Stratford-on-Avon District


Stratford-on-Avon is a local government district of southern Warwickshire in England.
The district is named "Stratford-on-Avon" to distinguish it from its main town of Stratford-upon-Avon where the district council is based.
The district is mostly rural and covers most of the southern half of Warwickshire. As well as Stratford, the district also includes the towns of Alcester, Southam, and Shipston-on-Stour, and the large villages of Studley and Wellesbourne.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Stratford-upon-Avon, Alcester Rural District, Shipston-on-Stour Rural District, Southam Rural District and a majority of Stratford-upon-Avon Rural District.

Education

In the state sector, children start school in the school year in which they turn five. They stay at primary school for seven years until they are eleven. As part of Warwickshire, Stratford-on-Avon still maintains the grammar school system. In the final year of primary school, children are given the opportunity of sitting the eleven plus exam in order to compete for a place at one of the grammar schools.
The grammar schools in the district are King Edward VI, Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls and Alcester Grammar.
The area gets the best GCSE results overall in Warwickshire.

Politics

Elections to the district council are held in three out of every four years, with one third of the 53 seats on the council being elected at each election. The Conservative party has controlled the council for most of the time since the first election in 1973, and recently has had a majority since the 2003 election. As a result of the last election in 2010 the Conservatives had 30 councillors, compared to 20 Liberal Democrats and 3 independents.

Parishes and settlements

Other than Stratford-upon-Avon the district includes: