• Leave alone our stand alone Nursery Vale of Glamorgan council
    We believe this would be detrimental to the nursery pupils, to the overall school provision and quality of education in Cadoxton and to the wider community. We would loose our head teacher who provides exceptional leadership and also having a head onsite defuses potential difficult situations that arise. The school has not only received high praise from Estyn but has achieved the highest category A Green standard in assessments for four years running and is also the only school in the Vale of Glamorgan to be selected by the Central South Consortium to be part of the Foundation Phase Alliance Group. Through this the nursery provide training and support to other schools that received an amber or red status. Our nursery school is the centre of our community. Generations of families have attended the nursery before moving to feeder schools. The nursery puts parents and families at the centre of their work and help families through times of crisis and join us in celebrations. Our nursery is too precious to lose. Stand alone nursery is needed in this deprived area. The council have stated it is to save money. But then also say it would possibly not make the savings straight away. Our children's education should come first and foremost and we want the council to leave alone our stand alone Nursery .Please help us and sign our petition and get the council to listen to us the people that are strongly effected.
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    Created by Soo Foley
  • Protect Our Invaluable School Transport Service
    A year ago my adult sons lost their transport when Salford's mayor decided they did not fit their criteria to keep it. Both my sons are totally dependent for all their needs and now we have to transport them ourselves. This has taken its toll on our health, and now the same mayor is looking to stop children's coaches to get them to their schools. This really cannot happen again. Our children need this service - it's vital to give them a better future. It is also needed for parents, to give them that little bit extra respite so that they can relax and know that their children are in safe hands on the way to and from school. So I am asking all the people who read this: please sign and don't let this happen again. Our children deserve the best.
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    Created by noreen bailey
  • Review the 3 year rule which denies British students access to student loans
    British children are being denied funding from the students loan company if they have not lived in Britain for three years before going to university. This penalises children of parents who are teachers, aid workers and average British citizens working overseas.
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    Created by Jill Campbell
  • Relation Education for schools
    As a nineteen year old there have been many things that I have experienced so far in my life. We all in someway have gone though a lot that we unfortunately had no help with or anyone there to to comfort us and tell us that its going to be okay. You have the good memories that we cling to so dearly, and then there are those which are not so great. Events that should have never even taken place, especially for those so young and vulnerable. The bad memories where you think I wish I would have known ‘this’ or ‘that’ then maybe I would have not been so lost and helpless in that situation. If that were the case you could have been somewhere else today. A lot of our youth nowadays are susceptible to making very life-changing decisions or mistakes that they were not warned or aware of as they were growing up. Our education system is so set on Sex Education being improved constantly and carrying out classes to younger and younger ages each year. In doing so each generation is thinking more about sex in contrast to accomplishing a fully content life with healthy relationships amongst friends, families and significant others. Instead we end up with unsatisfied young men and women who seek happiness in the wrong things and places, they take their loved ones for granted, push their family away and allow the road to anti-social behaviour and depression to creep in where it seems almost impossible for the individual to ever be happy with anything or anyone. My aim for this petition is to launch the start of Relationship Education classes for young people. Where we can teach children the values of trust, respect, loyalty, communication, love, and integrity in the right way. From being raised in a single parent family I saw my mother in the most damaging ways as a child. I saw her beaten by men and women, I saw her heartbroken numerous times, she was also very angry with the world. But the one thing I would see in her for the most part compared to everything else was of course disappointment. She would always weep and wonder why she never saw certain things coming or how she wishes she would have done things differently or maybe to have not done anything at all. Relationship classes should have been put in place a long time ago, God knows so many of us would have benefited highly from them. Classes where we can help guide our youth, pave out the road to success and point them in the right direction is something that should be encouraged not thrown to the side. Good relationships with others should hold far more importance than Sex Education which I do still believe is essential to be taught but definitely not more significant than building a happy community with one another. I believe these classes will help our schools to see a dramatic drop in bullying, absences and insecurities. Through this scheme we will teach mutual respect, the correct manner to communicate with one another and to avoid unkind comments or gestures that would hurt your peer in any way. In addition to this procedure we will have gained a large increase in sociable engagement with other peers, good attendance, confident individuals, an expansion on creativity and most of all a happy class. Not only will this benefit children during school time but the life skills they will attain will be practiced in the comfort of their own home, with family and friends, through college, university, in the workplace and so on.
