I wonder what it must be like to be a non-British family worrying about the possible outcome of Brexit and then to receive a text message from your children's school saying "Info required-If your child is not of British Nationality or was not born in the UK, pls inform the school by tomorrow"? Then, a few days later, you receive a letter from the school ([1]). Maybe you've also been asked to declare your nationality by your employer too ([2])? We should not discriminate between British and non-British children in our schools: * It is not clear what purpose this data serves given that the DfE already records pupils' ethnicity and first language. * The data is unlikely to be accurate since responding is optional and non-respondents will be assumed to have British children. * The data could be abused in the future ([3]). * The Greater Manchester Law Centre has called parents to ignore the census to avoid discrimination and inequality ([4]). Thanks for reading this far. Please have a think about this issue and decide whether to sign this petition. The DfE's plans are probably entirely innocent, but is this the direction we want our country to go in? [1] https://twitter.com/twrc/status/783744325234679808 [2] https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/fw-proposal-petition?utm_campaign=speakout_campaign_1437&utm_medium=thank_you&utm_source=twitter [3] http://schoolsweek.co.uk/pupil-nationality-data-is-safe-with-us-says-government/ [4] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/05/ignore-school-census-queries-on-nationality

I would like to petition the UK Department for Education to support the launch of a recent global education platform known as PEER. As one who is working closely with refugees and their children, I would like to wholeheartedly support the launch of this platform called Platform for Education in Emergencies Response. Working together hand in hand with the IIE (Institute of International Education) in New York, PEER aims to connect refugee students with university scholarships, resources and other higher education opportunities that they deserve without having a need to buy a diploma just to further their studies. A brainchild of the Catalyst Trust for Universal Education, PEER is fast gaining support from various parties. Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been in discussion with the UN to better understand the emergency needs of 57 million refugee schoolchildren and youths who are on the verge of attending University without the intention to buy a diploma. The ongoing refugee crisis is something these children can do without, and if there is anything to alleviate their condition without exacerbating the situation, this global education platform would be it. In Syria alone, as many as 150,000 youths who are on the brink of university life have had their progress disrupted by war and persecution. That's 150,000 young impressionable lives stuck without higher education. Without the need to buy a diploma, refugee students can expect to benefit from the platform dispensing university scholarships and placement, translation services, higher learning resources and support or counselling. Therefore, I hope the UK Department for Education would consider backing this platform and to spread word about it helping refugee students. Thank you for lending me your ears. Brook Arnold

I am a young champion for time to change (the national movement to end the stigma surrounding mental health) I am not however acting for or working for time to change. I feel that it is really important to try and help tackle the stigma attached to Mental Health therefore enabling people to accept and seek help when they need to without being afraid of being stigmatised against. I know from personal experience the misconceptions and stigma surrounding these conditions can prevent you from accessing or seeking help without being labeled. For example I did not want to seek the help I needed until my problems got so bad that there was no choice but to get help as I could not look after myself. I did not want to be classed as an "attention seeker" amongst other things. Also I did not have any knowledge of any Mental Health conditions or even know they existed so could not see the early warning signs that meant something was not right and I needed help.

The Hunger Project have shown that poverty and hunger decrease when a country's population is educated. Investing in education in developing countries, and offering businesses incentives to do the same will lead to more educated citizens, a better quality of life and a decrease in the 805,000,000 people who currently go hungry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq80vZJ8n2k

Is Important because it will save cost like looking for scooters won't be necessary. Thank you and can do without taxis.

Tuition Fees have already been trebled in the last 10 years, does the University really need to increase them even further. This, albeit smaller increase, seems to represent a trend of fees just increasing again and again. The increase of 250 pounds is a 2.8% rise that is supposedly in line with inflation. The Bank of England has predicted inflation to be 2.1% in 2017. So where has the 2.8% figure come from. If the University does not stop with this increase, I think students at least deserve a more in depth explanation as to why this increase is happening and greater transparency in where funding is going. For more explanation into my thoughts see http://lincolnshire.press/content/why-is-the-university-of-lincoln-raising-its-tuition-fees/

There is more and more evidence to show that being educated and playing in nature has huge short and long term benefits. Enhancing mental and physical wellbeing, empowering children to be creative in all areas of their young lives and unifying them as one with nature and each other regardless of gender, race, colour, disabilities or beliefs. Countries who have better academic results than here in the U.K. are embracing these methods of schooling and attribute them to their success. It's time the education system stopped making short term changes and investing into a long term plan which will bring the change everyone here and globally desperately want to see for future generations. The children of today are the leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors and creative beings of tomorrow. They will be the inspiration for the generations to come and bring the change we ourselves so long to see. Only with the government working alongside nature schools, groups and individuals can we make that a reality by creating the stage on which they can perform. For reference to these facts I recommend a visit to the Children & Nature Network website: http://www.childrenandnature.org/

So many people in the UK are either suffering or know someone that is. Mental health is just as important as physical health, but we never hear about it until it's happening to us or around us. Why hasn't this been raised before? In 2013/14 there were 51,000 referrals of 15–19-year-olds to psychological therapies, with referrals for young women double the number of referrals for young men. And, Ten per cent of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age I didn't know what depression was until I was diagnosed, sometimes that is too late. By educating people, opening their minds to it all, we are enabling a much better stigma free nation for those who do suffer.

Local communities know best what will meet their needs.

School uniform is expensive all for the sake of the school badge. You shouldn't have to buy everything with the school crests on. Quality of the uniforms are not as good as the ones from high street/supermarkets. Children should only need to buy the badge and be able to put that on a normal school jumper/cardigan. Stop taking loads of money each year of parents. Wouldn't mind if the money went back into the local schools but it doesn't. To try and help families save a lot from the amount of money which is spent monthly/yearly those who have children in schools.

Our son who is now 14 falls between severe and moderate learning needs, he is autistic, has chronic lung disease, requires gastric tube feeding and is prone to infection. He also is partially deaf and cannot process words easily. Surrey Education agreed with us that home education was his best option due to the issues he has. However this removes access to speech and language therapy and other communication support as the budget goes to the special needs schools, not the child. This has to change to allow his parents to provide the best support for him. We can of course go private but due to cost this is not a viable option. We need the law changed to give the education and special needs budget to the child. Educating at home is not an easy option to choose, but to limit our options is not only unfair but boarding discrimination.

All recent evidence shows that social mobility is stifled rather than encouraged by grammar schools. If you truly want to be a government for the people then please do not choose an education policy that has been clearly shown to reduce social mobility.