This summer, At-Bristol is bursting at the seams with fun activities for everyone! From bouncing sheep to making robots and painting your veins to being boggled by brains, every day has something exciting to offer.

Championsheeps LIVE! is being held for five weeks over the holidays, from 30 July – 31 August. This hilarious event has been developed jointly by SGA Productions and Aardman Animations and features a range of amusing activities from Shirley-shaped sheep hoppers, a farmyard assault course and a Naughty Pig’s sack race. Championsheeps LIVE! costs £1.50 per person, plus standard admission.

Throughout the Summer there will be Make-Your-Own master classes in At-Bristol’s Live Lab. Boat-building is happening during Water Week, where you can race your own boat in the pools in Millennium Square to see who’s sails the fastest. Artist, illustrator and storyteller Hannah Broadway will bring her wonderful Monkey and Robot books, as seen on CBeebies, to life in the venue from 1-3 August – Hannah will also be helping visitors get creative and reuse everyday materials to make their own recycled robot. Plus there are K’NEX building challenges, and you can discover what makes your own body amazing by painting your own veins!

At-Bristol has also launched a new show for the Summer – the Boggling Brain show. Visitors can be a part of this mind-bending science show, and discover the mysteries of our grey matter, learn how our brain makes sense of the world around us and how our senses can fool our minds. Boggling brains is the family show that will test your brain power, so get your thinking caps on. This is free with ticket into At-Bristol and on twice a day.

Donna Speed, Commercial Operations Director at At-Bristol, says: “This Summer we are offering our biggest programme of events which is really exciting! Not only have we got Shaun the Sheep bringing his flock here with Championsheeps LIVE! but having Hannah Broadway bringing Monkey and Robot to life and being able to take part in dissections in our Live Lab, PLUS the Little Stars shows, Planetarium shows, the 300 exhibits to play on and fantastic indoor and outdoor picnic areas, you really can guarantee a great value fun day out – whatever the weather!”

AT-BRISTOL, one of the UK’s leading science and discovery centres has been awarded “Gold” in the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS). This hot on the heels of being awarded Bristol Tourism and Hospitality’s Attraction of the Year. The centre is the only tourist attraction in the Bristol region with gold and the only science centre in England with any Green Tourism Award, let alone gold.

The GTBS is the most established and largest scheme of its kind in the world, assessing businesses against a rigorous set of criteria across a range of areas such as: energy and water efficiency, waste management, biodiversity and more. The level of achievement is then rewarded accordingly with Bronze, Silver or Gold.

Chris Dunford, At-Bristol’s Sustainability Officer said: “With the award criteria being so stringent and broad, most applicants achieve Bronze or Silver first before progressing to Gold after several years so the assessors were very impressed that At-Bristol scored Gold on our first assessment,  we’re delighted!

He adds: “The award brings a range of benefits, some of which we are already experiencing. Our Learning Team has been invited to get involved with a sustainability project run by an organisation which chose us, in part, because of the Green Tourism credentials on our website.”

Stephen Stacey, Grading Assessor at Green Business UK Ltd, said: “At-Bristol must be congratulated on achieving a ‘Gold’ award at the first attempt, which is largely due to the innovative attitude and remarkable sustainable practices implemented within the science & discovery centre.  These can be demonstrated through the centre’s fascinating and rather unique Eutectic tank. This device is capable of storing both heat or cold resulting in greatly reduced carbon emissions. Along with this clever and innovative building services system, At-Bristol has developed a range of environmental and social community projects which significantly helps to mitigate and promote such issues.”

At-Bristol is currently working on a number of other initiatives, both short and long term, to continue improving its sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint.

The museum will be housed in the landmark 1950s transit sheds at Prince’s Wharf on the historic waterfront in the heart of the city. M Shed will be at the hub of a vibrant cultural quarter of Bristol, with the award-winning ss Great Britain located less than a mile away and the Arnolfini and Watershed Media Centre just across the harbour. The whole site – the sheds and their quayside  – is one of the last remaining complete 20th century docksides in the UK.

