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Petition Tag - early years
1. No cuts in Early Years support: Fund our Future! 
An early years experience can transform people's lives.
It's too important to lose!
2. Save Early Years Professional Training at UEA
UEA has plans to withdraw from the Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) regional training consortium, and to end its Early Years training programme from February 2013.
This will result in the compulsory redundancy of staff involved, and represents a loss to the children and parents of this region, as the course provides professional training for staff in nurseries across Norfolk. The closest training centre is at UCS in Ipswich, some distance from Norwich.
3. Say No to phonics tests for young children
The English government intend to impose a specific type of phonics teaching in the nursery and reception years and a proposed phonics test in Year 1, neither of which are supported by research evidence nor by teachers’ experience.
Phonics is undoubtedly an essential element of learning to read, but the timing of the introduction of a systematic programme is crucial. The White Paper is introduced by a comparison of educational standards in the UK, which appear to show a fall in relation to other OECD countries. Yet, contrary to the clearly more successful models elsewhere, where formal schooling and the teaching of reading are not begun until children are 6 or 7 years of age, increased and earlier emphasis on basic phonic skills is to be imposed.
Children who are given plenty of time to develop their communication skills and to enjoy books so that they understand the purposes of reading and writing before they are expected to crack the irregular phonic code for English do just as well at age 11 as others whose motivation to read and enjoyment of literacy are undermined by premature pressures to decode text.
Training children of five or six (many of whose first language may not be English and who may use different alphabets) to decode text without regard to their understanding is not best use of time and can result in children losing confidence in themselves as readers. It is essential to include comprehension and reading for meaning and enjoyment into the mix from the start.
4. Save our Early Years Day Care Provision
Recent developments within the college have indicated that the future of the Full Day Care Provision based at Longford Street is under threat of closure.
The setting operates primarily for the children of parents who attend classes in the college. The setting is registered for children 2 yrs to under 5 years. Currently practically the children attending have E.A.L. English as an Additional Language) and are from a diverse racial and cultural background and so of course the same goes for our parents and the children’ families. The staff mirror the diversity of our local community and in total have 15 different languages spoken between them.
This Full Day Care setting is on a highly regarded Quality Assurance programme with Camden Early Years Development. Camden Early Years is keen to propose the WKC Full Day Care setting as an example of Good Practice and Excellence on a new Quality Provision Register due to be launched. As part of the college’s duty to promote Every Child Matters and Every Parent Matters outcomes, providing such high quality care for the children of students is contributing to enhancing the parent and child’s life opportunities and Lifelong Learning.
5. Vanier Children's Services Facing Core Funding Cuts
***1 in 5 children have a mental health problem.***
Tax cuts are causing underfunding for children's mental health services and especially early intervention programs critical to children's success in school.
Vanier Children's Services in London, Ontario is facing core funding shortages of over $200,000 this year. Without your petitions, the Early Intervention Program WILL CLOSE IN JUNE 2008.
"What a child will be depends on you and me" (Invest in Kids '07).
CHILD & YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS.
Read my story at http://www.vanier.com/parents.Stories.shtm
Make your voice count. Sign this petition now.
6. Save KIDS West Midlands Inclusive Creche
KIDS West Midlands provides support & opportunities for disabled children and their families. The organisation champions the right of all disabled children to live in an inclusive community and aims to empower them to change their society.
In addition to its specialist support provision it has also run a fully inclusive service for under 5's for the past 10 years. This service is unique and groundbreaking in that it is the non-disabled children who are included into a special needs environment. Such an arrangement is not only empowering for the disabled child but also educational for the non-disabled child.
This is inclusion work at the very grass roots of our society. Birmingham City Council has cut funding for the under 5's service and forced a policy change within KIDS to only offer specialist provision.