Jeremy Miles: ...last 12 months, we've looked across the UK and internationally to inform policy, drawing on the expertise of organisations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Education Endowment Foundation. As I set out last year, we know from research and inspection evidence that schools that couple effective learning and teaching with a focus on family engagement are...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Simon. You’re absolutely right—the first consideration regarding the future of a school should be the educational viability of that school. Simply a school remaining open is not good enough. The education that that school provides has to be a first-class educational opportunity for those children. I don’t want children to have any less of an opportunity because they attend a...
John Griffiths: I'd like to support those Members who've mentioned education as a priority for Welsh Government expenditure, and I'd very much like to applaud the report by the Children, Young People and Education Committee on school funding. I know the Welsh Government has accepted all of the recommendations, but I think it does set out a very strong case for prioritisation for school funding to a greater...
David Melding: First Minister, this is a very important issue, and I commend the education Secretary’s announcement, earlier this year, to pilot these lunch and fun clubs for primary schools at first. But I just wonder if it’s going to be a scheme you will examine for the secondary school sector, because helping those that receive free school lunches, in terms of healthy nutrition, eating, and a healthy...
Kirsty Williams: Well, I have to say, with regard to compulsory school education, all local authorities have to abide by the learner travel Measure, which states very clearly who is and who is not entitled to free school transport. It also sets out that expectation with regards to access to Welsh-medium education. It also says that any route undertaken by a child, especially if that route is a walking route,...
Sioned Williams: A second issue specific to the implementation of votes at 16 in Wales was that the legislation did not include concrete statutory measures of political education, something that had been discussed in the reform process in Wales and identified as crucial in previous experiences of voting age reform elsewhere. This meant that, despite school-level commitments to citizenship education, when the...
Elin Jones: Forty years ago to this week, in 1977, I left Ysgol Gynradd Llanwnnen, at 10 years old, to go to high school in Lampeter. Forty-nine years ago to this week, my fellow Member, Dai Lloyd, left ysgol Llanwnnen too, also to go to secondary school. This week, every child will leave ysgol Llanwnnen, and the school will close its doors forever. The schools at Cwrtnewydd and Llanwenog will also close...
Paul Davies: Diolch, Lywydd, and I'm pleased to take part in this debate this afternoon and highlight some of the ways I think we can help our learners achieve better standards in Welsh schools. There’s no doubt that we are all extremely concerned and disappointed by Wales’s PISA figures last week. Despite the hard work and professionalism of teachers across Wales, the figures show that Wales is...
Suzy Davies: Some families freely choose home schooling while others feel they have no alternative because the alternatives to school education for a troubled child are limited. While the number of the latter has dropped, the number of the former has increased from over 1,000 five years ago to over 1,500 last year. What does that say about the confidence in our school education system that they choose to...
Kirsty Williams: Well, let me be absolutely clear: we have, even in this most difficult and serious of circumstances, been able to ensure that primary schoolchildren, children in our special educational needs schools, pupils in education other than at schools and in specialist centres within mainstream schools will be able to attend school in person after the break. I appreciate that this is a worrying time...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you for that comment. Some of our most successful schools are 11-16 schools, but I am not aware of any comprehensive study that looks at the comparative outcomes of schools that offer curriculum through 11-16 or 11-18. What’s really important is that local authorities take into consideration the unique characteristics of the area in which they are delivering education. We are seeing a...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you for the statement and the update. In discussing twenty-first century schools, you continue to use this concept of a building to describe a school. New buildings, well designed, can contribute towards creating an environment that encourages creativity and learning, and I myself am familiar with a number of brand-new school buildings in Arfon that have been warmly welcomed and have...
Kirsty Williams: It pretty much sounds like a market to me, Deputy Presiding Officer, and that’s fine. The Member is perfectly entitled to have those values underpinning his approach to education policy. That’s absolutely fine. The reality of living in our country, Mark—the reality of living in this country—is that, actually, children don’t have the ability to move around—[Interruption.] The...
Natasha Asghar: Minister, may I ask for a statement from the education Minister about accountability and the rights of parents in schools in Wales? The reason I ask for this is because I'm dealing with a case on behalf of a constituent whose daughter suffers from anxiety and is currently waiting to be assessed by the child and adolescent mental health service. The pupil has been excluded from school as a...
Alun Davies: I appreciate the Minister's response. We have, for some time, talked about the Welsh-medium education continuum at school, but I'm concerned about the transition from education in school and then the post-16 period in FE college, universities and so on. I welcomed your statement a few years ago to offer an additional role for the coleg Cymraeg to secure additional investment, if you will, in...
Kirsty Williams: Oscar, it is important that local authorities are responsible for school funding in Wales, and that is set out in law. I'm not sure if the Member is advocating removing that power away from our colleagues in local government. I certainly think that our partners in local government would take a very strong view about removing that power from them. It's also important to realise that there is...
Jeremy Miles: Our emphasis on community focused schools will play a key role in responding to this challenge. Family engagement officers are vital in ensuring that positive partnerships are created and that bespoke support is offered. Schools that know their families well can ensure that measures are put in place that will help children maintain good engagement and attendance. We've recently provided...
Mohammad Asghar: The Welsh Government formula for funding schools in Wales is not fit for purpose. As a result, school leaders and stakeholders have said that chronic insufficient funding has put schools under serious financial pressure. The system is flawed, with little transparency, coherency and consistency. The danger signals have been apparent for some time. Last year, the Organisation for Economic...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you, Trefnydd. You'll be aware of the huge growth in the number of cases of COVID in our schools. Over the last week, there have been 9,500 cases among young people under the age of 20—most of them in our schools. A year ago, there was clear guidance for schools in terms of face coverings, ventilation, social distancing, and so on. And indeed, independent SAGE scientists highly...
Caroline Jones: I'd like to thank Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales for his annual report. It's a report card on the performance of Wales's education system, and it appears that we are not doing well enough. While eight in 10 primary schools are deemed good or better, only 8 per cent of Wales's primary schools are classed as excellent schools. Every child in Wales deserves to...