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    Created by Saira Kaur Picture
  • Save Our East Sussex Children's Centres
    By axing these groups and asking parents and volunteers to run them will have a detrimental effect on safeguarding, mental health, islolation and parenting issues which will in turn place further burden on other health services. Parents and children need this vital day to day support. These are short term cuts with long term implications.
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    Created by francesca merryweather
  • Save North Tyneside Nurseries
    Parents should continue to have the freedom to choose from a variety of local childcare providers: council, schools and private. Closing all the council-run nurseries will deny parents this choice. Some nurseries which are run by local schools do not open during the school holidays so this might not be a viable option for many parents, who would then be forced to move their children to privately-run nurseries. Furthermore, the council's current proposals will cause a significant amount of disruption, confusion and anxiety for a lot of pre-school children. UPDATE (18.12.15): (1) If you have already signed our paper petition, please don't sign this online petition as well! (2) North Tyneside Council will only accept petition signatures from people who live, work or study in the borough. If you don't have a North Tyneside postcode for one of these activities, please don't sign this petition. (3) Thank you for your support! There is more information about this campaign on the Facebook page "Save North Tyneside Children's Centre Nursery".
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    Created by Tony Fuller
  • Keep free school transport for Grammar School pupils in Lincolnshire.
    As a parent I want what is best for my children. My son was given an OPPORTUNITY when he was offered a Grammar School place. If free school transport is withdrawn, a grammar school education would become a PRIVILEGE which many parents across Lincolnshire would be unable to afford.
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    Created by Mick Flindall
  • Save Our Fairfield Halls
    The Fairfield Halls is the biggest arts and entertainment complex in South London, staging over 500 events and shows per year as well as being a home to many local community groups and projects. With a rich history, a strong classical music programme, world-class comedy events, fantastic family shows and a rapidly developing contemporary music offering, this is a Croydon asset that needs and deserves nurturing and protection through the proposed redevelopment. The current Croydon Council proposal places huge risk on the Fairfield Halls NOT re-opening and carries significant financial cost to re-open and win back audiences, top quality shows and events. In summary: • Croydon will lose it’s ONLY viable music and arts venue for an unspecified period – not only is that a loss of live events coming to the Borough, but a lost opportunity for school children to engage and perform at the venue and will impact a large number of other community projects that utilise the venue. • The Council is entering into a risk/reward property development model to fund the project. If the risks materialise works may never be completed (leaving a “closed” sign permanently on the door of this great venue) and/or Council Tax and Business Rates payers will be left to foot the bill to the tune of £18m. However, the Council refuses to make these plans publically available. • The Council proposes shutting the Fairfield Halls when there is currently no detailed plan of the newly refurbished venue on the table, neither is there an operating model for it’s re-opening. • The timetable for delivering the Westfield shopping centre in Croydon has slipped now to 2020, despite Council claims that “this is the season for delivery”. We believe similar delays are likely with the Council’s proposal for Fairfield Halls’ redevelopment, resulting in closure period far in excess of the two years currently stipulated, increasing the risk of the venue never reopening. • There is no budget in place to re-launch the Fairfield after completion of the works. The Council wants the “new Fairfield Halls to rival the Southbank Centre”. An ambition we applaud (and assume this is a rivalry chosen as holding the Southbank Centre as a leading example of venue management), however to do so we firmly believe that: - Development should be phased (a bit like they are doing at the Southbank!). Operational ownership should remain independent to deliver the best for Croydon (a bit like at the Southbank). - The operational body should sit at the centre of the development project from inception to completion (kind of how the Southbank are managing things). - That an independent Fairfield Halls can thrive and deliver more to the community and local economy with proper planning and nurturing now rather than accept the Council rationale of “give it a polish and sell it to the highest bidder to operate”. Conclusion: There are far too many gaps in information, incomplete plans, omitted costs and lack of consultation for the Council proposal to hold any credence beyond being a concept paper. However, even with these risks, oversights and omissions they have approved this plan. Rather than meekly accept this flawed piece of Council planning and put at risk the future of this fantastic venue, we ask you to sign this petition to show your support for a more reasoned, phased redevelopment of the Fairfield Halls that WILL: • Ensure the longevity of the venue • Provide Croydon with a much needed cultural identity over the next two years • Continue to stage great events – from established favourites to the new and brave! •Build on the work already undertaken to improve “Brand Croydon” by attracting headline music acts to the Borough •Maintain audience engagement and a home for community initiatives •Ensure that on completion of the redevelopment, the Fairfield will be a vibrant and ALREADY OPERATIONAL world-class venue. Please show your support for the Fairfield Halls and it's current operating body Fairfield (Croydon) Limited, your desire for a more structure to the Council plan and love for the current and future prospects of the arts in Croydon by signing this petition. THANK YOU!
