The four statues: Drake, Blake, Nelson and even a nameless white man as a ‘representation’ of Imperialist. Racist. Power. All have strong roots in the slave trade. Down with honouring white supremacy and people who subjugated nations and enslaved people! Deptford Town Hall opened in 1905 as the town centre, but since it was taken over by Goldsmiths in the late 1990s, it’s no longer open to the local community. Not only are community members denied access to the building, but we must also endure glorified emblems of slavery on the front of the building. The four statues are of: Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 – 1596), a pioneer of the slave trade making at least three royally sponsored trips to West Africa to kidnap Africans and sell them. Elizabeth I awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. Robert Blake (1598 – 1657), an admiral who served under Oliver Cromwell throughout the English Civil War. He fought the Dutch to secure the (slave) trade triangle between the Caribbean, West Africa and England. Cromwell was responsible for trafficking the first waves of enslaved people to and from the Caribbean; installing the plantation system in Jamaica; and the massacres in Drogheda (1649). Horatio Nelson (1758 – 1805), was a naval flag officer whose leadership was during the Napoleonic Wars (1803 – 1815). Nelson spent a large part of his career in the Caribbean and developed an affinity with the slave owners there, using his influence against the abolitionist movement in Britain. The fourth statue, understood to be a ‘representative’ figure, rather than a specific person, from the period when the building was constructed. It shows a modern admiral, with sextant and binoculars. Deptford was strongly connected with the transatlantic slave trade, with many ships built, fitted and repaired in the local docks before heading out to Africa. Olaudah Equiano was initially trafficked to Deptford; he fought to become a freedman and was one of the key figures in the abolitionist movement. Here is a man we want to remember. Original text and text that is on the placards here: https://www.gold.ac.uk/about/history/dth-statues/

Racism is a stain on humanity and must be eradicated. Many feel the main starting point in doing so is through education and learning. In light of George Floyd’s death and Black Lives Matter protests across the globe, I have been considering how we as a society can move forward and challenge racism, how I can teach my children about Black History and it occurred to me that I did not learn enough about Black History when I was at school, especially Scotland’s role in the slave trade. Having left school ten years ago, I have reached out to younger peers and colleagues who are still at school or have left school more recently to gather their views and, sadly, the consensus is that Black History is still not well represented in schools.

In light of recent events where we as a global community have witnessed innocent black lives taken in acts of racial discrimination, we have to ask ourselves why the response of many people is still to discriminate. It is the responsibility of the educational system to highlight the history of British colonisation and involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade to understand how and why racial prejudice, divisions and unequal opportunities exist for black people in Scotland and Britain. It seems that a lack of understanding of the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement comes down to a lack of education, and we cannot let this be a failing of our educational system, nor let it feed into peoples ignorance. The police brutality demonstrated in recent events unveils a universal racist system that does not afford black people the same privilege as that of white people and an understanding of this must be achieved through education. This is as much relevant in the UK as structural racism has been evident in Grenfell, disproportionate deaths related to COVID19 and the tragic incident involving Mark Duggan, to name a few.

School can be tough for some children at the best of times – particularly those who are living in poverty, have experienced trauma, spent time in the care system or have additional learning needs. For some of these children, lockdown will have been a welcome respite from the challenges of school. For many, home learning has been an uphill battle without the support they would have in school. For most, the pandemic has stirred up strong emotions that are hard to live with, for them and their families. Schools will have their hands full just managing the logistics of a safe school return. We are calling on governments to give schools the funds, guidance and resources they are going to need to support the children who will struggle the most when they go back to formal education. All children deserve an equal chance to settle and thrive once schools re-start.

This is the final year for hundreds of students at Cardiff University, a critical time for any student, not least in a pandemic where libraries are closed and normal support and resources unavailable. The University claims to have made provisions in light of the Covid-19 crisis including extending the dissertation deadline until May 12th, however the exam schedule for the School of History, Archeology and Religion (SHARE) released on April 22nd shows that exams have been scheduled very close to this date, making this extension essentially meaningless. Many students are now facing having to complete their dissertations and sit an exam on the same day. We don't believe this is fair, and ask the University to reconsider their close scheduling to help us to be able to achieve the grades we are can.

This is important because schools are unable to ensure social distancing due to the size of corridors and classrooms in most cases. There a number of staff and students whom have underlying health issues themselves as do members of their families. There are teaching staff whom are shielded In some of the communities in Inner London Boroughs, students and adults may live in extended families -this putting older relatives at risk. Some schools saw a high fall in attendance from both staff and students so this may impact on running the school anyway. The surfaces for the virus to cling to in schools are numerous and it is impossible to keep up with the cleaning required during the day to ensure that students and staff do not come into contact with surfaces upon which the virus may present We are continuing to deliver the curriculum by various online platforms. Most teaching staff would rather be teaching in school due to the issues arising form working at home - but many have families to support, so surely it is better to be safe than sorry.

