In the 19th Century, the authorities took steps to ensure that the children of canal boat families could go to school, by passing the Canal Boats Acts of 1877 and 1884. But the Canal & River Trust's recently imposed policy that forces boaters without permanent moorings to travel at least 20 miles before turning round is actively preventing children who live on boats from attending school. The policy means that children who live on boats can end up having to travel up to 20 miles to school which is not always possible. If the parents are unable to travel that far, they risk losing their home. This is what the head teacher of a primary school attended by many boat children says: “I feel very strongly that this is an issue concerning Human Rights. I do believe that the law is clear that children should be in education, and attending very regularly. Our children's attendance is carefully monitored and by law children are only allowed to be absent for exceptional circumstances. I don't think that any of the laws that refer to boating were intended to make it impossible for the children of parents who continuously cruise [ie. live on a boat without a permanent mooring] to attend a local school." For more information please see https://boatchildren.wordpress.com/

The Government has recognised the vital role played by our maintained nursery schools and have stated; ,As the universal base rate is introduced, we will allow local authorities to continue to provide a higher level of funding to maintained nursery schools' (Reference, (15) page 8 Changes to funding for three- and four-year olds , Government consultation response , December 2016) Haringey's maintained nursery schools are all rated by Ofsted as 'good' or 'outstanding'. They have very good outcomes with regard to closing the achievement gap and supporting children with special needs. They employ highly qualified and skilled teaching staff proven to give the best opportunity for academic achievement . The petitioners request that Haringey Council recognise the school status of our maintained Nursery Schools and continue to support them in delivering the integrated early education and care which has benefited generations of children, especially those with special needs and from very deprived circumstances in their critical early years.

Q: Why is the building important? A: Dunelm House was completed in 1966 by the Architects' Co-Partnership and engineered by Ove Arup. Ove Arup was born in Heaton, Newcastle Upon-Tyne and was one of the greatest engineers of the 20th Century. Arup played a crucial role in pioneering engineering works worldwide, serving most notably as the designer and supervisor for Durham’s own Kingsgate Bridge (Grade I listed), and as design engineer for the Sydney Opera House. Arup, an honorary Geordie, considered Kingsgate Bridge one of the most important projects of his career, requesting that his ashes be scattered from the bridge following his death in 1988. Kingsgate and Dunelm House are physically connected, as a marriage of structures that depend upon each other. This makes Dunelm House and Kingsgate Bridge two of the most significant structures in the UK, if not Europe, if not the World! And they are on our doorstep in Durham. Why would you want to lose or damage either? Q: It’s a load of ugly dirty grey concrete - knock it down. A: Yes, it is dirty. It is white concrete. And it needs a clean. If you had not cleaned your house for 51 years, it would look grim too. The building needs major work, which Durham University calculate would cost £14.7m. It might seem like a lot of money, but this is a fraction of what recent building projects have required, and is comparable to renovations and extensions to other university buildings. And just think what it could cost to demolish it, bury it in a landfill (how unsustainable!) and rebuild on the same site. Q: The building 'is not able to accommodate new uses, so we should demolish it. A: This statement has been reached as part of the University’s ‘strategic masterplan’, which wants to put another building use on the site of Dunelm House. Of course, this doesn't work without significant investment. So perhaps the masterplan has not been adequately evidenced or justified in trying to impose a new function on an existing building - it’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Why not simply adjust the masterplan? Demolition is highly unsustainable, wasteful and very costly financially and environmentally. It should always be the last move when all else fails, and your building is literally falling down. Dunelm House is not falling down - it was designed by one of the greatest engineers of the 20th Century. Q: But the building has a leaky roof! A: Yes it does. All roofs leak at some point (even Durham Cathedral’s roof leaks - it doesn't mean we should knock it down). Most new roofs are only guaranteed for 20 years. Dunelm House's roof is 51 years old, and so like any other building it needs a new roof! Durham University has been aware of the leaky roof for over 10 years. Now is the time to fix it. Q: It will cost too much to repair it. Isn’t it cheaper to just build new? A: Durham University have carried out detailed estimations on the redesign and repair estimated at £14.7m. Dunelm House has a gross internal area of 3980sqm, making the refurbishment cost an estimated £3600 per sqm. That seems like a lot of money, but it is cheaper than the cost of Durham Universities new Ogden Center for Fundamental Physics (the new abstract timber building) which is costing £11.5m for 2,478 sq. m – that’s a whopping £4640 per sqm! Refurbishing the building could be cheaper than building new. A completely new building on Dunelm House’s site could cost millions more due to the cost of demolition and disposal to put Dunelm House into a landfill, not to forget the complexities of the site due to the topography, retaining walls, structures required and access issues that make this project site very complex – and as a consequence very costly! Q: We want a shiny new building by some famous international starchitect. That will put Durham on the map and make it a world class city! A: Durham is already a world class city, with a world class University. It has a diverse architectural grain from across the past millennium, and this includes the twentieth century. Durham University has been an amazing patron of modern architecture, particularly during the 1960s. So why undo that good work and lose it all now? Yes, hire great architects with lots of imagination and creativity. BUT, please look at what other highly successful refurbishment projects of Modernist buildings there have been. Look at Park Hill refurbishment in Sheffield (Hawkins Brown) or the Barbican refurbishment in London (AHMM) completed in past 10 years. Both hugely successful developments, prestigious, award winning, high profile, world class buildings that simply recognise and celebrate the value of Twentieth Century Architecture. Go on Durham, you can do that too!

