quality of cardamom, matched with a seasonal hit of clove and cinnamon that feels akin to being wrapped up on the sofa with the fire on, watching Christmas classics."
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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| The answer to today's trivia question is: Zippy. |
