Reactions from Stoke Newington business owners to the proposed daytime closure of Church Street to through traffic have been overwhelmingly negative, citing potential difficulties with deliveries and reduced numbers of customers. Starting from September 20, a bus gate will be installed outside the Red Lion and the provision will operate from 7am-7pm, with camera enforcement. Only buses, cyclists, emergency...

Residents are worried alcohol around the Heath is increasing antisocial behaviour. The availability of alcohol around the Heath was discussed at a meeting of the Hampstead Safer Neighbourhood Panel last Tuesday (August 10). The group convened for the first time since the start of the pandemic, including chair Susan West and new Hampstead and Highgate police sergeant Nicky O’Hara. The discussion about drinking around the Heath followed the decision by newsagent Heath News to appeal the rejection of its application for an alcohol licence...

For the second year, the ‘tribe’ of instructors at Afrocafitness are running a Carnival gym crawl for Hackney residents. Class Leader Rosaleen describes the sessions as “dance classes with a Carnival vibe”, and they are effective as cardio and toning workouts, as well as building confidence. Afrocafitness, originally a YouTube channel set up to offer free fitness resources over lockdown, aims to “create positive thoughts…through motivation, information and culture based activities”, and to “re

As the dust settles on A Level results, students’ relief at obtaining university places has been tempered by anger at “confusing” government policy. Asma Maloumi, a student at Parliament Hill School who has been accepted to study history at Mansfield College, Oxford, said her relief after meeting the requirements of her offer was partly due to the “unpredictability” of results day (August 10). She said students “couldn’t gauge how well we’d done” in the absence of formal public exams, and that...

Students were “elated” and “ecstatic” at St. Aloysius’ College, Archway as they received top GCSE results, including three who achieved ten grade 9s. Despite the challenging circumstances of the past year, 39 per cent of all grades were a 7 or above, and for the first time since the introduction of the numerical grading system, the students averaged above a 6 across all subjects. Headteacher Paula Whyte praised “the resilience and tenacity of the Year 11 students, complemented by the incredible support of...

Students across north London are set to open a life-changing envelope today – it's A Level Results Day. For the second year in a row, pupils around Hampstead and Highgate have not been able to sit physical exams and will instead be awarded grades calculated based on teacher assessments. But what hasn't changed is that the grades our 17 and 18-year-olds...

One World, a five-month virtual festival hosted by the Ashmolean and celebrating the diversity of faiths and communities in Oxfordshire, concluded on 11th April, with a series of videos streamed online entitled ‘Light Ahead’. This final event was introduced by Oxfordshire’s new High Sheriff Imam Monawar Hussain, speaking on the kindness he had witnessed in Oxfordshire during the COVID crisis, and more generally on the importance of celebrating different religions and cultures...

Worcester JCR has recently voted overwhelmingly to reinstate the practice of standing as tutors approach the high table at formal hall, after the recently appointed Interim Provost and the college governing body banned the custom without JCR consultation. After passing the results of the referendum on to the college administration, with 130 out of 155 in favour of maintaining the practice, attendees can now choose to stand if they wish...