• Close schools or switch to remote learning on 10/12 to allow time for pre Christmas self isolation
    There are approximately 10.3 million school children across the U.K. Add to this the school staff needed to run each school including headteachers, teachers, teaching assistants, administrators, midday supervisors, school cooks, cleaners etc. This is a huge number of people potentially moving around the country and visiting different households none of whom can elect to take annual leave to self isolate due to the school term system. If schools either closed or switched to remote learning on 10/12 these people could self isolate allowing them to safely see family. This could also help reduce transmission rates during the Christmas period. Closing schools or switching to remote learning on 10/12 would also allow for a 3 week school “firebreak”. Given the data is increasingly showing significant numbers of cases in secondary schools & also in primary schools a firebreak could help to further drive down covid19 cases following the England lockdown. The extended half term implemented by Northern Ireland appears to have been particularly effective in reducing cases there.
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    Created by Nicola Spiller
  • Scrap OSCEs (practical face to face exams) for Veterinary Nursing students
    We are asking for an alternative exam or cancellation of our OSCEs due to the worldwide pandemic. Many students are on low wage or not getting paid at all and should already be qualified if it wasn’t for this virus. If December OSCEs go ahead, many of these students may miss them due to self isolation or not being able to travel. If hotels shut they will have no where to stay as many of these exams locations have been changed and are now hours away from where we reside. All these changes and the uncertainty is taking a huge toll on our Student Veterinary Nurses mental health. Where is the support? Many colleges have passed their students on mock grades, why is that different for us? Why has an alternative not been offered to us? Why must we be a group of students with no mock exams? We are being sent to colleges we aren’t familiar with, to be examined using equipment we’ve never seen. Why must we have to travel hours away during a global pandemic and stay overnight in cities hundreds of miles away from home? Please if you are a Student Veterinary Nurse or support a Student Veterinary Nurse sign this petition and show the RVCS how serious we are about this! Support your nursing students!
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    Created by Gabriella Sapi
  • Keep Outdoor Education Centres open
    As Directors of an environmental outdoor education centre in the recent past for two decades we have experienced children (and teachers) discover a new and abiding relationship with the natural world which at a time when we are experiencing the onset of environmental and climate disaster is essential for future generations. An eight year old who had never seen the stars seeing the milky way for the first say exclaimed, "There ain't no stars in Kilburn". For the first time he was experiencing beyond himself.
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    Created by Chris Walton
  • Do not let the Government Scrap Union Learning Fund
    Thousands of Union Reps have been trained to help adults retrain, go into apprenticeships, support English for speakers of other Languages and have promoted many workplace based Adult Education Opportunities, this is minimal funding that makes a big difference it needs to continue!
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    Created by Helen Osgood
  • Retain Current Uniform at Stafford & Roselands Federation
    We are currently the only school in Eastbourne with purple, it is popular with the families. The children voted for it only two years ago and it forms part of their sense of school identity. Many families have a stock of purple uniform that they hand down to younger siblings, all of which would be wasted if a new uniform is introduced, a poor example to the next generation in environmental terms. Providing parents with one jumper, one PE shirt and a bag still involves considerable outlay for parents at a time when finances are difficult for many. We believe the proposed changes to be utterly without good reason and the money spent on subsidising new items could be better spent on educational items.
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    Created by Megan Stanfield
  • No child should be too hungry to learn
    6 children in every class of 30 are at risk of starting the day too hungry to learn. Hungry children struggle to concentrate on lessons and miss out on hours of valuable learning. This all contributes to a learning gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. That’s why the charities Magic Breakfast and Feeding Britain has put forward the ‘School Breakfast Bill’ - a potential new law that would provide schools the support they require to provide a free and nutritious breakfast to children at risk of hunger. But for the bill to become law we need to show that the public supports it. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, even more children are at risk of hunger. Will you sign the petition to demand that no child is too hungry to learn?
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  • Support Diversity BLM performance
    Diversity performance titled BLM on BGT was choreographed beautiful, staging sensential and message agreed was political. Which dance can be! The nation remains devided on the subject and has been for some time, and will remain that way for some time. The performance has received 10,000 off con complaints. I aim to receive 10,000 signatures of support. Hoping to prevent the performance being removed from YouTube and show choreographers and dancers that there is love for the performance as well as negative responses.
