We need answers from all parties involved. The school is a big part of our community.

Children would no longer have the opportunity to receive quality and accessible free music lessons in their schools. This would also mean that school ensembles run by instrumental instructors would no longer exist. Removing the Instrumental Music Service (IMS) from mainstream schools would have a serious and damaging effect on the attainment gap, one of the West Lothian Council's main aims. This is because poorer children will not have access to a service which is very expensive outside school. It will also have a serious affect on the community, as many children in West Lothian actively use these free services. Music education has a countless number of benefits, inside and outside the classroom. From being an outlet of emotion, encouraging creativity, to building resilience, team-skills and self confidence. To the children of West Lothian, the IMS has proved to be of great importance in many people's lives. This cut from West Lothian Council would be a devastating decision, that should be stopped.

One of if not the busiest most dangerous junctions in the area, Especially at school times.

Barwell Sure Start Centre plays an important part in our local community. It provides help to families who need it, access to books for young children (especially important after the closure of the village library in 2016), a place for parents (new or experienced) to connect with others and form peer support networks, and opportunities for both children and their parents to learn and develop relevant skills. There are also many parent volunteers who have been able to build up skills and training that have helped them, or will help them, return to work when their children start school. This can be a real issue for parents (particularly mothers) who have taken time out of the workplace to raise children, and we feel that our local Sure Start Centre plays an important role in tackling this. Our Sure Start Centre also plays host to Health Visitor clinics and other medical professionals - these services are also now at risk of being moved out of the village stranding those families for whom transport is an issue and increasing barriers to access. Closing the centre would be a heavy blow to our village. Barwell has already lost it's library and post office, now we face the closure of the Sure Start Centre and the loss of all but one of the village's parent and child groups with it. If this closure goes ahead the nearest centre to our village will be a walk of an hour and half - far too long for families with small children and pushchairs. A large proportion of our village do not have access to a car and cannot afford to take yet another bus on a weekly basis. Travel will pose a serious barrier to accessing early years services and will prevent families with young children from getting the help that they need. We are also concerned that the proposals indicate a move to online advice rather than in person guidance from staff. We feel that this ignores the many families in our village and across Leicestershire without internet access at home. As previously mentioned we have already lost our library - there is nowhere in our village for those without computers to access the internet. Again travelling to do so involves taking another costly bus trip or walking for 90 minutes. Barwell needs it's Sure Start Centre to remain open. Parenthood can be very isolating and overwhelming, and the connections made with other parents through the Sure Start centres help to prevent issues growing and becoming worse. If we lose our Sure Start centre we run the risk of leaving parents, particularly new parents, in a vulnerable and lonely position with no obvious way to get help - and that is how problems get worse. As recently as 2014/15 (while deciding whether to close our library) the Council themselves described Barwell as an area of deprivation within Leicestershire, and noted that 1 in 5 children did not have access to books at home. Barwell is exactly the kind of community that Sure Start centres are there to help - and we refuse to let the County Council take this vital service away from us! The public consultation currently taking responses can be found here. Please have your say and tell the Council to keep the 24 Sure Start centres under threat open! https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/earlyhelp

Under current proposals Leicestershire County Council want to close 24 Children's Centres and one family centre and merge their services with all other family and young people’s services. These would be Supporting Leicestershire Families (SLF) scheme, Early Help Information Support and Assessment (EHISA) and the Youth Offending service (YOS).* Vulnerable families and children in need will be forced to make extended (and in some cases prohibitively expensive) journeys to the remaining centres. In addition they may feel stigmatised for going to a building that also houses Youth Offending. It will undoubtedly be children of the most vulnerable families who will be the ones least likely to attend the new centres. In addition to the council's own services many other agencies operate out almost exclusively out of Children' Centres, for example Health Visiting services, Breastfeeding Support, Child Health Events and many volunteer led groups such as Breastfeeding groups, Parent Carer Well-being, Sling (babywearing), Multiple-birth (twins etc) support groups, Childminder groups, singing and music groups. Finally the centres are also well used by the council's own GO LEARN service providing valuable education programs for parents in need. This will shift a sizable financial burden on to the NHS, while other services will often not be able to afford the rent on alternative accommodation and most of the groups will close. The Children's Centres and other buildings under threat of closure are: • Cobden, Loughborough, • Shelthorpe, Loughborough • Warren Hills in Coalville, • Mountsorrel • Barwell • Desford • Hinckley Westfield • Hinckley West • The Cove, Melton • The Edge, Melton • Ashby • Ibstock • Moira • Thringstone • Braunstone Town • Countesthorpe • South Wigston • Anstey • Broughton Astley • Fleckney • Bushby • Bagworth • Vale of Belvoir • Fairmead • Market Harborough Young People's Centre Finally the council's own report, Early Help Review, details the risk of Capital Clawback under this proposal, meaning that the council may have to pay back up to £5.8 Million in previously awarded grant money if the closed centres are not used as per the wording of the grant award. Children's Centres (formerly known as Surestart Centres) have transformed the lives of young children and their parents across Leicestershire. The important role that children’s centres play in providing effective multi-agency working is widely recognised both locally and nationally. Children's Centres are a lifeline to these families and others, providing support and services to those in need. We cannot allow these services to be cut from the lives of the most vulnerable and we must defend the jobs of the people who have dedicated their careers to assisting our most vulnerable young children. . . . . . *The consultation details can be found here https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/earlyhelp please read the report and complete the on line survey. You can also email the consultation with any additional information that you couldn't get in the survey. Email - [email protected] or you can give your views over the telephone on 0116 305 3416 The consultation closes at midnight on Sunday 22nd April.