This is important as many of the technicians who were trained properly in 70's and 80's are about to retire or have already retired and there is a danger that they may not be adequately replaced with. people who have relevant training and knowledge of sciences

This is important as there are no venues available at reasonable cost to encourage the continuance of an alternative social life within the town centre other than that provided by drinking and gambling establishments or mass market coffee houses. Without there being a reason to frequent the Town centre it will soon be no more. The building is in itself a rather splendid example of a public assembly building of the early twentieth century and would be missed from the streetscape

Heads in maintained Schools in Devon are already struggling to balance their books and retain staff. This will be a cut too far and have a massive impact on School staffing, teacher morale and, ultimately, our children's education and futures.

Pelsall Library is less than five years old - it is in a state of the art multi purpose building £5.2m. Closing the facility now would be retrograde and a complete and utter waste of taxpayer money. Pelsall Library is enjoyed by all young and old - a lifeline to many and a hub of the Pelsall community

Put frankly, finances in our West Sussex Schools are at breaking point. If nothing is done there will be severe consequences for our children. Currently headmasters across our county are having to consider and actively plan to take any of the following measures to make ends meet: • Modified opening hours/days • Increasing class sizes even further • Reductions in cleaning • Non-replacement of staff when they leave/retire • A halt in all investment in books and IT ________________________ Did you know: • West Sussex is one of the lowest funded council in the country • West Sussex currently gets between £40m - £200m less than other regions for Education • In nearby Brighton & Hove each school receives £300 per pupil premium if they don't speak english as a first language. West Sussex schools get no extra funding for this. ________________________ Nick Gibb MP (for Bognor Regis & Littlehampton, West Sussex) The response from Nick Gibb has been very disappointing to both the headmasters and his constituents so far. In a letter to a local Head Teacher, dated 2 November 2016, West Sussex MP Nick Gibb (Minister for Schools) wrote: “In 2015- 16 we made a step towards fairer funding by adding £390m to the schools budget, targeted at the least fairly funded authorities, including West Sussex. The additional funding for West Sussex was included in their baseline in 2016-17 and is protected for 2017-18.” In this reply Mr Gibb MP doesn’t appear to be acknowledging the funding crisis in this reply. Especially since the £390m mentioned, West Sussex schools received less than £1m (£930k). This represents an increase of less than £10 per child across West Sussex. ________________________ The Worthless? West Sussex Campaign Head Teachers in West Sussex are currently running to campaign to gain additional interim funding of £20million beginning in the financial year, April 2017 with the Worthless? West Sussex Campaign for fairer funding. They need to do this because of long years of under funding by West Sussex County Council, which has now been compounded by the low level being carried over to the funding now allocated directly from Westminster. In their latest letter they said that despite the assistance of some West Sussex MPs and an debate in parliament (Nick Gibb was not in attendance). You can watch here: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/9b387b6d-28f4-4e0b-9d87-ffd64d3ed678?utm_source=petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=167761&utm_content=Parliament%20TV You can find out more about the WorthLess? West Sussex Campaign on facebook: www.facebook.com/WorthLessWestSussex

