On Thursday 28th June 2018, Herefordshire Council’s Cabinet will meet to discuss the possibility of starting a tendering process to privatise these vital services, based on the “Soft Market Test” report, published in January 2018 and the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee, which met on 9th April. At a time when there is much evidence to suggest that other local authorities are having to take these services back in-house due to the failure of private companies to run them effectively, we need to control and safeguard the future cultural service provision for our community, particularly for our children, young people, and isolated, vulnerable groups, such as elderly and disabled people. UNISON believes that the public deserve the best possible service when it comes to Museums, Libraries and Archives and our policy is always to keep services in-house. The Council say they need to do this to save money. However, the total budget spend for all 3 services last year represents a spend of less than £8 per head of population. Official figures for the library service already show a below average spend in comparison to similar authorities so it’s difficult to see a reason for taking these services out of local council ownership, when the figures show that it is already a very cost-effective service. UNISON is committed to working with Herefordshire Council to find a solution to its budgetary pressures without undermining our loved arts and library provision. Ealing, along with Croydon, Harrow and Hounslow recently had to take back their library services due to the collapse of Carillion. Staff at privatised library services in Bromley, run by Greenwich Leisure Ltd, have been on strike. UNISON believes Museum, Library and Archives staff deserve to be recognised for the trained, professional job they do, and the threat of future closures, reductions in hours and the loss of friendly, knowledgeable staff is unacceptable, These things are at risk if they are transferred over to a private company or charitable trust. Finally, UNISON has part funded work with We Own It. They are running a pledge for councillors and council candidates in elections to commit to ending all privatisation in local council services. The detail can be found here: https://weownit.org.uk/local-pledge Thank you, Herefordshire Local Government UNISON

Following the imminent re-development of St Philip’s Church Dorridge, and their subsequent relocation of groups to the St James’ site at Bentley Heath, lettings and storage space has been identified as a major problem. To alleviate the problem of storage and hall usage, and following discussions regarding the needs of St Philip’s and St James’ Churches, Noah’s Ark Playgroup were initially asked to vacate the premises by the end of July 2018. Having failed to find any suitable alternative premises in the local area, Noah’s Ark Playgroup would have been forced to close. However, following extensive negotiation between the Church PCC, Noah’s Ark Trustees and Staff, a compromise solution has been reached for now. From September 2018, Noah’s Ark Playgroup will remain open for two mornings per week, namely Monday and Tuesday. The PCC will review the situation by December 2018 at the latest, and advise Noah's Ark if they need to find alternative accommodation for the academic year 2019-20. This is a outcome many want to avoid. Noah’s Ark Playgroup has been providing a loving, nurturing, learning environment for children from Bentley Heath, Dorridge and Knowle for the past 15 years. Noah’s Ark Playgroup Trustees and Staff have undertaken what they can. It is our turn as parents and carers who have, are and intend to utilise, this ‘Outstanding’ Playgroup, to let our voices be heard and show our support for Noah’s Ark Playgroup, Staff and Trustees. Please will you sign this petition and write letters to: PCC Lay Chair Colin Revans Vicar Duncan Hill-Brown Highlight what a pivotal role Noah’s Ark Playgroup has played for the last 15 years and continues to perform today. In blessing and encouraging families through their ‘Outstanding’ (Ofsted 2016, 2009) provision within the Bentley Heath, Dorridge and Knowle communities. If you know of families in the area who plan to attend Noah’s Ark in the future. Ask them to contact Noah’s Ark today, to reserve their place as spaces are limited. For those families not using their full 15hrs of Government Funding. They can spread their funding across different providers. Please contact Noah’s Ark asap to sign up for the Summer Term, a few spaces are currently available. Noah’s Ark Playgroup can be contacted on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday between 0815hrs - 1300hrs, via email and telephone. [email protected] T: 01564 772113 Together we can make a difference and help keep this amazing Playgroup open for the next 15 years. Thank you for your time and support.

