Kirsty Williams: The Member highlights a very important point. After the quality of teaching, a family’s engagement with their child’s education is the second biggest factor that will determine that child’s educational outcomes. So, when I talk about community-focused schools, I am clear that it is not just access to a building. It is an ethos within that school that sees its role as engaging with...
Kirsty Williams: ...is aware of the innovative e-sgol project that is indeed being piloted for the Welsh Government by Ceredigion County Council. It builds on the experience of the Scottish Government in delivering education in the highlands and islands. Sometimes, we are concerned about our rurality; well, delivering education in those circumstances, in a bilingual system, the same as we have, certainly is a...
Delyth Jewell: ...that response, Minister. Rhieni Dros Addysg Gymraeg have been in touch with me on their campaign to tackle the lack of Welsh-medium provision in the area. At the moment, there are only two primary schools and no secondary school at all, which is utterly unfair on the children in the area. RhAG want to see a Welsh-medium secondary school established, as well as an additional primary...
Motion NDM6094 as amended: To propose that the National Assembly for Wales: 1. Is not persuaded that selection in the education system is appropriate for schools in Wales. 2. Notes that a reduction in social mobility has gone hand in hand with a cut in grammar school places. 3. Believes in diversity in secondary education, and supports enhanced status for technical and vocational education in...
Mike Hedges: I would like to ask for two education statements. Firstly, a statement on free school meals expanding into school holidays. I know the Welsh Government has made a decision on Christmas and Easter of this year, but I think it's something we need to look at being done all the time, rather than just as a one-off. It's something I've been calling for since I was elected. And also, what...
Alun Davies: ...and challenge these plans. We are expecting to receive the revised WESPs during the coming weeks. Aled’s report also offers recommendations for developing the future planning of Welsh-medium education. These include reviewing the timetable of the WESPs to coincide with the Welsh Government’s capital schemes, specifically the twenty-first century schools programme, and capital...
Siân Gwenllian: Constituents have been in touch with me and they’re concerned about the destructive impact of possible cuts at the school of education at Bangor University and particularly the implications of losing experienced Welsh speaking staff and replacing them with an ad hoc strategy that intends to bring in teachers from schools in order to train and mentor students. I would be grateful for a...
Alun Davies: This review and this process will consider the Welsh-medium education plans. That’s the purpose and the point of the WESPs, and we will be considering how we can expand Welsh-medium education over the coming years. This will be an important foundation for how we create more Welsh speakers for the future. But it will also enable people to learn Welsh early on in their life, and the hope is...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. Schools will clearly benefit from the kind of advice and support you’re talking about, and I realise that improving schools is an ongoing process, which is why the lack of concrete support reflected in the guidance on the school classification system concerns me. However, there are young people who will have spent their education in either an...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Minister, for that. I'm glad that you recognise that this is a really important tool in the armoury for getting all children back to school where possible and really maximising those opportunities. So, I'm disappointed to report that, in at least one of my primary schools, children have only been offered four hours maximum over this three-week period, simply because they've been...
Motion NDM6975 as amended: To propose that the National Assembly for Wales: 1. Notes that the current 'school services' Indicator Based Assessment (IBA) formulae model the authorities' relative need to spend on school services, given the funding available and making assumptions around council tax and prioritisation of spending. 2. Welcomes the recently published 'Funding for schools' guide...
Mark Isherwood: I call for a single statement on the number of pupils being taken out of school to be taught at home who are on the autism spectrum or with other additional learning needs. You might be aware that, last Friday, BBC Wales reported research showing that the number of pupils being taken out of school to be taught at home had doubled in the previous four years, with many of those pupils believed...
Kirsty Williams: Well, as I referred to earlier, we are providing unprecedented amounts of financial support to educate children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds via our pupil development grant. We continue to maintain education maintenance allowance for those children from a poorer background, allowing them to be able to stay on in school or in further education, and we have introduced the most generous...
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank Angela for that question? As you’ve said, the new Church in Wales Tenby school does have excellent special educational needs provision within the school. The establishment of a stand-alone Welsh medium primary school in Tenby is a welcome development. It meets the growing demand for Welsh medium education in that part of the world, and I’m very pleased that Pembrokeshire have...
Jeremy Miles: This is a long-term piece of work and I want to ensure that our work in schools is replicated across other public services and across communities. This is why we have ensured strong links between our whole-school approach framework and the Together for Children and Young People NEST/NYTH framework, which complements our whole-school framework by strengthening the response of our partners and...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you for the statement. I too would like to thank everyone who is seeking to ensure that our children and young people are able to return to education in a safe manner, which is a huge challenge, of course, particularly as we see positive COVID cases on the rise among our children and young people, with dozens of schools now having been affected already by the coronavirus crisis. I...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Colleagues, we are embarking on a major reform agenda, the biggest education reform that we have seen in Wales since the 1940s. We have begun developing the new curriculum in collaboration with the sector, we are making major improvements to initial teacher training and are working to support the development of the education workforce through the current...
Alun Davies: The Member’s absolutely right to emphasise the investment that’s taken place in schools across Wales. Band A has seen a rebuild and refurbishment of over 150 schools and colleges across Wales. That’s a real investment in the education of children and young people for the future. The second wave will begin—band B will begin in 2019 and run over a five-year period to 2024. Investment...
Kirsty Williams: The primary consideration that all local authorities should have when planning their school places and thinking about school organisation is the interests of the learner and the quality of education that that institution is able to offer young people. You'll be aware of the answers I gave earlier. We are pushing forward with the designation of a list of rural schools and then a presumption...
Peter Fox: ...in Wales had experienced or had seen some form of online violence on social media. This has had a profound effect on not only the mental health and well-being of these young people, but their education and wider lives too. In Wales, 57 per cent had changed their behaviour and a tenth had missed school because of online violence. These numbers also help to back up many of the observations...