The £27 million development of M Shed has been funded by Bristol City Council, a grant of 11.6 million from Heritage Lottery Fund and funding from DCMS and a range of individuals, companies and trusts.

The museum will include 3,000 exhibits, drawn from the world class collection of the city, telling the many thousands of stories of the people of Bristol, which have been discovered through working with experts and communities across the city, a process that will continue for the life of the museum.

M Shed, the building which gives the museum its name, has been sympathetically restored, with the aim of preserving its historic character, while also transforming it into a 21st century museum. The work has been carried out by LAB Architecture Studio, perhaps most famous for the design of Melbourne’s Federation Square. The new museum includes three permanent galleries and a temporary exhibition space, a new glazed rooftop extension with spectacular panoramic views across the harbour, workshops, a functioning train shed, a learning suite, and café, book and gift shop.  Entrance to the museum will be free.

Among the unique displays will be:

• Models and props for Wallace and Gromit, Curse of the Were Rabbit, donated by animator Nick Park, from Bristol based Aardman Animations. Wallace and Gromit have not only established worldwide fame, but have now been officially adopted as Bristolians.
• The original spray painted pink Technics record deck used by members of Bristol band Massive Attack to record their tracks in the 1980s when they were still part of the loose group of musicians called the Wild Bunch.
• A 10 metre long mural of a fantasy landscape of Bristol specially commissioned for M Shed from local graffiti artists Andy Council and Luke Palmer (Acerone). Bristol’s rich history in graffiti including celebrated artist Banksy is illustrated in the museum.
• Documents of the notorious Bristol Bus Boycott, led by a group of Bristol’s black workers, which hit the world’s headlines in 1963 and whose cause was championed by Tony Benn.
• Abolition tokens issued by campaign supporters to gain support for the Abolition movement. Bristol played a major role in the transatlantic slave trade and M Shed tells many stories about those lived it, who profited and ran the slave trade in the city, those who were enslaved and those who challenged the industry.
• Restored, full scale and fully functioning dockside cranes, steam locomotives and harbour boats including the 150 year old Mayflower, illustrating the important industrial past of the area, which lasted until as late the 1970s in Bristol. Access to the public to try out these historic working exhibits will be available regularly throughout the year.
• M Shed will also host live events including debates and discussions around the issues raised in the museum. It will also include hands-on workshops with volunteers from Bristol’s dockside community, who will share their skills with visitors as part of a living archive for the Museum.

Councillor Simon Cook, Deputy Leader and cabinet member for Bristol’s capital programme, sports and culture, says: “Bristol is such a fantastic city, drawing in hundreds of thousands of visitors every year to our museums, exhibitions, festivals, tourist attractions and events. And now we can add M Shed, Bristol’s new museum to our cultural mix. M Shed is a fitting tribute to all the people who have helped shape the city’s history. I share the pride of local people who see this new museum as a bold statement of who we are, where we have come from, what we have achieved and our optimism and enthusiasm for the future.”

Julie Finch, Head of Bristol Museums and Archives, said: “M Shed will be a world class museum. It builds on Bristol’s great heritage to bring experts and the community together in the joint endeavour of building a new narrative for the city. I hope M Shed will become a destination for the understanding and celebration of the history of Bristol and its people and a vibrant learning resource for the future, open to all.”

Carole Souter, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “M-Shed is a significant addition to Bristol’s already exceptional cultural landscape.  For the first time, this dynamic city will have a ‘one-stop shop’ that brings together all the different strands of its unique history.  The Heritage Lottery Fund has invested over £11m to help make this happen – we’re absolutely delighted with the results and confident that Bristolians and visitors from further afield will feel the same way about this special museum.”