It is important because we are also in need of financial help during this crisis.

"Unprecedented" A word we have heard often during this crisis. In this unprecedented time, the UK government has made never seen before concessions in an effort to uphold the financial and mental stability of the nation. Yet Huddersfield University School of Pharmacy insists on treating 4th-year university students like this final year is business as usual. It is no secret that the school of Pharmacy already has initiatives in place to support students such as the "best 100 credits" but these were in place before the COVID-19 pandemic. We petition for additional support warranted by our current worldwide circumstances, in the form of the no-detriment policy. This no-detriment policy has already been rolled out university-wide, however, the school of pharmacy has decided to exclude pharmacy students. We believe this to be unfair and strongly ask the school to reconsider their decision and put additional systems in place to support final year students. Pharmacy students are students just like everyone else and during these unprecedented times, we are also going through hard times while isolating at home. Final year pharmacy students are being expected to achieve the same level of efficiency or grades as they would under "normal" conditions, however, the conditions in which we are sitting these exams are far from "normal": Many students would usually utilize library services to study, which allows compartmentalization between home and study. But now many don't have a quiet place to revise. Many students are in the vulnerable group as well as their families and some may experience COVID-19 symptoms during exam season, which may affect productivity. There is extremely limited or unconventional support from lecturers with the absence of lectures or tutorial sessions. It is important to note that the University's attendance policies state that there is a positive correlation between contact time and student performance. Taking exams online introduces many variables that must be considered. Exam conditions may be hard to achieve in some of our homes. Downloading resources and changing windows consumes time depending on device and internet speeds, the latter experiencing higher traffic due to the UK lockdown. In conclusion, the BPSA has put out a statement supporting the no-detriment policy for Pharmacy students and Keele Unvistity has already put it in place for their pharmacy students. As final year pharmacy students at Huddersfield University, we do not aim to make excuses of any kind but rather ask for support. We have worked hard the past 3 years to come to where we are today and plan to repeat the process, but amidst this current pandemic and the challenges, it brings we may not be able to do so. We hope that the Huddersfield school of pharmacy will consider the implementation of the no-detriment policy as we have already seen university-wide.

This is important because we are currently in an unprecedented time. Due to Covid-19 people are struggling with money, people are unsure if their jobs or businesses are safe. We don’t need the added stress of paying for a full change of uniform and PE kit when the current ones have hardly been worn.

The recent impacts of Covid-19 have been particularly hard-hitting on University students during their Higher Education. Many students have been unable to continue with their work at the same standard they were able to prior to this disruption to their education, due to the immediate health concerns they and those close around them now face. Staffordshire University has given students a blanket extension of 10 days on all of their current assessments, however what other University's have also started to implement is a 'No detriments' policy for students. This means that as long as students submit and pass all of their remaining assessments, they will receive no less than the average grade they had achieved in this academic year assessments up to this point. However, if students pass their exams with a higher grade than their average, this is the grade they will receive for the academic year. So their grade can be higher than what they've already achieved, but not lower. Essentially, it's a safety net for students. Sign this petition to encourage Staffordshire University to implement this policy to help support students during this uncertain and extremely stressful period. Thank you.

