Unstoppable Smith

Castle Vale FC notched up another league win, 48 hours after their FA cup success. They beat Coventry Copsewood 3-1 at Vale Stadium this afternoon, with goals from King, Halsall, and the prolific Simeon Smith.

In the evening kick off, JKS won 1-0 away at Bolehall Swifts in a league fixture.

High fives for Vale’s FA Cup heroes

The F A Cup

Castle Vale FC thrashed Studley 5-1 in the FA Cup Preliminary Round today at the Vale stadium. Two goals from striker Simeon Smith, another two from Danny Carter and one from captain Christian Crisp saw Vale comfortably through to the next round (The Ist Round Qualifying) to be played on 12th September.
This is a tremendous achievement for Vale, who were underdogs for this fixture; Studley are from the Midland Alliance, a league regarded as a stage higher than the Midland Combination in which Castle Vale FC compete. Vale are now the only side from the Midland Combination left in this season’s FA Cup.
Vale FC will receive £1,500 prize money for this victory; they netted £750 for beating Goodrich in the previous round (the Extra Preliminary Round, played in early August).
FA Cup prize money increases with each stage of the competition – £3,000 awaits the winners of the next round, but teams from higher leagues enter at each stage, so the competition gets tougher as sides progress. A further 66 clubs, all from higher leagues, will make their entry into the draw for the First Qualifying Round in which Vale have been drawn against Romulus from Sutton Coldfield who play in the Southern League Division One Midlands. Romulus used to share the ground at Vale Stadium before moving on to play their home games at Sutton Coldfield Town’s ground in Coles Lane. Former Villa stars Darius Vassell, Zat Knight and brothers Luke and Stefan Moore used to play for Romulus. They have had a poor start to this season, and are currently third from bottom of their league, with no wins and just two points from four matches.

JKS had no cause for celebration today; they went down 3-2 at Knowle in a league match.

St Edmund Campion School GCSE results

43% of pupils at St Edmund Campion School have achieved an A*-C in 5 GCSEs including English and Maths in results published this week. Outstanding individual performances include Harry Kaye (7A* and 2A grades), Ethan Cunningham (2A*,5A and 5B grades) and Aswathy James (3A* and 7A grades).
60% of pupils at the school achieved five A*-C across all subjects.

Vale GCSE results

22% of pupils at Castle Vale School achieved five grade A*-C in subjects including English and maths. This is the same percentage as last year, and is still 8% below the national target of 30% set for all schools by the government (The National Challenge).
61% achieved five A*-C at  the school in all subjects (not including English and maths), up by 1% on last year’s results.
There were some outstanding individual achievements, including Sam Daniels, who got 11 grade As, and Gemma Toomer  who got 7As, and 14 A-Cs overall.
Government Minister Vernon Coaker says that, based on early estimates, only around 280 (approximately 9%) of the 3,045 secondary schools in England will be below the 30% National Challenge figure for English and Maths A*-C figure this year. Last year, 638 schools nationally (21%) were below the 30% line.

Football photos: JKS v Bartley Green

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Jubilant JKS players surround goalscorer John Leech

JKS drew 1-1 with Bartley Green tonight, a spectacular John Leech goal giving the young Vale side the lead in the first half. Bartley Green equalised midway through the second half.
Meanwhile, Castle Vale FC continued their excellent start to the season, with a 1-0 victory at Nuneaton Griff. Vale now move into second place in the premier division of the Midland Combination, and are one of just two teams in the league who are unbeaten this season.
Castle Vale play in the second preliminary round of the FA Cup this Saturday, at home to Studley from the Midland Alliance, a league regarded as one step higher than the Midland Combination.

TRA chairman resigns

John Miles has resigned from the board of the Castle Vale TRA (Tenants’ and Residents’ Alliance), along with two other long-standing board members, Tony and Pat Romano.
John Miles said: “There are some irreconcilable differences and some conflict within the organisation. I don’t want to go into any details because I don’t want to damage the TRA. It’s a very valuable organisation.”
Company secretary Grant Williams said: “The election of officers should be concluded by the end of September. In the meantime, Doreen Palmer will be acting chair of the TRA.”

Lord Mayor to attend Terri charity soccer match

Terri James, who died of leukaemia in March, aged 16, will be remembered in a charity soccer match this Sunday at Farnborough Road. A Castle Vale Select XI will play a Central Warwickshire XI at Vale Stadium in a match organised by Danny Ryan for the Terri James Birmingham Children’s Hospital Appeal.
The stadium opens at 12.30pm for the event which will include local singers and dancers, a ‘crossbar championship’ a ‘keepie up challenge’ and presentation of the Terri James Memorial Trophy to the winning team by Birmingham’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Michael Wilkes. The game itself kicks off at 2.30pm.
The Carnival Committee have agreed to run their Car Boot Sale and Fun Day at the Farnborough Road playing fields alongside the charity event, starting at 10am.

Vale FC draw in last ditch thriller

Vale were denied victory despite leading by two goals with just five minutes of the game to go against a spirited Southam side. Vale were leading 4-2 before Southam scored two goals in a minute to snatch a point with just four minutes of the match remaining.
JKS suffered their second league defeat of the season, going down 3-2 at Continental Star.

Big week for Vale School

With A-level results out of the way, attention now turns to the 16 year-olds. GCSE results are published next week, and Year 11 pupils from Castle Vale School will be counting down the days until Thursday when they are able to get their results.
Headteacher Clive Owen and his staff will also be hoping that the school can break the 30% benchmark set by the government for the number of students who achieve five or more A*-C passes in subjects including English and Maths.
The school managed 22% last year.
20 Birmingham schools failed to meet the target in 2008, compared with 27 in 2007. The Government has given Birmingham Education Authority an extra £1,555,000 this year to help them meet the 30% target in all of their schools.

Neighbourhood Office: ‘no decision on closure’

Sally Potter, Erdington’s acting Constituency Director, has said that there has been no final decision regarding the future of the Neighbourhood Office in Castle Vale. She was responding to questions from TRA Chairman John Miles at the Neighbourhood Partnership Meeting this afternoon. Mr Miles suggested that closure of the local office would mean that residents would have to use the Sutton Coldfield Neighbourhood Office, and for the many residents without cars, this would mean a £3.20 bus fare each visit.
Sally Potter told the meeting that the City Council review of the neighbourhood offices was part of the “Customer First Business Transformation Service.” She confirmed that local residents had not yet been consulted on the issue.