M Shed, Wapping Rd, Bristol, BS1 4RN

Opening Friday 17 June 2011

www.mshed.org

Tel: 0117 352 6600

Admission free

Opening hours: Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 5pm, and on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays from 10am to 6pm.

At-Bristol, the popular hands-on science centre and family attraction on Bristol’s Harbourside has been awarded the status of Visitor Attraction of the Year at the Bristol Tourism and Hospitality Industry Awards 2011.

The awards ceremony, arranged by Destination Bristol, took place at the Marriott City Centre hotel on the evening of Thursday 2 June and was attended by over 350 people.  18 awards were presented on the night from over 200 nominations.

The Visitor Attraction of the Year category was open to all visitor attractions from in and around Bristol that welcome in excess of 50,000 visitors a year.  In their applications, attractions not only had to demonstrate the high standard of day to day operation, sustainability, their audience development and customer service, but explain how they exceeded expectation in all areas.

Kathryn Davis, Commercial Manager for Destination Bristol says “The Visitor Attraction of the Year category was exceedingly competitive with a high standard of all entries and to be shortlisted was an achievement in itself.  As winners, At-Bristol demonstrated a clear understanding of their audiences, their communication and marketing, together with the development of a world class visitor attraction which continues to evolve.  Customer service exceeded all expectations across the whole visitor experience and we are absolutely delighted for them”

At-Bristol offers an interactive family day out with over 300 hands-on exhibits, inspiring live science shows and a Planetarium.  The science centre first opened its doors in June 2000.  As an educational charity, At-Bristol has attracted over 4.5 million visitors and raised over £25m to develop new exhibitions and supporting educational programmes throughout its 11 year history.

In recent months, At-Bristol has seen an exciting range of new developments take place, reaching out to new audiences while enhancing the overall visitor experience.  These experiences include, Toddler Takeover Days, designed especially for At-Bristol’s youngest visitors of under five years old, the introduction of the science centre’s first Brownie Sleepover events and Cub Astronomer days and new family facilities including a popular indoor picnic space and a revamped café.

Earlier this year, At-Bristol launched All About Us, a new £1.5 million exhibition all about the human body and the brain, with over 50 new interactive exhibits and a Live Lab where audiences can watch and participate in real science experiments.  Among the first visitors to experience All About Us, was the UK’s Tourism and Heritage Minister, John Penrose, who visited the exhibition as part of British Tourism Week in March 2011.   During his visit, John Penrose MP said: “At-Bristol is a great place to visit and I’d like to encourage everyone to get out and see the science centre “

At-Bristol’s iconic Planetarium continues to be a huge draw for visitors; here you can enjoy presenter-led shows of the seasonal night sky inside the big silver dome and immerse yourself in the wonders of the Universe.

From 17th July, At-Bristol’s Live Science team will deliver the brand new Boggling Brains Show! which will take place in the studio on weekends and holidays.  Visitors to At-Bristol can also become an Animator for the day in Animate It! make giant bubbles, take on the role of a weather presenter in the TV studio, walk through a tornado, run in a giant hamster wheel and much much more!  There are also special touring exhibits for under eight year olds including; In the Jungle, Fossils and Funny Bones and Jet Set Go!

Away from the public floor At-Bristol has laboratories, preparation rooms and classrooms in which a wide range of curriculum-linked school workshops, debates and teacher training is developed and delivered by the science centre’s in-house science communicators and education experts.  The science centre receives over 40,000 educational visits a year.

Commenting on the Visitor Attraction of the Year award, Goéry Delacôte, Chief Executive for At-Bristol said: “We are delighted that At-Bristol has been recognised for its outstanding achievements, the quality of the visitor experience and role that the science centre plays within the local tourism industry.  I am very fortunate to work alongside a team of expert and enthusiastic individuals; to be presented with the Visitor Attraction of the Year award is a credit to them all.  We thank everyone who continues to support the work of At-Bristol and look forward to welcoming new visitors to the science centre this summer”. For further information on events and activities taking place in At-Bristol, see www.at-bristol.org.uk or call 0845 345 1235

Parents at Ashley Down Junior School are currently being consulted about this school running the new facility, which would become Ashley Down Primary School.

