Dear all,

This petition continues to go from strength to strength.  We now have almost 40,000 supporters standing together to say loud and clear that our children deserve better.  Standing together to say enough is enough and its time for change.

Those of you who know me will know that  I am a teacher. I also train and write and seem to be finding myself doing more and more campaigning.  I have been honoured to speak at the NUT conference, Liberal Democrat and Green Party conference.  But no matter where I travel and how big the audience, my heart is always with my children. Those precious children I have the joy of teaching for most of my week.

I made the decision to step out of my beloved Early Years classroom and step into Yr1..for exactly the reasons outlined in this campaign. For more and more children Yr1 is a negative experience. One which sees them turned off learning after early years spent thriving and relishing in learning. It is a battle that can be a lonely place. Most Yr1 children have a very different experience to what I am offering. At writing sessions where schools compare books and samples of writing, mine look very different.  Mine arent filled with labour intensive marking or joined up handwriting. They are full of observations of children learning, photographs and samples of writing children have chosen to do alongside some writing we have done together.  

I am proud to say that whilst learning the 3r's..our Yr1 children play. Inside. Outside. Alone. With friends. With teachers. We are in a typical coastal town and with that come some high levels of deprivation.  We have a huge outdoor space, which is a burden as much as a blessing, as we don't have the money to resource it in the way we would like.  Of course we recycle, we beg and we borrow but the fact is sometimes we just need money. Plain and simple...and in these days of school cuts there really isn't any. 

So with just three days left, I am begging for anyone who can to take a few moments to register (yes it is a slight faff tbh) and vote for our project.  You have upto 10 votes to use.  We want to develop the sort of outdoor space for our 3 - 6 year olds that promotes the things that really matter for our children. The sort of things this petition embodies. Creativity, Critical thinking. Collaboration. Challenge. Communication. Adventure. Exploration.  

Our children deserve the best. Please help me to give it to them.

Thank you!  Keep fighting the fight. Knowing you are with me keeps me going!