Kirsty Williams: ...provide entertainment for those of us here in the Chamber, it might get you on the tv tonight, it might provide fodder for a Twitter feed, but it will not, in any way, shape or form, improve the education of our children. So, rather than spending and wasting my time blaming people, I am here to get on with what needs to happen to reform our education system. Now, you ask what we are doing...
Mark Drakeford: I'm aware that across the whole of Wales, there are a number of children from non-Welsh-speaking households who do undertake Welsh-medium education, and I welcome that. It's an important part of the plans that we have. Here in Cardiff, eight out of 10 children who access Welsh-medium education come from non-Welsh-speaking households. The schools do work hard, with the resources that we've...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Today, I would like to set out my priorities for the initial teacher education change programme in Wales. Every parent, Presiding Officer, should be confident that their child goes to a school that helps them grow as capable, healthy and well-rounded citizens. Teachers must be supported to be the best that they can be, raising the standard of the...
Jenny Rathbone: ...delivering the offer that was in the manifesto. Co-location is incredibly important because otherwise there's a danger that people have to keep their child in a nursery that doesn't offer the early education that all three and four-year-olds are entitled to as well. So I'm particularly interested to pursue with you, as you refine the offer and you're in discussions with local authorities,...
Kirsty Williams: ...make a few brief remarks regarding the regulations that are before the Chamber today, Wales remains at the forefront of ensuring greater coherence and recognising the contribution that the whole education workforce makes to learner outcomes in Wales. I am sure that Members will agree that the registration of the wider educational workforce is good news, as it provides the reassurance that...
Kirsty Williams: ...his in principle support for the academy and a strong focus on leadership? Members will be aware that lack of support for leadership was a key component of the OECD report into the state of Welsh education in 2014, and it’s an area where not a lot of progress has been made. So, like you, Darren, I’m very anxious that progress is made as quickly as possible and, as always, we’re...
Laura Anne Jones: Business Minister, by September, our children will have had no more than three days in school in six months. Not only is their education suffering but their mental and physical health too. Vulnerable children are falling behind in key skills, and, if our children don't go back fully in September, then potentially parents might lose some of their jobs too, because they won't be able to go back...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that answer. Almost three years ago, the then education Minister wrote to me confirming that local authorities can, and I quote, provide these places—education for three-year-olds—in a nursery school, a nursery class within a primary school, or non-maintained setting, such as a playgroup or a private day nursery. Now, three years on, Swansea council is still only funding...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...has been extremely successful, and we'd like to continue in that vein, and certainly, when it comes to children, I think that will be very important. We are very keen, of course, to work with the education authorities, with the education unions about that conversation that is ongoing in terms of masks in schools, so that—. I know the education Minister has been in intense discussions and...
John Griffiths: ...and my friend, Olwen, who was formerly a Welsh teacher here in the Senedd. She was nine years old when she moved to Newport from Cardiff, where she was fortunate to go to a Welsh primary school. When they moved to Newport, there was very little Welsh in the town, as it was then, and certainly nothing in the schools. In the 1960s, with Lilian Jones, the first headteacher at Ysgol Gyfun...
Sioned Williams: Our motion calls for ensuring that school meal debt doesn't negatively impact a pupil, be that through stress, stigma or even having to go without food, as we have heard in some cases. Consideration should always be given to why school meal debt could have accrued. The reason is never within the control of the child, the child that it affects and harms. The child should therefore never suffer...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you, Llywydd. Headteachers the length and breadth of Wales are warning that there is a funding crisis facing our schools and that this will have far-reaching impacts—larger class sizes, fewer teachers, the condition of buildings deteriorating, reduction in the support for additional learning needs, cuts to pastoral services and well-being services. We are losing hundreds of our most...
Siân Gwenllian: ...you, Llywydd. The establishment of a robust test, tracing and isolating system for all aspects of COVID have to be at the heart of any plans for lifting the restrictions, including the reopening of schools. The public need very clear messages about the process, and we need robust arrangements in place for the isolation period, as well as appropriate arrangements so that people can isolate...
Kirsty Williams: Well, the Member is absolutely right to identify the way in which the vast majority of resources that fund our schools is a matter for local authorities. I recently met with the finance distribution sub-group to discuss these issues, as well as the directors of education and the education portfolios, across the 22 local authorities, about my desire to see as much money as possible getting to...
Vikki Howells: Natural Resources Wales, in their evidence to the Children, Young People and Education Committee inquiry into their priorities for this Assembly term, succinctly list the benefits to a young person’s education from this contact with the great outdoors. I won’t repeat the list, but I do want to mention some examples that reinforce my own understanding of the benefits that this type of...
Kirsty Williams: Quite simply, an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers. Our ambitious reforms need well-supported, high-quality, aspirational teachers. We must therefore attract and support the best graduates with the highest level of qualifications to teach. I am concerned that significant recruitment issues across the border can give a skewed view of what is actually happening here in...
Jeremy Miles: ...been challenging in terms of recruitment in the past. And actually, those schemes do in fact lead to beneficial outcomes. I do think that it's a mix of challenges, really. One of the aspects of our education reform that I think may have a bearing on how this could look different in the future is the internationalisation of the education system generally in Wales through the Taith...
Bethan Sayed: ...to look at the practicalities of how this radical policy can be successfully implemented. We took a wide range of evidence, including informal external engagement sessions with stakeholders and school pupils across Wales. It is clear from considering the evidence that success will require hard work, considerable additional resources and clear targets. It will also need to be founded on the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: ...suggest that the armed forces community in Wales numbers anything between 250,000 and 350,000 people, and a proportion of these will of course be family members and dependent children. Now, some schools in Wales are doing great work in this area, along with the work of the Supporting Service Children in Education Cymru project, Welsh Government, the Welsh Local Government Association, and...
Suzy Davies: ...or Gorseinon in my region due to pressures at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin. Young children are being transported from the Cwmbwrla and Gendros areas of Swansea to access primary Welsh-medium education in other parts of the city because the council has earmarked the perfect site for a school for housing, and there are problems with continued overflow with some of the primary...