As staff and students of the university, we are calling for an end to these measures. We will not allow attacks on workers' rights to divide the university community. Members of the general public are also welcome to sign to show their support. This petition is an open letter to the Vice Chancellor, and is a show of solidarity in support of strike action.

There are health implications for Teachers and Pupils being in the damp, slowly rotting classrooms. The plasterboard is crumbling, there have been many incidents of water running down the walls inside the school and the roof having to be fixed yet again.....and that is only the beginning. There are children who have asthma learning in that environment, this is an unacceptable condition for a Primary School to be in. Broadford needs a new Primary School built.

Booker Park is a School for children with special needs and as such, almost every child there is driven to school in the morning and picked up inthe afternoon. This means that here is a huge number of vehicles trying to get into and out of the site at the same time. If any cars at all are parked on the road at the entrance, the entire school site gets gridlocked and staff or parents have to oversee directing traffic to ease this. Often the only option is to reverse many, many vehicles back out onto the road. This not only constitutes a huge danger to the few children whose parents walk them into and out of the school site, but it also causes delays for those parents who have to pick up siblings from mainstream schools. There is no one at the school who should have to come and direct traffic. Parents should not have to leave their cars with children in, to negotiate moving other vehicles so that everyone can leave the site.

The childcare system in England isn’t working for families. Parents need childcare that helps them choose whether to go back to work. But hundreds of thousands aren’t getting the help they should be. It’s a battle for mums, dads, and caregivers to get the support they’re entitled to – and their children deserve. When the sums don’t add up, and parents end up worse-off than if they didn’t work at all, it can feel like the odds are stacked against them. And the financial pressure and stress that creates at home isn’t good for parents or children. This campaign is about making childcare fair and easy to use. Right now, our broken childcare system isn’t giving families the support they need - at the most important time in their children’s lives. Photo credit: Clare Hewitt / Save the Children

Primary school children are having to take chances crossing the road in order to get into school on time. Vehicles regularly stop on the crossing causing difficultly for pedestrians Numerous accidents have caused lights and bollards to be knocked down - next time it could be one of our children. Greenbank School parents have commented how they need to set off earlier due to the additional time it takes to cross Smithdown road from all directions.

The government are introducing compulsory testing for children in reception. The tests will be in numeracy, literacy and behaviour. A £10m trial will begin in September, with the aim of introducing it to all infant schools in 2020. This must be stopped. Though early assessments are important, baseline testing is not the way to approach this. Different ways of assessing children were explored in 2015, and the most popular was based solely on observation of children. The approach of baseline testing came under scrutiny from teaching unions and parents, and the Department for Education quickly put an end to the tests, claiming the different approaches were too hard to compare. However, here we are again, and this time compulsory baseline tests are being pushed through. The only way to stop this is to speak up. The tests are unreliable. Many factors are thought to 'scew' the results, including 'whether the child was summer born, spoke English as a first language, or had settled happily into school.' The tests are also risking making social inequality worse. 'Parents with high expectations will prepare their children, which could mean these infants have a higher score and that higher expectations will follow them throughout their school careers. The opposite could be true for children from disadvantaged homes.' So the disadvantaged, the youngest, those who do not speak English as a first language, even those who are shy and not settling as well as others could have their education seriously damaged by these tests. Is this not discrimination? This approach being pushed through seems to be based on a November OFSTED report that 'highlighted that a third of five-year-olds, and half of disadvantaged ones, were not reaching expected standards of development in their reception year. The inspectors recommended more focus on reading, including phonics.' It suggested that reception pupils need to be 'pushed harder in reading and maths'. However, this is being challenged by parents, teachers and other education experts, who claim the OFSTED report was biased because 'the schools used as good examples by the inspectorate were chosen for their more formal approach.' The evidence suggests that baseline testing will be extremely damaging. Please sign and share this petition to show Damian Hinds that it is not supported. A good summary of everything you need to know about this issue: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/16/tests-reception-children-immoral-england-play

We believe there is a genuine risk to children. Having to walk 30 metres down a busy road to the recommend parking place. This seems completely unnecessary when a footpath clearly is the answer.