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    Created by Andy Hylton Picture
  • SAVE OUR NHS BURSARY
    The government have announced they are removing the NHS bursaries for student nurses, midwives, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, podiatrists, radiographers, dietetics, ODP's. This means we will be left with THOUSANDS of pounds worth of debt, which could take years to pay back from a salary which has been repeatedly frozen and capped. Healthcare degrees are like no other, we work 50% of the time on placement and 50% in university. Our hours are long and demanding both academically and professionally. To have our bursaries removed is insulting and upsetting. Furthermore, these loans will act as a deterent for people going to university who do not want to be saddled with extortinate debt. Healthcare courses appeal to a wide range of students from all back grounds and these high costs are very daunting. Already people are saying they are fearful of these costs meaning people are losing their dreams. This is NOT fair.
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    Created by Nursing and Midwifery Society Picture
  • Don't privatise student loans
    64% of us don't want student loans to be privatised - the government needs to listen. This plan doesn't make financial sense and needs to be scrapped. Martin Wolf from the Financial Times explains ‘Why the UK should not sell its student loan book’: “The UK Treasury is, it is reported, considering the sale of parts of its student loan book. This provokes a big question: when should the UK government sell such an asset – given that it is both immortal and solvent? The best answer has two parts. First, it must be believed that the asset would be better managed by the private sector. And, second, it must be believed that this superior private management can only be introduced by selling the assets – rather than introducing some type of private management contract. Thus, if the government decided to privatise the Royal Bank of Scotland, it should be because the value of the business would be higher under private ownership than it would be under public ownership. What the government paid for RBS shares is irrelevant: those are sunk costs. Similarly, the case for selling the Royal Mail is that it would be more valuable as a private business than in government hands. What of the student loan book? Would a buyer be able to offer more to the government for this stream of income than it is worth in public hands? No, because no private party has a lower borrowing cost than the government, since the government is the most creditworthy entity in the country. So the value of the student loan book to the government, given its low discount rate, is higher than to any potential private buyer. That might not be the case if the Treasury suffered from a genuine – as opposed to a purely artificial – borrowing constraint. In that case, the marginal cost of borrowing might be much higher than the average cost. That could justify selling existing assets, to replace them with more valuable assets. But the government suffers from no such borrowing constraint. So why do it? It is yet another example of a bigger problem: the manic concentration on the government’s overall debts – the totemic public debt ratio – rather than the whole balance sheet. Selling the book flatters the net public debt level in the very short term. Yet who would be impressed with a company that reported only its debts, but not its assets? It is not a sensible way to manage one’s activities. The student loan book should be left exactly where it is."
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    Created by Cat Hobbs
  • Vote at 16
    It isn't fair that 16 and 17 can't vote for who will make important decisions for their future. They should be able to decide who they want making these decisions as they also get affected by the changes. It isn't fair that people can make the decision on who runs their future but they can't so we think that the voting age should be brought down. Our reasons for this is 16 year olds already have many opportunities like: leaving school working full time paying taxes getting married having consenting sex and having a child leaving home joining the armed forces. They are also responsible for any criminal action and can go to jail. We think that all of these show responsibility and adultery so we don't understand why 16 year olds aren't seen as mature enough to do something as "simple" as voting. Another reason we have is people of this age have a bit of knowledge about politics and actually, a lot of people are interested in it. We have found out that a lot of people would vote at 16 if they had the chance and they don't want to wait another two years to make an impact in the government. The only thing is, a lot of people don't think that we are educated enough about politics. In our questionnaire, 18 out of 120 people said that they think we are. This would definitely need to be changed because they need to have a wider knowledge on the subject so they know about it before this action takes place.
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    Created by Elise Arnfield
  • FAIRNESS, TRANSPARENCY & LIVING WAGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
    Because for many staff working in Universities their pay is squeezed while others are paid extortionately. Wage rises have not kept up with inflation, staff face job insecurity and regradings, and privatised services often pay only the legal minimum wage for working at the same site. Meanwhile private remuneration committees set the highest wages without criteria or accountability, at up to 25x the pay of staff at the same institution and pay rises of up to 40% per year. It's just not fair! This campaign is led by UNISON.
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    Created by Lorraine Fitzsimons