[vc_row content_placement=”top” row_space=”remove_padding_top”][vc_column][gva_block_heading align=”align-left” subtitle=”We believe that children must be placed front and centre in all decisions impacting them”][/gva_block_heading][vc_column_text]School closures and lockdown restrictions have disproportionately burdened harms onto children and young people. As a society, they must now be made our priority. This can only be done if their voices and those voices advocating for children are better represented and protected in policy making. Reform of our legislative and constitutional ecosystem insofar as it relates to children is essential.[/vc_column_text][gva_block_heading align=”align-left” subtitle=”We believe the wellbeing of children should be a guiding principle of public policy making”][/gva_block_heading][vc_column_text]Children’s wellbeing and happiness should be a core metric by which we should judge ‘success’ in policy making. We should focus more on prevention than cure. To this end sport and extracurricular activities which are so transformational for children must be placed at the very heart of children’s lives and we must embrace a national effort to reeducate children about healthy nutrition and to give them the skills they need for a lifetime of healthy eating.[/vc_column_text][gva_block_heading align=”align-left” subtitle=”We believe that equity is urgently needed for our most disadvantaged children”][/gva_block_heading][vc_column_text]Our most disadvantaged children were disproportionately affected by school closures and lockdown policies. Vulnerable children and in particular disabled children and SEN children have too often been denied access to the care and education they need. A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members and we must aspire for better.[/vc_column_text][gva_block_heading align=”align-left” subtitle=”We believe that children should be given the best start in life”][/gva_block_heading][vc_column_text]The first 5 years of a child’s life are crucial for development and for long-term wellbeing and prosperity: proper funding of an early years sector with stronger community-based support systems and a better trained, professionalised workforce would reap huge cost savings throughout the life of a child. Both parents must be given an equal opportunity to be involved in a child’s life from birth and families must be supported in making the choice that is right for them through fair taxation and policies which protect each parent’s employment rights – equitably.[/vc_column_text][gva_block_heading align=”align-left” subtitle=”We believe in a universal right to the best, broadest and fairest education possible”][/gva_block_heading][vc_column_text]All education from cradle to career should be delivered face to face, and provided on a non-discriminatory basis, free from disproportionate measures and protected from disruption. All restrictions which prevent healthy children and students from entering their place of learning must end. School closures should never again be countenanced.[/vc_column_text][gva_block_heading align=”align-left” subtitle=”We believe that a society which invested in its children would be healthier, happier and more prosperous”][/gva_block_heading][vc_column_text]There is no more important an investment than children’s education and a commitment must now be made for a secure and long term funding approach with appropriate investment, creativity and hope to take our early years children into their adult lives.[/vc_column_text][gva_block_heading align=”align-left” subtitle=”We believe that the voices and interests of children and young adults must be heard and protected in decisions affecting their futures”][/gva_block_heading][vc_column_text]Children have a key role to play in determining the future they will inhabit. They must be taught how to think, engage, speak out and be heard – rather than simply what to think.[/vc_column_text][gva_block_heading align=”align-left” subtitle=”We believe that policy making should span the lifetimes of generations, not Governments”][/gva_block_heading][vc_column_text]Policy making should look to sustainability as well as economic growth; should protect rather than erode the interests of future generations and must respect and protect freedom and the rights and welfare of non-voting children as much as voting adults.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_placement=”top” row_space=”remove_padding_top”][vc_column][gva_block_heading subtitle=”#CHILDRENFIRST”][/gva_block_heading][/vc_column][/vc_row]