Many families struggle feeding their children at school. Weather this is through pack lunch or canteen money.

I am a disabled stepmother to a beautiful and bright 4 year old who started school this September. As September drew closer, I became excited by the idea of being able to have an active part in his school life, meeting other parents, and even helping out in school. But as I am also a disabled person, this dream has not been so straightforward. Whilst my appeal was upheld by the independent schools' admission appeals panel, this is not the case for all disabled parents who are allocated inaccessible school placement for their child(ren) under Birmingham City Council’s schools admissions policy. Many disabled parents are being given school places at schools that are both inaccessible to travel to and to get around. Had I not been successful with my appeal my stepson would have either had to have been home-schooled (which is not a decision I feel is right for him) or we would have had to pay out for before and after school care that we wouldn't actually need, purely because of being given a school place at a school that wasn't accessible for me to get to. Our case is not isolated. Across the country there are 2.1 million disabled parents, many of whom are either having to fit the bill of expensive childcare that they wouldn't need if they were non-disabled, or travel costs, which are frequently not covered by the local authority. Some disabled parents have even chosen to home school simply because the childcare costs are not sustainable. I believe that Birmingham City Council schools admission policy is both discriminatory and illegal as the city council does not often make reasonable adjustments for disabled parents and carers as is required under the equality act (2010). If Birmingham City Council changed their admissions policy it would be a step towards making disabled parents far more included in their children's education. It would be helpful for the Department for Education’s Schools Admissions Code to include guidance on how councils’ schools admissions policies should comply with their Equality Act 2010 duties around disabled parents request for an accessible school for themselves. This has been recommended on a national level by various charities - including the Alliance for inclusive Education

Nursery Schools in Tower Hamlets and across the country are under threat of closure due to government plans for the future funding of childcare. State nursery schools have very good outcomes with regard to closing the achievement gap and supporting children with special needs. State nursery schools are legally required to employ highly-qualified teaching staff, who are proven to give young children the best opportunities for academic achievement and enabling social mobility.

The University of Portsmouth informed its students via email on 7/11/2016 that both new and continuing students will be forced to pay £9,250 for the next academic year. Every year seems to hold another increase to our ever-growing piles of debt. Scrapping the maintenance grant in exchange for a bigger loan. Increasing the interest rate at which we pay them back. At the current rate tuition fees will surpass £10,000 within the next few years and I've had enough. I didn't sign up expecting my fees to increase during my time here and regardless of the fine print the University didn't communicate this information to me before starting my degree, nor did they before I started this academic year. Current students should not see a fee increase. As Faculty Representative for Technology I feel it is my duty to speak out against the Universities decision to raise fees and urge my colleagues to do the same. I've been a proud student at Portsmouth since 2014. It's ignited my passion for learning, helping others and you won't find somebody with more love for this city. It's hard to believe as somebody who left college with a BTEC in music and no sense of direction years ago I now stand to graduate at the end of my course with an integrated Masters in Mechanical Engineering. By letting these fees increase all we do is discourage people from making that leap. I've directed this petition to Paul Hayes, who spoke last year at the course rep conference, who assured me that our voice matters. This affects every student current and future and if we do not take a stand now, the problem will only grow.