The existing school funding model is unfair. The ten best funded areas in England will receive an average grant of £6,297 per pupil this year, compared to an average of just £4,208 per pupil in the ten most poorly funded areas. It means that schools around the country that are similar can get very different budgets, and children with the same needs can receive very different levels of financial support depending on where they go to school. Gloucestershire (including Cheltenham of course) is one of the worst-funded authorities in the country and is a member of F40, a group made up of poorly funded local authorities and has been making the case for a fairer funding system. Ministers have recognised the problem and promised to address it. We welcome this, together with the Government's confirmation that the additional £390 million awarded in 2015/16 as a “down payment” towards fairer funding will be included in the funding baseline for future years. We are now looking to the Government to deliver a truly fair funding settlement. At a time of spending restraint it is more important than ever that funding is allocated based on need. F40 has come up with a formula which would see the funding cake shared much more fairly. This has received a positive response from funding experts at the Department for Education. The f40 proposals would: • introduce a new national formula, based on a clear rationale and geared towards improving educational standards across the country; • include core entitlement at a pupil level, reflecting different needs and costs at various key stages; • use factors to reflect pupil level needs beyond the core entitlement, including deprivation and special educational needs, and reflect the needs of small schools that are necessary in a local authority’s structure; and • continue to use Dedicated Schools Grant, with blocks for mainstream schools, high needs and early years. Local authorities would be free to move funding between the blocks. We believe this formula can help deliver a solution. We want the children in our schools to continue to have a broad range of subjects to study, good resources to use, well maintained buildings, reasonably sized classes and excellent pastoral support. Fairer funding is integral to all of this, and we urge the Government to deliver it.

The country is groaning under the weight of its obesity problem, with numbers of diet related diseases reaching epidemic proportions. The impact on the physical and mental well being of the population and the practical and financial cost to the NHS is an increasing concern. Removing the A 'level will further erode the status of food as a subject, it will become a vocational, craft option and uptake at GCSE by academic students will fall. It will be difficult to inspire the next generation of dieticians, nutritionists, food scientists and teachers. Trainee teachers will avoid specialising in a subject which lacks the job satisfaction and rigour of teaching sixth form and will become science teachers instead. Teaching hours and budgets will fall and there will be a shortage of specialist teachers to show children how to cook healthy, nutritious meals. The population will continue to turn to ready prepared convenience food and the spiral of obesity will continue completely unchecked. The government's response is that other routes exist for students wanting to pursue a career in catering - that is absolutely true - however these vocational courses do not provide a route for academic students through to university. They also say that Food Technology is not fit for purpose and again they are correct! Food technology was created 24 years ago to shoehorn food into the new Design & Technology suite, focusing on food as a material alongside paper, textiles and wood to design and make products for a profit. The sooner food is removed from Technology and celebrated for the multifaceted subject that it is, the better! A rigorous A ‘level which explores how to manipulate the physical and nutritional functions of food to create healthy dishes for a range of people would be invaluable for inspiring the next generation of nutritionists, dieticians and food teachers. It would also ensure there will be fully qualified food teachers ready to teach the next generation how and what to cook!

I am 14 and waiting to get diagnosed. I have been on the waiting list for 7 months but I hear now it is 12months. It is affecting my school and home life. I have made it onto BBC South East Today

The Academies Enterprise Trust, the Department of Education along with various Isle of Wight councillors have an intended decision to close Weston Primary Academy. The Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan has " in principal " agreed to this decision. This agreeance is based solely on the AeT and DfE paperwork, that seems to be based on a projected "forecast" that has yet to be released to the public. Not foregoing that all of the teaching staff, work staff and the parents of the 56 children who attend were informed by an email, followed promptly by a letter, inevitable job losses will occur - zero consultation with those that matter has taken place behind closed doors. We now find ourselves in a public consultation period **edit : there is NO public consultation, only a time to air views and opinions** that has a limited time-scale to air any counter arguments or views. The purpose of this petition is to clearly show that our beloved school has supporters. Weston Primary is the only non-denominational school locally, and whilst its numbers are relatively small, it does not suffer from large over capacity as some others locally do, consequently the children and parents have an amazing " Team Weston"-spirit, everyone really matters here. With a lot of recent housing developments in the West Wight region, and acute awareness that schools are becoming overcrowded, it makes no sense to close this school based on a forecast, when the school is getting on its feet and showing marked improvement. The AeT has over the summer period spent an undisclosed sum of money bringing much needed modernisation to the school. If the school is shut down, it would be a huge waste of resources. The adjoining nursery has also seen investment and is already showing that it is feeding more and more directly into the school itself. As people move into the local area, I suspect that Weston will see a marked increase in admissions. We at Team Weston are appealing directly to you, the reader, to show your support for this school. You may be an old pupil or parent of an old pupil, you may have had an association with the school in the past or present. maybe you understand that good schools should be kept open, especially considering this school is well over 100 years old. Please, please take a few moments to sign to show your support for us in our battle. It might just be the linchpin that sways the final decision in our favour. Kindest regards - George Metcalf

The Government is currently preparing its Spending Review for the next 5 years and adult education is under threat. Without continued Government support for adult education, many courses across the country will simply not be sustainable and will disappear. Thousands of hard working and hugely motivated adult students will be denied the chance to improve their lives. We need you to help fight to protect this investment in our people and our communities. Please sign this petition. This campaign is being led by the Workers' Educational Association - the UK's largest provider of voluntary adult education - for and on behalf of everyone involved in adult and community learning.