On 13th April, the families of Tickford Park Primary School in Newport Pagnell received the devastating news that their beloved headteacher, Sally Ahmad, had resigned. Mrs Ahmad’s resignation letter highlights how she feels forced to leave the profession that she loves, due to the expectation from Government and Ofsted that “schools are no longer encouraged to nurture the ‘whole child’ but have to focus purely on progress and attainment”. This detrimental focus has been so keenly felt by Mrs Ahmad, whose letter expressed her desire to teach since she was 11, that she has resigned with no position to go to. She simply feels she cannot, and will not, lead the children through the type of education (and assessment) with the focus that the Government is pushing for. It is too late to save our amazing headteacher but my anger and frustration at the changes to the system (as a mother of a 6 year old daughter and a secondary Maths and Financial Studies teacher with 15 years experience) leads me to want to highlight at the widest possible level, the reality of our primary education system today….. and the impact that this is having on both teaching staff and our children. All this at a time when media coverage of the mental health and wellbeing of children shows how badly affected some individuals can be. Mrs Ahmad’s letter expresses this important point that influenced her decision “Happy, secure, well behaved and keen to learn children no longer seem important, which in a day and age where we have never been more concerned about the well-being and mental health of our children is, in my opinion, unforgiveable”. The media regularly reports about teacher workload and the deficit in the number of teachers in this country but maybe Mrs Ahmad’s letter shows the deeper and saddening reason why teachers might be unwilling to work in our education system anymore and the impact that this system could have on our children…. Please help me to save the careers of other talented and passionate primary class teachers and headteachers, who strive to make a difference, before they too, decide to quit. Thank you. You can read Mrs Ahmad’s resignation letter, in full, here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oxL_tupgnL9ac0tYEPRi9TcvLGpfea0Y/view

Our son Harry is 4 years old and due to start school in September. Harry was diagnosed with autism and other co-morbid conditions last year, just weeks after his 4th birthday. Our aim in getting Harry’s diagnosis at such an early age was that going into education with a diagnosis would be his best chance at thriving in school. We have worked so hard over the last two years to integrate Harry into his big sisters primary school to get him ready for the incredibly hard transition he will face in September 2018 when he starts in reception. Harry has specific medical and social needs for needing to be at this specific school, this was stated on his primary application form and supported with multiple letters from his paediatrician. Harry will now have to go to a completely different school, with no friendly faces, an unfamiliar building and hallways and playgrounds. He won’t recognise the uniform or the reception staff. He won’t be surrounded by the professionals who have been involved in his care for two years. He will be a lost little four year old, who already faces daily battles to understand the world around him, thrown into a completely unknown situation, all on his own because his medical and social needs have been disregarded. Harry won’t be the first or last child to be let down by the school admissions system in such a way but please help me try to ensure that children’s social and medical needs are made a compulsory part of the admissions criteria for our schools.

We do not believe that the parents, staff and community at St Luke’s, Christ Church Streatham and St Leonard’s were consulted in a meaningful way, as is required by The Education and Adoption Act 2016. We believe the schools failed in their duty to consult parents, staff and the community in order to inform their decision about whether to convert to academy status: · Many parents were entirely unaware that the school was even considering converting to academy status, something that was due to have happened on April 1st, but has been delayed until May 1st, due in part to National Education Union action. · Where there were meetings with parents about the plans to academise, many parents felt academisation was presented as a foregone conclusion. Parents were led to believe that the governors had already decided and there was no choice but to academise. · We have seen no attempt to engage with parents for whom English is not their first language. · Some parents and staff were led to believe that the schools needed to academise to protect their Christian character – we know that the Christian character of the schools is under no threat as Lambeth maintained Church of England schools. · Staff were told that nothing would change – we know that terms and conditions for employees of the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education Multi-Academy Trust (SDBE MAT) will be worse than for those previously employed by Lambeth - we do not support the creation of a two tier workforce, where some staff have fewer rights than others. · Staff unions have raised many questions about the changes to the schools and staff terms and conditions after academisation, these questions have been ignored and remain unanswered. · Staff have asked for a meeting with Colin Powell (Chief Executive of SDBE MAT) and have had no response. Again, we call for the plans to convert St Luke’s, Christ Church Streatham and St Leonard’s primary schools to academies to be halted and demand that the consultation process begins again. We call for the following steps to be taken to inform a decision about whether or not the schools should academise: · Meaningful and accessible parent and community consultation should take place including: a series of well-publicised meetings, with translators for parents for whom English is an additional language, at different times of the day; the provision of written materials in the community languages of the three schools, explaining the perceived benefits and drawbacks of academisaiton and presenting it as an option, not a foregone conclusion. · An open meeting between staff and parents with Colin Powell (SDBE MAT Chief Executive). · A full and binding ballot of all staff and parents on whether to academise the three schools. We, the community, demand to be heard.

