Friday 11 July 2025
Children across Devon can join The Summer Book Quest for free at their local library from Saturday 12 July.
This year's summer challenge offers a change to previous reading challenges with children encouraged to participate by doing a variety of activities along the theme of “Deep Sea Adventure”.
All libraries in Devon are taking part with a range of family-friendly activities. Contact your nearest library for details.
Refurbishment work has begun this week at Petroc College’s campus in Barnstaple and will begin at the college’s Tiverton campus within the next few weeks, to create additional post 16 education places for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
At least 350 additional places will be created at the colleges, with multi-million-pound funding from the Department for Education and Devon County Council.
 Heat Health alert raised to amber
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Met Office have issued an amber heat-health alert for the South West region running until 9am on Monday 14 July.
An amber alert means that the impact of the hot weather is likely to be felt across the whole health service.
The UKHSA warns that the heat brings increased risk to people aged over 65 years or those with pre-existing health conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
 Walk the dog during times of the day when it is cooler, such as the morning or evening
Keep it cool!
There are additional ways in which you can keep yourself and others safe during periods of hot weather, such as:
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keeping your home cool by closing windows and curtains in rooms that face the sun
- if you do go outside, cover up with suitable clothing, such as an appropriate hat and sunglasses, and seek shade and apply sunscreen regularly
- keeping out of the sun at the hottest time of the day, between 11am and 3pm
- if you are going to do a physical activity (for example, exercising or walking the dog), plan to do these during times of the day when it is cooler, such as the morning or evening
- knowing the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heatstroke and what to do if you or someone else has them
Construction work to upgrade the A382 near Newton Abbot is due to get underway this autumn following the confirmation of funding from the Department for Transport this week.
The scheme was estimated at around £60 million when originally drawn up in 2019/20, but the scope of the project has had to be revised in line with the budget made available from Government.
We’ve recently held our annual Celebration of Achievement event for our children and young people in care and leaving care.
The evening, organised by Virtual School, took place at Exeter Racecourse and recognises the amazing achievements that our young people have made over the last 12 months.
 There are lots of summer holidays activities for your child just waiting to be booked!
It’s not too late to book your child for activities this summer on our Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.
With our new online booking system, it’s now easier than ever.
Since the new online system was launched in March thousands of parents have booked their child onto at least one of a number of activities, but there are still thousands of places available.
Most of the farms and smallholdings in Devon and Somerset we tested are ensuring that their livestock have access to clean drinking water.
In a round of Food Standards Agency-funded visits, our Heart of the South West Trading Standards’ rural team took water samples from troughs, buckets and other water receptacles on 21 farms.
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