HERE’S a few stories from the Chronicle as they were reported in November 1996:
* HUNDREDS of children have been told to stay at home indefinitely — because their new school isn’t finished.
Around 300 pupils should have started at Ardsley’s Oakhill School in September but the opening has already been cancelled three times.
Instead, they have been given an extended half-term holiday that has so far stretched to three weeks.
Oakhill — the site of the old Ardsley Oaks School — should have opened in September and would have taken pupils from both the Oaks and Lees Hill School.
Pupils from both schools had been attending Lees Hill in the meantime but that closed last month.
A Barnsley Council spokesman admitted they were still unsure exactly when Oakhill would be ready to open — but added he hoped it would be ‘soon’.
Parents have now been told to listen to local radio where an announcement will be made.
* LITTLE Kristen Pilarek didn’t quite measure up at the Metrodome.
She was eager to use the centre’s spectacular slides and had waited until she reached the magic height of 1.2 metres laid down in the safety rules.
But when Kristen, seven, of Mapplewell, arrived at the centre she found she had shrunk.
According to the boards which measure height, she was a few centimetres short of the requirement.
But dad Karl said: “To my astonishment she was too small — I couldn’t believe it.”
Kristen burst into tears and the family went home where he measured her again.
On discovering she was indeed 1.2 metres, they returned and after the receptionist
discovered the measurements on the board were incorrect Kristen was allowed
through.
Karl said: “I can’t blame anybody there. It seems ironic that, when they spend a fortune on the rides, a simple measurement is wrong.”
* ONE of two swans nesting on the River Dearne at Ardsley has been blinded by gun-toting teenagers.
It was taken to a sanctuary at Worksop after being discovered by Sandra Otter, of Borrowdale Close, Ardsley.
She said: “It is terrible what these devils have done. It had been blinded in both eyes.
“I found shotgun cartridges nearby.”
Three ducks have been found dead at the scene.
She has been feeding the swans every morning for the last few years.
A volunteer from the sanctuary waded waist high in the water to rescue the blinded swan.
* THE number of children being expelled from the borough’s schools has trebled in the last three years.
Now one pupil a week is being ordered to stay away from the classroom — a trend which education chiefs admit is a worry.
According to figures from the education department, 14 pupils were expelled in 1993-94 and 46 in 1995-96.
The news comes as staff in schools in Halifax and Nottinghamshire threaten to strike over unruly pupils.
Head of Barnsley Council’s education committee, Coun David Foster, said while expulsions were on the increase, steps were being taken to tackle the problem.
These include opening a new £100,000 unit to help children with emotional and behavioural problems.
* CALLOUS thieves broke into Crevesford Special School and stole toys belonging to the severely disabled infants.
The toys — worth between £200 and £300— were taken from the Carlton school over the half term holiday.
Headmistress Val Brewer said she was very upset.