We all know that climate change is a real threat to everyone and everything on this planet, and that the fossil fuel industry is the biggest cause of pollution, the increase of greenhouse gases, and of creating global warming. The industry is responsible for poisoning our waterways, oceans, air, and land. Also, a lot of the chemicals the fossil fuel companies extract are used for making plastics. Plastics are choking our oceans, killing our sea life, and contaminating the sea salt, which in turn will contaminate users of sea salt. We now have fossil fuel companies like INEOS, Cuadrilla, Third Energy etc., setting up Community Funds in areas in which they propose to carry out Hydraulic Fracturing: Fracking. There is increasing evidence that Fracking is extremely harmful to the health of our young people, and it has been linked to premature births, low birth rate, delayed brain development, nosebleeds, skin rashes, sickness, headaches, asthma, cancer, and infertility. This, as well as the environmental impact, as seen in parts of America and Australia, where Fracking is prevalent, links have been made to the pollution of aquifers, rivers, waterways, land (both farming and natural), air quality and earthquakes. The Fossil Fuel Industry has known about the damage it is causing, to our children's health, and the health of our planet since the late 80's, and has refused to change or act responsibly. By allowing these companies to sponsor school activities, children's football clubs etc., we are allowing them to subliminally promote themselves as fun, healthy companies that can be trusted in the eyes of our children, when in fact they are abusing our trust, and endangering our children. It is time we all started divesting away from fossil fuels, and the fossil fuel industry. One way of doing this is to keep these dirty industries, their logos, and their money away from our children's schools and leisure activities."

Not all nurseries or childcare providers in Scotland have trained staff in paediatric first aid on site to deal with immediate life threatening first aid emergencies like choking or asthma attacks. Infants and children, who need simple first aid treatment, before an ambulance arrives, are being put at risk everyday. In England and Wales, all childcare settings should have at least 1 member of staff with a 12 hour Paediatric First Aid qualification. This became law in September 2014. The tragic Millie Thompson case in 2012 brought into sharp focus the fact that paediatric first aid training can mean the difference between the life and death of a child. Since 2016 we have been asking the Scottish Government why this law can't be applied to all Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Providers in Scotland, to bring us in line with England and Wales. We have discussed the issue with the previous and current Scottish Minister for Childcare and Early Years and had prolonged discussions with the Care Inspectorate (the government body responsible for inspecting childcare providers) but have been unsuccessful in moving this issue forwards. The Scottish government does not seem to think that any childcare staff on duty, when children are present in nurseries, or on visits, needs to hold a Paediatric First Aid qualification. In late 2016 we contacted all 32 Local Authorities in Scotland under FOI legislation to ask how many of their registered childcare providers had staff with Paediatric First Aid qualifications. Their replies were shocking: • 30% of Local Authorities said they did not require ELC Providers to have staff on site with a Paediatric First Aid qualification. • Of those that did require Paediatric First Aid training, this varied widely from 3 - 9 hours. There was no consistency of course length or course content across Local Authorities. Why a 12-hour Paediatric First Aid course? Not everyone realizes that first aid for infants and young children is quite different to that for adults. This course is seen as the ‘standard’ first aid course for childcare across the rest of the UK but not in Scotland. The training includes time to cover infant and child specific issues around CPR, asthma, febrile convulsions, recognition of meningitis and more. None of these are included on a standard Emergency First Aid at Work course. If the law were changed, to create parity between England, Wales and Scotland then this situation would be resolved instantly. The Scottish government is working towards doubling the amount of free childcare hours for parents of young children in Scotland. More children will be put at risk for longer, unless this change is made. Now is the prefect time for Maree Todd, Minister for Childcare and Early Years, to change the law. As other childcare legislative changes are enacted it is the perfect time to change the law to ensure that Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Providers have Paediatric First Aid trained staff on duty when children are present, or on visits. Previous precedent’s concerning children and first aid People say to me, you will never persuade the powers that be to change their minds. Well there are some similar precedents to this situation regarding first aid training. In 2014 the English government issued new guidance on the use of asthma inhalers and adrenaline auto injector pens (EpiPens) so that schools and nurseries could hold a spare inhaler / auto injector in case a child lost of forget their own. It took till late 2017 for the Scottish government to follow suite and issue similar guidance, making schools and nurseries safer places for our children to be. The issue of Paediatric First Aid training for childcare and early learning providers is similar. The law changed in England back in 2014 so sometimes it does take a while for our government to catch up! Why should we have to wait for another young child to die in a nursery before the government acts? What can you do? • Sign our 38 degrees petition, asking Maree Todd MSP to change the law • Send a Facebook or twitter message to Maree Todd MSP • Write to Marie Todd MSP

