‘It inspires me to do more’
Restaurant boss Faz Ahmed tells us why he loves reading The News
AS PART of The News' commitment to the community it serves, it regularly features local businesses.
The newspaper has run its #supportlocal campaign throughout 2020 in a bid to promote the benefits of local businesses.
One local business that has often featured in its pages is the Akash, in Albert Road, Southsea. The restaurant, which opened in 1978, is run by Faz Ahmed – and has often attracted attention for a whole range of interesting news stories, everything from entertaining celebrities, to charity events, to donating food to good causes, television appearances and even flying its curry hundreds of miles to ex-pats in France.
Faz, 36, said: ‘I was born and bred in Portsmouth so I grew up with the paper. I’ve had an excellent relationship with The News over the years. It has done a lot for the community .
‘It’s always first to cover anything positive for the city, that’s what I love about it and that's why it has such a good base of loyal r eaders.’
As well as helping Faz promote his business locally, news of Faz’s various quirky endeavours have reached the pages of national newspapers and television shows.
He said: ‘The News has always been happy to support us. Two of our stories that first started in The News ended up making international headlines.
‘One where a customers bought a curry and took it to France for his Christmas dinner, and then when we flew curry out to France.
‘The News was the first to cover both stories and then the national newspapers picked them up, then we had calls to go on television, it was reported everywhere, it was a great boost for our profile. It made me realise that The News is read by a lot of people – and a lot of big names.’
Faz said the newspaper has also helped promote the Portsmouth Bangladeshi Business Association, which formed 18 months ago, and that he was proud to see it cover when the Bangladeshi Minister visited the city on trade talks last year, as well as when Portsmouth and Sylhet in Bangladesh became sister cities.
He added: ‘I love this city and everything about it and The News reflects the good that is being done by so many amazing people. Reading about them inspires me and motivates me to do more for my city.'
The Akash is currently open for takeaways and deliveries.
A COUPLE said they ‘wished’ workers had not tried to fix a leak in their house after ‘bodging it’ and leaving the place condemned and causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Mum-of-four Natalie Robinson, 35, has been ‘struggling to cope’ after her Leigh Park home was left uninhabitable after water leaks spread throughout the Guinness Partnership property – forcing her to move out.
After first noticing water coming in from the ceiling in one of the bedrooms last March the situation has deteriorated to the point where the ‘ceiling is on the verge of collapsing’.
Buckets are now spread throughout the Highwood Lawn address as leaks have spread to bedrooms, stairs, hallway and kitchen.
It has left carpets ruined, walls stained and mouldy, and furniture having to be thrown away – amounting to around £2,500 worth of damage.
Luke Young, Natalie’s partner, said: ‘There was a leak in one of the children’s bedrooms last March that got worse in October.
‘No-one turned up until January this year – I wish they didn’t come out now. When they came out they made the situation 100 times worse. We had an electrician who first came out and he said roofers were needed to sort it out. But Guinness just sent normal workers who totally bodged it.
‘We started off with one leak and now there are leaks everywhere. I have to keep going back to empty buckets of water. The ceiling looks like it is about to collapse but they still haven’t started work even though Natalie and the children have been forced to move out.’ Luke, who lives at a separate address in Leigh Park, said their predicament has been compounded after Guinness insisted on moving his partner to a house in Southsea.
‘Now Natalie has been moved she is having panic attacks and struggling with anxiety as she struggles to be away from family and those close to her,’ the 28-year-old said. As we don’t drive it is a bit of a distance to get to now and she feels stuck.’
Luke said the move had taken its toll on the children too. Natalie’s 14-year son, who has special needs, is now unable to get to school in Leigh Park and they are struggling to get their threeyear-old daughter to nursery.
He added: ‘I can’t believe it took Guinness so long to look at to the point they had to condemn the house. They don’t care about mental wellbeing.’
A spokesman from the Guinness Partnership said the company was ‘sorry’ for the ‘problems with leaks’.
‘We visited the property last March, August and November and carried out repair works. The leak appears to have persisted and worsened. Our roofer attended again this January to carry out more extensive repair work to the roof, but was unable to get access,’ he said.
‘While further roof repairs are carried out, we agreed with Ms Robinson that a move to alternative accommodation would be the most appropriate and comfortable option for her and her children.
‘Due to the lack of available, short-term housing in Havant this involved moving a little out of the area to a fully furnished property. Regrettably we were not aware that any of Ms Robinson’s children were currently attending school, given the lockdown.’
Natalie’s
HAMPSHIRE’S headteachers are concerned about the learning divide created by the pandemic, but believe a more targeted approach than simply extending the school day is required to bridge the gap.
With two school lockdowns eliminating around six months of face-to-face learning for the majority of the region’s children, there has inevitably been an inequality in the educational experience of pupils throughout the pandemic.
