Victoria S

I rely on many services for myself and my family, from school to buses to local community services like support groups and arts and crafts sessions in the community. I rely on our local leisure centre who are a safe warm space and our local theatre, who are also a safe warm space, but also offer discounts to low income families meaning my kids get access to important cultural opportunities when possible. I also rely on social services who support our family and mental health services who support me to support my family. Social services cover school taxis costs and we rely on the taxi services which are heavily subsidiarised in our area. In ways I seldom acknowledge, I rely on our local council and the community events and free opportunities they provide for families, especially holiday clubs and school meal vouchers and town centre activities. Like, in a couple week they're running a light festival that we're looking forward to checking out. I may not be able to easily access food banks but I can access important community and cultural opportunities for my families which I feel in very valuable.

Mainly, I rely on school, they support my children incredibly well even though they're grossly underfunded. My kids get to lend a laptop from school for homework, they get well fed plus free access to daily breakfast club (in fairness social services essentially cover that cost for us), they enable kids to attend events and learn things I can't teach them and tailored to each of my child's needs. I rely heavily on school.

We found out this week that our school isn't striking this week, they posted to the parents chat space and every parent that replied said they stand with teachers over strikes and support the strikes. It was beautiful. Our schools are grossly underfunded and underappreciated, how many kids would essentially starve without schools for Pete's sake? How many kids would grow up unable to world or contribute to society if not for our schools?

Public infrastructure is essential to a healthy economy and society, from schools to social services to buses and community development. Without them no of our essential services like government would function at all.