Please help us to show the council that music is so much more important than the they are giving it credit for. It is vital for our young people’s growth! It is a way for young people to engage with each other, it is so inclusive and people of all abilities can interact together; music is proven to have benefits to mental health, in particular stress and anxiety, in addition to this can give young people the ability to express their creativity and develop a great sense of worth and self esteem. Research shows that pupils who learn music perform better in many subjects and have a greater ability in problems solving and mathematics. Music helps young people to work collaboratively, cooperatively in smaller and larger groups. All of these points show that music helps our children to become healthier, well rounded, contributing members of society. Surely that’s what the government and our council want for our young people? 

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It certainly takes families with children to maintain a community like ours. A recent policy change by North Yorkshire Council threatens to make our community fail, with implications for all. The Council has decided it will no longer provide free school transport for children living in our dales if they want to go to Richmond School. It will pay for children to go to the nearest of Leyburn, Barnard Castle or Kirkby Stephen schools, each entailing winter journeys over mountain passes. But not for the safest, cheapest, and most sensible option that keeps Swaledale and Arkengarthdale children together at Richmond school. I know it sounds like a wind up. It isn't. This decision is already causing nightmares in families with children in Year 6 who must decide what to do in the next few weeks, and have been given no sensible guidance to help them. If this policy continues, families with the freedom to choose will no longer choose to live in our two dales. There will soon be even fewer working age families than there are now. Reeth and Gunnerside schools will close. Businesses will close. Services will disappear. So please don’t ask for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for us. People make the dales, the children their families and their communities. Without them it will be a wilderness! We need councillors to overturn their decision. If we present a petition with over 500 signatures councillors must consider it. The last petition fell just short of this number. If we present a petition with over a 1,000 signatures, and present it with some pizzazz, it will wake up those councillors who were asleep at the wheel when they voted for this awful policy. So please, please sign this petition.  

The proposed cuts to inclusion will affect ALL children in Edinburgh schools, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable.  Some of the proposed cuts are currently as follows - Removal of a central Additional Support for Learning (ASL) service - Removal of Forest school. - Removal of Hospital education services  - Restructuring of Educational Psychology department. - Removal or paring back holiday hub service that supports disabled and ASN children in the school holidays.  - Adding more duties to PSA job descriptions including the expectation that they will have to deal with physical violence as standard.  - It is unclear what will happen to English as an Additional Language services, one of the largest additional support needs in the city. Why is this petition important? Despite the spin that this is merely restructuring, it is quite clear that this is a cost-cutting exercise for an already overstretched service.  The cuts will have a huge negative impact on ALL children's education: disproportionately impacting both children with disabilities and those from minority ethnic backgrounds. Over the last year, the  families of children with ASN have already fought CEC attempts to remove Edinburgh Childcare for All (afterschool care for disabled children), the Enhanced Support Bases (support for ASN pupils in mainstream schools) and Holiday Hubs (holiday support for disabled children who can't attend typical holiday clubs). Concerned parents have attempted to consult with CEC over the last year but are extremely disappointed with how this has been handled. Surveys and engagement meetings appear to be tick box exercises, with concerns expressed by parents and teaching staff not being addressed and unrealistic timescales being imposed.  Therefore we need your help. We  ALL need to work together and raise our voices to make CEC listen and realise that their plans are not acceptable. By sharing and signing this petition and writing to your councillors,  you can add your voice to tell Edinburgh councillors loud and clear to STOP INCLUSION CUTS. What’s the bigger picture? School should be accessible to all children, regardless of disability or support needs. 48% of school pupils across Lothian have some sort of Additional Support Need, a percentage dramatically rising. Removal of any of these services is going to be detrimental to ALL our children. According to the Scottish Government, “Disabled people should have freedom, dignity, choice and control over their lives. We want to remove the barriers that stop people from enjoying equal access to full citizenship.” These plans are clearly at odds with this ethos.  The Holyrood Education, Children and Young People Committee 2024/4 inquiry into Additional support needs in Education found that local authorities were already failing to implement mainstreaming properly, saying 'the situation for children with additional support needs is intolerable' (Susan Webber MSP Committee Convener) By signing this petition, you are also telling the Scottish Government that they need make good on their promises and provide adequate budgets for councils to be able to protect these services. 

This is important for our colleagues but to us, nurses of all generations supporting each other.  This is important for students of University of Brighton to have a positive relationship of trust with the tutors of the University and the Exam board.  The NHS depends on each and every one of us to contribute to the immense gap in the workforce.  The decision of this board can encourage current and future students when taking into consideration their place of study. 

As students move up into KS4, there will be far more on their minds than spending 4% of their lesson time per week doing sports. While Year 10 students can be using this time to prepare for important assessments or even their mock exams, Year 11 students can be using this time to revise for their official exams which will completely shape their future. Considering there are approximately 39 weeks in each UK school year, 2 hours of PE per week would add up to 78 hours of wasted time in school. 78 hours can make a massive difference to academic achievement and boost possibilities for students.