A child’s learning experience has varied greatly depending on the provision of work and live lessons from schools, attitude and ability to learn independently and the availability and capacity of parents to facilitate and support home learning.
Such inequalities have always existed, but the pandemic has only served to exacerbate this disparity.
When school gates were closed last March, children and teachers faced the daunting task of taking the curriculum online. While this inevitably brought challenges for teachers it proved impossible for those disadvantaged children without access to a suitable digital device and internet connection.
While the government promised to provide laptops for these children, some pupils are still waiting for them to arrive almost a year later.
Commenting on the digital divide, Priory
School headteacher Stewart Vaughan said: ‘Last autumn we were promised 143 digital devices for our disadvantaged children but only 24 arrived. We were then told in December that these devices had now been prioritised elsewhere, which was very frustrating.’
In January the school did receive the remaining 119 laptops. But for Mr Vaughan a large amount of damage had already been done.
He added: ‘Some children have been waiting 10 months and the digital divide of learning experience in that time is potentially horrendous.’
Mr Vaughan’s concerns are shared by St Edmund’s Catholic School headteacher Simon Graham.
Mr Graham added: ‘There’s no doubt that all children’s education will have been impacted in some shape or form by the pandemic.
While children are able to progress with online learning it does not allow the depth of learning experienced by face-to-face teaching.’
However it’s not just children’s academic development which has been stunted by the cycle of lockdowns and Covid isolations.
Mr Graham added:
‘The lockdowns have also prevented that social interaction that young people need. They have also missed out on all the sports events, after-school clubs and trips that are part of their development.’
It’s a sentiment shared by former primary school teacher and Portsmouth City Council cabinet member for education Cllr Suzy Horton.
Cllr Horton commented: ‘The educational experience throughout the pandemic has been very different for children and I am concerned about the learning gap this has created.’
While consensus on the inequality of learning during the pandemic is unanimous, the strategies to bridge this divide are very much up for debate.
The government has already made available
£1.3bn of funding to support school catch-up programmes, while £350m is currently being used by schools as part of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP).
Boris Johnson recently described providing education catch-up as his government’s ‘top priority’ and ministers are now believed to be considering proposals to shorten the summer holidays and lengthen the school day to maximise children’s time in school.
While St Edmund’s
Catholic School had already extended the school day for GCSE students, Mr Graham believes it’s too simplistic to see the creation of additional time as a solution.
He said: ‘Thinking that shortening the school holidays by two weeks and deploying volunteers will solve the problem is laughable.
‘The children who least need to be in school will be the ones who will no doubt turn up for the additional lessons.’
It’s a sentiment shared by The Cowplain School headteacher Ian Gates who added: ‘You can’t catch up six months out of school by simply adding two weeks to the term.
‘This will simply lead to the children who are in most need of support becoming disillusioned and unmotivated.
‘There is little evidence to suggest that getting children into schools during holiday periods improves learning in the long run.’
Education leaders feel the key to bridging the divide is getting students back into school on a consistent basis where they can receive high quality teaching and learning.
Mr Gates said: ‘We first of all need to look at what each individual child has missed and be really precise about the gaps which need to be filled.
‘It’s then about good quality learning in lessons which can be supported by teacher training and more teachers in school.
‘This is a key area where funding should be directed.’
Mr Graham added: ‘We need a long-term strategy which can be implemented over the next few years, but first of all we need to get children back into school.
‘It’s difficult to look at how we get children caught up when we are still in the pandemic and face the prospect of further student
isolation and disruption.
‘Whatever support measures are put in place, schools need to be fully funded to implement strategies as without this we will fall short.’
Park Community School headteacher Chris Anders is looking at restructuring teaching groups to ensure support is provided for those with the largest gaps in their learning.
Mr Anders said: ‘We need to provide support to those who may have fallen behind but at the same time we don’t want to hold back those who may have made good progress with remote learning during lockdown.
‘We are looking at the idea of arranging classes for the summer term dependent on the different access children have had to remote learning and the progress they have made.’
Mr Anders believes the rise to public prominence of the educational divide has opened up a wider debate which is symptomatic of a system which is based around highlighting the learning gap between children.
He said: ‘There has always been a learning gap and I would guess the children who struggle with learning generally will have struggled more during lockdown.
‘The learning gap may have grown but as a society we have a grading system which is designed to highlight and identify gaps in children’s learning.’
Horndean Technology College headteacher Julie Summerfield believes the gap created by the pandemic will ultimately be a step too far to bridge.
She commented: ‘We are never going to be fully able to bridge that gap - it is too large. I notice the terminology has changed from catch-up to recovery.
‘Summer schools have generally not worked in the past.
‘It’s all about engagement and you generally end up with those who need to be there least in attendance while those who are in greatest need of the support are most likely not to attend.’