Until the locals decide upon a solid direction we can facilitate we are; creating an urban garden in the front of the building, constructing a free library/bookshop and free shop, organising free workshops/Skill share's and teaching trade and also providing a free cafe/space to come and just have a chat. We would like to create a housing co-operative within the community driven framework. We intend for this to empower disadvantaged young people to take control of their lives in a secure, exciting and dynamic manner. All within a voluntarily sustained social centre. Creating a 3-Dimensional community hub!

The extensive resources and experienced staff within Enfield Local Studies Centre and Archives are the heritage jewel in the crown for the Borough of Enfield. The Council is keen to use them to publicise themselves yet with no forethought of true costs plans to render these services virtually unusable. Other archives have tried digitalisation at great expense. This is discrimination against older people and others who do not have access to and cannot afford the internet. Ancestry.co.uk will not provide free access, apart from their free library edition when accessed in a library, certainly NOT at home which would have to be subscription based. This centre also obtains grants to interview local people about their pasts - specifically WW1 and WW2. These intergenerational projects involve the whole community and provides a historical resource for future generations. I have undertaken some of the interviewing so I have witnessed the value of information given and the pleasure local residents have experienced in telling their stories. Please also take part in the council consultation which closes on 18 October 2015. Forms available in local libraries or online at http://www.enfield.gov.uk/info/867/current_consultations/3896/enfield_local_studies_centre_and_museum

Oxfordshire County Council is proposing to shut down all 44 of the County’s Children’s Centres, and halve the current Early Years budget of £16m. Instead the council will replace them with just eight Children and Family Centres, which would only be accessible to the most vulnerable by referral. Our well used and much loved centres in communities across Oxfordshire currently provide a wide range of early intervention support including parenting courses, support for postnatal depression and mental health, young parent groups, breastfeeding support, mobile libraries, maths and English classes for adults, midwife support, baby groups, health visitor drop-in clinics, Freedom programmes for victims of domestic abuse and much more. If current proposals go ahead, most of this support would either disappear entirely or only be available to families who are already in difficulties. An end to universal provision of support for families of under-fives will only increase the stigma associated with seeking out help, and may put people off using these essential services at a time when they feel vulnerable and isolated. It is a false economy to close Children’s Centres. Universal access to the early intervention services they provide has numerous economic and other long-term benefits for the health and wellbeing of parents, children and the wider community. The cuts will result in a higher workload for other health professionals (health visitors, GPs), higher future costs and an increased risk of postnatal difficulties (breastfeeding difficulties, postnatal depression) with potentially serious and long-term consequences for parents and babies. We have started a community-led campaign asking the council to reconsider these plans urgently. The children’s centres are well regarded, well established and their staff are highly experienced professionals. Many families across Oxfordshire can and do readily access support at a time when they need it most. The testimonies of families who have used the centres make it clear how much of a lifeline they are. Together, we must protect them.

Many elderly and disabled people are struggling to exist on the money they receive in pensions or allowances, they can ill afford the astronomical cost of their medication. Young people should be aware of the fact that British pensions are the third lowest in the EEU. Educating our young people is essential for the future of mankind and we should encourage them, not hang a millstone round their necks in the form of student loans. Lastly, we have an ever increasing number of elderly, sick and disabled people who require medical care. Many of these people come from a generation who suffered through the horrors of the second world war and then worked hard to rebuild this. great country of ours and who saved and invested for their retirement. Their reward for this is to be forced to spend those savings to pay for care, which they thought would be payed for by the National Insurance contributions they made during their working lives. It,s important that people are aware of what is happening, the government should be stopped from stealing their money and made to give these people some decent Quality of Life.

Disabled Students Allowance makes University a more accessible experience and is a vital support mechanism for disabled students. These cuts will mean students will go through university without necessary support, and this could lead to higher dropout rates and lower educational attainment for these students. No additional funds have been announced to bridge the gap and the Government are out of touch in their belief that institutions will accept the new responsibilities placed upon them, leaving students unable to get the support they need in order to study. Many Plymouth University students are from widening participation backgrounds and it worries me the impact that these cuts are going to have here in Plymouth, let alone nationally. It is important that these students are able to access higher education and achieve their potential. However, these cuts will put their education in jeopardy. The UK prides itself on equal opportunities and yet these equal opportunities are being endangered in the name of austerity. The work done by previous governments to ensure access to education will have gone to waste, and students with disabilities will be at a serious disadvantage. Can we really pride ourselves on being a fair and forward thinking nation if those in need are not being given the support they require?

Aylan, the toddler who drowned fleeing Syria, was just three years old. His town was under attack by Isis. His five year old brother and his mum also died trying to reach safety. Yet our prime minister said ‘we won't take any more refugees’. He thinks that most of us don't care. But 38 Degrees members do care. We don't want Britain to be the kind of country that turns its back as people drown in their desperation to flee places like Syria. So let's stand up for Britain's long tradition of helping refugees fleeing war. Let's show the Prime Minister that we, the people of the UK, are proud to do our part and provide refuge to people in their hour of need. Please sign and share, or start your own petition for your town or city here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/efforts/refugees-welcome

The Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council can act to safeguard the future of UWS in Hamilton. Without this investment UWS has confirmed it may have to consider other options, including relocating away from South Lanarkshire. UWS, its students and local partners deserve clarity and certainty.