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    Created by Jane Charlotte
  • Address issues in Birmingham SEND Transport now
    Hundreds of families across the city are being failed. Vulnerable and disabled children who have been assessed as eligible for transport to school have been let down. Routes have changed and been cancelled with no communication with parents. Complaints and concerns are going unanswered. It is time for the Council recognise that they are accountable for this and take action to deal with it
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    Created by Charlotte Bull
  • Fair Marking for Counsellors during COVID-19 at Salford University
    Most student counsellors on these programs have worked for free during COVID-19, providing telephone and/or online counselling to clients, having had minimal training on practicing in this way. Previously, students were not allowed to practice remotely due to ethical implications, but the global pandemic made a sudden change of policy necessary. This has put us at a disadvantage in terms of the marking of our audio submissions (recordings of a session with a client), which had to be recorded under unusual and unprecedented circumstances that fell outside the criteria of the taught program. We want a review of the recent results and marking criteria, taking account of these unusual circumstances in which the work was forced to be done due to COVID-19, and reflecting the commitment and the hard work of student counsellors during these exceptional and difficult times (as well as the disruption to the taught program and student support). They could, for example, calculate average marks based on work handed in before the pandemic. In adhering to pre-COVID marking criteria for work that was carried out in a way that was, by necessity, at odds with the teaching of the program, Salford University is effectively punishing us for the impact that lockdown has had on our studies. Having been unfairly penalised and prevented from qualifying, we will have to continue to work for free and obtain a second audio recording only to face the same dilemma, as most organisations are still not allowing face-to-face counselling sessions to take place. If the same marking criteria are applied a second time and we are similarly penalised we would be liable for an extra year of fees. For those funded by student finance the only financially viable option is to defer for a year. This means that there will be fewer newly qualified counsellors at a time when they are needed more than ever.
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    Created by Sarah McGrath
  • Government funding for family members.
    Family members are treated like every other child in the inclusive childminding settings. Payment support is available for them too, such as universal credit, tax free childcare and childcare vouchers. It is only the funding which is not allowed. It is unfair to potentially move a settled child from their learning setting just because they are family and will not receive the 15/30 hours funding in the family members setting because of this reason.
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    Created by Kirsty Gage
  • Justice for 20k A level students left without grades
    There are approximately 20,000 students who did A levels as external students. Some are homeschooling, some re-sitting, often because of a tragedy in their lives. Since they were not in a school or College, CAG doesn't work for them as centres are understandably saying they cannot give them a grade. But it means that unlike every other A level student, they have been left with nothing. Government have said they can re-sit in the autumn. That means they can't go to university this year. But they could be given predicted grades NOW. Most of these students cannot afford to take a gap year. They watch their friends move on and, through no fault of their own, they are left behind. Again. Ferdaus, for example, got a place at Kings College to do medicine. He re-sat due to family illness last year. "I was very very anxious during the confirmation [of results] period. I'm depressed. It's not even limbo. It's nothing. I'm in a black hole." Israt didn't do A levels last year as her father was dying. Now she's left with nothing and says she's 'never felt so low or suicidal.' Another BAME student from a working class family had mental health problems and didn't get the grades they knew they could. Re-sitting was a financial burden on them and their family. Had got a uni place. "I'm a future psychologist. We're all future 'somethings' but our futures are being held hostage for another year. I'm devastated. I can't do this again." Please sign the petition, circulate and contact your MP urgently.
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    Created by Gabriella Braun
  • Reinstate teacher assessed grades for A level.
    The expertise of teachers has been completely devalued by the unjust and incomprehensible reduction of subject grades and consequently, thousands of students nationally have suffered. Across the board, this reduction has been aimed at secondary schools, academies and sixth form colleges, whilst independent and smaller schools have received a disproportionate rise in top grades. This is blatant discrimination. It is a biased and unjustified action suggesting qualifications are now based on postcode and affluence, not ability. Potentially, highly knowledgeable and hard-working students, completely committed to their subjects, have had their futures obliterated by a skewed, unfair and inscrutable system. Furthermore, to lodge an appeal to the system that discriminated against them is simply unacceptable and students should not feel this is a reasonable way to receive their due results. We urge the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, to reinstate teacher assessed grades for A level with immediate effect.
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    Created by Alexia Bartlett