A general consensus to end youth social and wellbeing isolation by the council. Most parent find it hard to make payments for kids to engage in education, training and employment opportunities for their kids. To give more opportunities for engagement with the society's development of our children.

Raising awareness of bullying is an important issue to many parents, carers, and young people who are victims of bullying. It is becoming more and more frequent at this school, to the point where children are having to be relocated at other schools. Bullying has a devastating affect on young people and their families. The rates of suicide and self harm in young people is on the rise due to suspected bullying, whether it be cyber bullying, physical and/or psychological. This matter is important to me as family members of mine have experienced bullying directly and I have witnessed the effects it has on them both physically and mentally. There were over 24,000 Childline counselling sessions with children about bullying in 2016/2017 and more than 16,000 young people are absent from school due to bullying, as stated by the NSPCC. This is happening in schools because young people are not being educated on how bullying others and making a person feel worthless effects the young person whom is being bullied. Children who are being bullied also don't know where to turn to or what to do, this may also apply to the children that are bullying others. I feel that making a point of having set times where children, parents, teachers, can learn about the full effects of bullying may just save some lives, this will allow children to attend their place of education without fear. School's have a duty of care to children, and, currently this duty is not being carried out. Children need to feel safe in their environment in order for them to grow and learn. It's about time the school acted on it's anti-bullying policy and protected the children that are under their care. I have attached the link to an Inquiry into bullying and harrasment in schools, it's worth a read to get a feel of how the young people in schools feel about this subject, and notice the age of the kids that are giving feedback. This needs to be stopped. http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Equal_Opps/General%20Documents/Children_in_Scotland_-_commissioned_by_EHRiC.pdf

If you have any interest in athletics at all, or just in the development of sport in general - please take time to read. The facts are amazing. This is the most successful athletics programme in the country. It has won five National awards, three governing body awards, it has a 100% attendance to the summer programme and the most successful indoor athletics league in the country. This programme has enabled thousands of young people, no matter what their ability, to participate and compete in an atmosphere of excitement, challenge, fun and fulfilment, alongside 100s of volunteers many of whom were former competitors and GCSE or A level students, who gained valuable leadership skills and qualifications. Several internationals began their career in these programmes. Many many other, high level county and club athletes also started their careers in these programmes. Leader, Howard Court, took up his role after his England athletics role 13 years ago. His wife, Clova Court, is a former Great Britain International Heptathlete. She has supported him and his team in doing an amazing job in developing athletics in the Sandwell Area. There are many other current and past international athletes who are great role models and have contributed or still contribute to the development of sport in Sandwell. PLEASE SAVE THE SANDWELL SPORTS DEVELOPMENT TEAM.