The Children's Space worked in conjunction with White Rose Primary school, providing a pre-school service as well as wraparound services. This ensured children transitioned into full time education seamlessly and allowed parents in the area to work full-time.  Please sign this petition and help us try and reverse the decision to close the facility

The library was open six and a half hours on a Saturday but this has been cut to just three. The Library is instead open on a Tuesday.  Saturdays are vital because they allow children and young people to visit the library.  This is not only for books, but as a place to do research, study quietly and use the computers. This is especially true in Swanage where many of our teenage children have to travel long distances to attend schools and colleges.  The cut in Saturday hours will reduce the time available for the fantastic educational activities targeted at children and young people that have previously been delivered by our kind and experienced library staff. By reducing the hours available for young people, Dorset Council are disproportionally disadvantaging those least able to improve their circumstances.  The recent consultation concluded that young people and the employed, wanted Saturday and late night opening. There was no demand to open on a Tuesday instead of Saturday. As this change is cost neutral, it should have no impact on budgets.  Well educated and informed young people are not only our legacy, they will provide the future economic growth Dorset so desperately needs.  Swanage opening hours from 1st July 2024 • Monday:  10 am to 5pm • Tuesday: 10 am to 5 pm • Wednesday: 12 noon to 6 pm • Thursday: Closed • Friday: 10 am to 5 pm • Saturday: 10 am to 1 pm • Sunday: Closed Swanage previous opening hours • Monday: 10 am to 6.30 pm • Tuesday: Closed • Wednesday: 9.30 am to 5 pm • Thursday: Closed • Friday: 9.30 am to 5 pm • Saturday: 9.30 am to 4 pm • Sunday: Closed

Fourteen years of neglect and underfunding have left education – from early years through to post-16 – in tatters. It is imperative that all political parties address this in their manifestos. Not in vague terms, with piecemeal solutions. But with meaningful proposals about how this situation will be reversed if they form the next Government.   Our schools are chronically underfunded. Primary class sizes are the highest in Europe, and secondary class sizes are the highest since records began more than forty years ago. Teachers are underpaid and overworked, resulting in the worst recruitment and retention crisis in a generation. That will not be reversed unless there is significant change to pay and terms and conditions of the education workforce.  SEND provision and mental health support for our young people is practically non-existent. We have a curriculum and assessment system that does not engage many pupils, or give each of them the chance to thrive. Many of our school buildings are in a chronic state of disrepair, literally crumbling away with the ongoing effects of RAAC and asbestos.  This is a grim picture for one of the richest countries in the world. It’s far from the ‘world class ’ education system so regularly promised by our Government. It cannot go on.   We need a Government to invest in education and to invest in our young people. If you value education, vote for education. Let’s give our children the education they deserve. 

We, the MFA Fine Art students, have created this petition to express our profound disappointment and frustration with the lack of communication, support, and attention we have received throughout this academic year. Despite our investment of time, money, and effort into our education, we have been left feeling neglected and undervalued by the administration and academic staff. There has been a consistent lack of communication from the administration and academic staff regarding course requirements, expectations, and support systems. Important information has been withheld, leaving us feeling confused and unsupported. MFA students are consistently overlooked and marginalized in favor of BA students. We are unable to access essential workshops and resources due to the prioritisation of undergraduate students. Despite our attempts to seek assistance and support, academic staff members have been unresponsive to our emails and requests for guidance. This lack of engagement has left us feeling abandoned and alone in navigating our academic journey. In summary, joining the campaign for change is important because it promotes solidarity, upholds educational standards, impacts future generations, holds individuals accountable, and contributes to the well-being of the university community as a whole.

Under government law, it is compulsory for all children including those with special educational needs to study maths and English to the age of 19 alongside any other course until they reach grade 4 and above. Many SEN teens find this a huge trigger for overwhelm and anxiety. Many are bright creatives, musicians and artists who are finally able to focus on a course that suits them after years of school environments that have failed them. They are forced into retaking maths or English over and over despite trying the best they can and constant failure can seriously impact on self esteem and mental health. If the lack of one or the other of these qualifications are a barrier in life then the opportunity to come back to them without the added pressure of the clock ticking would be far more valuable than the way things currently stand. Metaphorically speaking, it’s time for this government to stop judging fish by their ability to climb trees. They are damaging our bright creative neurodiverse kids as a result. We want our bright, neurodiverse kids to have the best chance at an education that works for them. Currently it does not!

We need Aberdeen City Council to help it's many denominational communities including Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other faith based communities who send their kids to Catholic Schools. It affects a lot of locals who historically sent their kids to these schools, as well as ethnic minorities of Aberdeen.  We need a secondary school to continue helping the kids who studies in RC primaries to continue friendships and their school values.

ATL is a system which monitors a range of factors including a child’s engagement in their learning and their learning resilience. The system should be used as a tool for supporting children's growth and development. It is effectively being used in this instance as a form of reward and punishment with respect to access to food. We recognise that there is a need to manage canteen overcrowding at break-time. However, using the ATL is the wrong way to do it. 1. ATL scores should remain private between pupils, families, and teachers. The headmaster of Dorothy Stringer school has written that those with high ATL’s are celebrated in assemblies. We presume that those with low ATL’s are not shamed in assemblies, yet this is what is effectively happening in the canteen queue, where children’s ATL scores are broadcast in front of their peers and staff. Those with lowest ATL’s have equal hunger as their peers but will always be last in the break queue. As well as shaming children, this is hugely damaging for a child’s self-esteem and of course children with lower self-esteem are less likely to try their best. So, this system worsens the behaviour which it seeks to address. 2. The system could have negative impacts on children who have disordered eating