We the undersigned request a response to the issues detailed below. At present we have received information (very slowly) regarding our current TMA, allowing extensions whilst simultaneously being told no extensions to the EMA as it would present difficulties to the exam board. Whilst we appreciate that these are unprecedented times and acknowledge the efforts of the OU thus far, we do not believe it fair for the largest part of our module to be affected, with the only options to defer the module for another year or to hand in substandard work due to circumstances out of our control. We request for those who need it a deferral of the EMA (or a significantly longer time period for completion) or a cancellation of the EMA instead using TMA averages to determine our end of module result. The use of said course marks is in line with what universities and schools (for example GCSE and A results having been determined by the course marks). By extending TMA allowance, without provision for the EMA, you are failing to recognise multiple extraneous variables that will impede the ability to produce an accurate representation of what can be produced, thus resulting in making everyone rush or defer. There are various circumstances, beyond our control, that would severely impact our ability to produce an EMA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the people who are at the open university chose to use this form of university over other universities due to its online nature, since many have children to support and therefore work. The fact that many people on the course work has led to them having to fulfil the duties given to key workers of extra, longer hours, giving them less time available to delegate towards university and thus an EMA. Some students who are also public sector workers have been seconded by furlough to voluntary work, meaning even less time is able to be found to write an EMA. The mental and physical health of students is also in question due to the EMA still going forward. A pandemic of this magnitude has not been witnessed in our lifetime and is quite rightfully terrifying the nation, especially those at high risk. The proportion of high-risk people at the OU is greater than at most universities; if these people happen to catch the virus, they are at high risk of being unable to breathe, move or even think to the capacity needed to write an EMA. The severity of the virus has also led schools, nurseries and playgroups to shut down, thus causing all children to be at home all day with their parents. This kind of distraction cannot be helped and although children can temporarily be occupied, they do not understand the importance nor value of the work that is being done by us students in order to try and complete such a time-consuming and mentally draining task of writing an EMA. Having to juggle looking after children and writing the EMA is something that is very difficult – the number of hours needed to delegate to both likely surpass those in a day, leading to mental and physical exhaustion. In some non-UK countries, the measures for lockdown are causing particular distress. Alongside the mental and physical exhaustion comes frustration due to a lack of facilities to study, broadband issues, open university site issues and the lack of availability of a computer in a household (many only have one computer that has to be shared amongst the household between workers and students). A lack of resources, space and time means that an EMA cannot be provided of exemplary standard, to the best of every student’s ability, leading to an inaccurate representation of the skill set of each student. The course material done up to now therefore provides a much more well-rounded, accurate representation due to the many extraneous variables listed above having been absent or not as amplified as in current circumstances. The lack of face to face support available, given tutorials have been cancelled, also leads to this inaccurate representation, as well as the difficulty getting in touch with the open university. It takes 5 days for the university to respond to a singular email, with no telephone help available, severely impacting time management and ability to work. We hope that given the many factors listed above for why deferring or cancelling the EMA would be beneficial to both the university and the students you follow suit of the other universities and cancel or defer the EMA at no additional cost to students.

The situation surrounding Covid-19 has impacted the students of Arts University Bournemouth considerably. Although we are receiving support from tutors online where they can provide this, we are unable to use the facilities at the university in order to realise our projects to the best of our abilities (specifically final year’s Major Projects) as well as use physical learning facilities from the library. Many of our projects are unable to reach realisation as we are unable to access the facilities necessary and collaborate with others due the current social restrictions enforced by the UK government. Each individual student has a different circumstance whilst at home. Whether it’s not having the money or space to use alternative methods for their projects or having to look after their own children or vulnerable family members during this pandemic. We have been told by tutors to do as much as we possibly can based on our circumstances and they will be lenient when grading. But how can we possibly put a project before the needs of our family members or our own mental wellbeing, when many of us are scared to lose loved ones due to this virus? Third year students have been working tirelessly towards showcasing their skills in their Major Projects for three years. Whatever we are able to create during this pandemic, will not be a true reflection of our abilities due to our personal circumstances, whatever they might be (mental health, finances, looking after family etc). On the 25th March 2020, The University of Exeter announced a ‘safety net’ policy: "Our commitment to your success given the exceptional circumstances in which you are sitting these examinations and other assessments, we have decided to introduce a ‘safety net’ policy.” "This ‘no-detriment’ approach is as follows: so long as you would qualify to progress/graduate based on your marks obtained this year (including those in the summer assessment period), then we will ensure that your final academic year average is the same as, or higher than, the average you have attained up to Sunday 15th March. Details about how your average to 15th March will be calculated will be provided in the FAQs on our website by the end of Friday 27th March. If you achieve higher marks in assessments submitted and examinations undertaken after Sunday 15th March then you will be able to raise your mark for the year. To repeat, as long as you qualify to pass the year, completing the summer assessments can only help not hinder you because we will not let the extraordinary circumstances in which you are completing these assessments leave you with a mark below your current overall mark." [1]https://www.exeter.ac.uk/coronavirus/communications/students25march/ [2] https://thetab.com/uk/soton/2020/03/26/sotons-no-detriment-policy-means-your-grades-cant-go-below-your-current-average-83828 [3] https://thetab.com/uk/edinburgh/2020/03/26/breaking-no-remaining-exams-assessments-can-negatively-impact-your-course-grades-for-this-semester-65113 This ‘safety net’ policy will give all students the peace of mind that the grade they receive for their last projects, will fairly reflect the work they have created over the past year. It is unfair for assessment changes to be communicated over email and the ‘safety net’ will reduce the pressure that students are feeling at this current time. Please support university students during this uncertain, stressful time!