The Kimberley Fencing Club has provided the East Midlands and Great Britain with hundreds of regional champions and a number of national champions over it's 23 years of service to Kimberley, not to mention the Olympians that have trained there. My name is Alex Johnson, I am thirteen years old and have been attending the Kimberley Fencing Club on Saturday mornings since I was eight. The training I have received there has enabled me to qualify twice to compete at the British Youth Championships. Liberty Leisure Limited are now responsible for running the leisure centre that occupys the same site as my school and they have increased the cost of hiring the gym hall. This is the cause of the Kimberley Fencing Club being closed at the end of March 2018. As Liberty Leisure Limited is owned by Broxtowe Borough Council surely it is their responsibility to ensure that local young people can access other sports aside from football and cricket.I think it is important that the council promotes activity and excellence in sport out of school, and this should surely be a priority as part of our Olympic legacy. The gym hall in question is part of my school, The Kimberley School, but is controlled by Liberty Leisure Limited at the weekend. I personally don't know what I would do without my Saturday sessions with my friends, who otherwise would not get another source of exercise as their aren't many other opportunities for sport, aside from the previously mentioned football and cricket clubs. My coach, Rob Fensom, has spent years in the military as a Royal Marine Commando and is a member of the Fire Service and while trying to give even more to his community and country has been shunned in his effort to do so. Now that Liberty Leisure Limited have doubled the cost of hiring the gym hall it is no longer financially viable for Rob Fensom to sustain the club. I feel as if the council has let us down and to change that please sign this petition.

Natural Foundations is a not for profit organisation giving families a unique place to play imaginately together in all weathers. Come rain or shine, from mud stomping to sand castle building we open! We welcome families from all over Essex and beyond and are accessible to most at £4 for the day-we never turn a family away. Unfortunately Chelmsford City Council do not see the same benefits for children as our parents do and completely out of the blue they have given us 12 weeks notice to leave the land with no offer of other land or possible extension. Despite the outrage from the 8,000 families who visit us, the council have refused to give us any flexibility. This doesn't give us enough time to find another site and this doesn't give us enough time to raise the funds we need to move. We need the summer. Publicly the council have said we have until the end of May, yet our notice states the 10th. Publicly, they have also stated they will give us every bit of help they can, yet this is not happening. We ask the council to be more clear with the public and to give us some flexibility and allow us to stay longer. Please help us by signing this petition to ask the council to either rethink the notice or at least give us more time before we have to leave. Here are some comments from the families who visit us: 'So disgusted by Chelmsford council. Natural foundations has been such a big part of my son's little life. There is no sense to this. The ideas hub in town was priced out of their premises and now another invaluable place for families is under threat. Makes me so sad.' 'If we can do anything to help, please let us know. Us mums are powerful and passionate people, especially where our children are concerned' 'Me and my boys love this place. I always feel so lucky when we go that we have this wonderful resource on our doorstep. It’s so much nicer and more educational than the soft play indoors.' 'I love taking my son here, yet again the council pulls the plug on something that's non profit and great for children's development. I thought they were meant to be supporting children being outside and doing outside activities?' 'I am really, really angry to hear this. I love coming to Sandford mill for your natural foundations. It's educational and a beautiful natural environment for the children to learn and develop their skills with facilities for parking and toilets aswell as plenty of land for picnics. This is just ridiculous everything nice seems to be moved or taken away this is one of the best assets which doesn't cost a fortune in Chelmsford for children.' 'This is really sad. Natural Foundations is absolutely fantastic - the children simply love it as do us parents so I'm keeping everything crossed that you find somewhere suitable - good luck' 'Would be absolutely devastated if we lost Natural Foundations! What you’ve created is just magical! xx' 'You are amazing - we moved home to London and still try to get to you as often as we can. Really hope this situation is either resolved or that you find somewhere even better' 'You make so many children so happy and what you do is wonderful. I cannot believe the council have done this it’s outrageous'