The site, adjacent to the City of Bristol College, would provide an additional 210 primary places, with the intention of expanding to 420 places, subject to further planning permission at a later date.

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Clare Campion-Smith, said: “This is a very important step towards providing more places in the north of the city for children reaching school age. Bishopston is a popular area for families and this is part of a package of measures to increase school capacity in the city. The next step is to sign contracts for the construction of new buildings. We expect to offer families the chance to apply for places at the new facility in March.”

The new school will be able to work in partnership with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club for indoor and outdoor sports and games.

With planning approval in place, work will start on site in the New Year.

The development will be carried out by Bristol Local Education Partnership www.bristollep.co.uk and follows the successful completion of two other primary schools this year by the LEP. Horfield Primary and Henbury Court Primary have both been significantly extended and refurbished.

In the last two years, the LEP has also delivered four secondary schools on time and on budget, under the council’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Paul Shadbolt, General Manager of Bristol LEP, said: “The Bishopston development is another milestone in the LEP’s successful partnership with the City Council. We look forward to starting work with our construction partner Skanska on providing a first-class primary building for the community in north Bristol.”

The LEP has already delivered Bristol Brunel Academy, Bristol Metropolitan Academy, Brislington Enterprise College and the Bridge Learning Campus. It is extensively rebuilding and extending five other secondary schools – Ashton Park, Cotham, St Bede’s, St Bernadette and St. Mary Redcliffe & Temple – as well as providing a new building for Florence Brown Special School.

The LEP is also providing a new building for Oasis Academy Bristol, extending and refurbishing Bristol Cathedral Choir School and planning to redevelop Colston’s Girls’ School.

St Barnabas Primary

Figures released by the government today confirm that Bristol primary schools achieved their best ever test results this year.

Ten and eleven-year-olds across the city sat their Key Stage 2 Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) in May this year. Results released by the government confirm continued improvement in all three subject areas, English, maths and science and the city moved up 12 places in local authority rankings.

On the measure of children’s progress between the ages of 7 and 11 (known as contextual value added) Bristol has more schools scoring above the national average than last year. Particularly good scores were achieved at St Barnabas CE Primary School, Avonmouth Primary School, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School, Knowle Park Primary and Waycroft Primary School.

The overall percentage of children in Bristol achieving level 4 or above, the level appropriate for their age, are:

• English – 76 per cent (75 per cent in 2008)
• Maths – 75 per cent (73 per cent in 2008)
• Science – 85 per cent (82 per cent in 2008)

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Clare Campion-Smith: “Congratulations to all the children and their teachers"

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Clare Campion-Smith, said: “Congratulations to all the children and their teachers who have worked hard to achieve these strong results. Bristol primary schools are continuing to make progress in driving up standards.

“However, it is clear that we would like to see further progress to move up again next year. We have a strong team of headteachers in place and are working to ensure that our most successful schools share best practice with other schools across the city.”

Our Lady of the Rosary School

Knowle Park Primary School has made particularly good progress with a 14 per cent increase in pupils achieving level 4 English and maths.

Headteacher Peter Overton said:“We are all delighted with these results. They are a just reward for all the hard work of last year fantastic year 6. We enjoy super support from parents and carers and have a dedicated team of staff and governors. We have taken great strides forward as a school following our amalgamation in 2007 and are determined to make sure all children in our school achieve as well, if not even better in the future.”

St Barnabas CE Primary School, Montpellier shows excellent value added scores for achievement between the ages of 7 and 11.

Headteacher Claire Waters said:“We’re delighted with our key stage 2 results this year. We feel very proud of the children’s progress and their commitment to learning. The results reflect the fantastic team work and co-operation between school staff, parents, governors and the wider school community.”