Kirsty Williams: The Welsh Government, regional consortia and local authorities are collectively supporting schools in Powys to improve educational standards, in line with our priorities set out in 'Our National Mission'.
Kirsty Williams: As I said earlier, we are investing £100 million over the course of this Assembly term in raising school standards. We are investing over £2 billion with regard to school buildings, as well as a large number of initiatives aimed at addressing specific needs within the curriculum. But I have to say, Presiding Officer, that it's only a few weeks ago that the Conservative members of Powys...
Kirsty Williams: I will indeed, Paul. I remain fully committed to meeting the needs of all of our learners, including those with autism. Our ambitious additional learning needs reforms will completely overhaul the existing system for supporting learners and will put in place an integrated, collaborative process of assessment, planning and monitoring of support that is delivered.
Kirsty Williams: Paul, I'm sorry to hear that some of your constituents feel that the English language GCSE paper that was set this year was not appropriate for their children's needs. I am aware that a number of the questions on that paper, for instance, referred to explaining what a 'selfie' was, explaining what 'going viral' was, and the whole issue around social media. Of course, there may be some...
Kirsty Williams: The Welsh Government does not fund schools directly. Local authorities are responsible for the funding of schools in their counties.
Kirsty Williams: Mark, I'm very glad that schools have been able to apply for additional resources that the Welsh Government has made available this year to support the educational needs of armed forces children following the cuts made to that funding by the department of defence under your Government in London. Let me be clear: we continue to look to see whether there is evidence to suggests that those...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Mick. We already consider absence due to disability when compiling our statistics on absenteeism from school. For both primary and secondary schools, we collect a range of statistics on absenteeism by pupil characteristic, which includes data related to special educational needs.
Kirsty Williams: Mick, thank you so much for raising this, and I completely agree with you that in the drive to encourage overall attendance, children with a disability should not feel penalised or discouraged or inadequate in any way. I do recognise that rewards can incentivise other pupils to attend, but it cannot be beyond the wit of individual schools to be able to understand that for some children...
Kirsty Williams: 'Normal' people?
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I believe that the Welsh bac plays a key part in our national mission to raise standards by improving both the skills and the knowledge of our young people. It has been designed to give younger people a broader experience than they usually have through their traditional academic education. It prepares learners for life in the real world,...
Kirsty Williams: Admissions authorities must comply with the Welsh Government’s school admissions code. The code aims to safeguard the interests of children, parents and schools by ensuring that school admissions are administered in the fairest and most equitable way possible.
Kirsty Williams: In 2016, the Welsh co-operative and mutuals commission did a review, which recommended a co-operative ethos should be the central organising principle of the education system in Wales. Our national mission of education reform, developed through co-construction, is building an inclusive and equitable education system which supports every learner.
Kirsty Williams: Funding from Welsh Government to Literature Wales remains at the same level this year as last year, and is an increase on two years ago. In updating colleagues on changes to performance measures and education reforms, I have discussed issues of take-up and attainment across subjects, including literature and language.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Firstly, can I thank the committee for their comprehensive report detailing the step change that they feel is needed in this area? I will join with David Melding in paying tribute to the committee's Chair, Lynne Neagle, for her dedication to these issues, not just in this report, but over her time here as an Assembly Member. Could I also join...
Kirsty Williams: Well, Lee, what I would say is that I would much rather, as a Cabinet Secretary, be in a position to be able to accept or reject, but sometimes—and I acknowledge the extra time that the committee has given my officials and myself to work on this—we need more time to truly understand what the implications of saying 'accept' are. Because if we say, 'accept', then we mean that that has to...
Kirsty Williams: Of course. Apologies, Deputy Presiding Officer. Therefore, can I finally thank the committee and the Chair again for their extensive engagement and their raising awareness of these issues? I also welcome the health committee's work that they're currently doing on suicide prevention, which is an important element to sit alongside this work. Deputy Presiding Officer, we can't allow any child...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Lynne. This support is available for parents to apply for via their local authority. I'm very pleased that we've been able to introduce a new, more generous, and more flexible scheme ready for the start of the new school year.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you. We have been working very closely with local authorities, principally through the Association of Directors of Education in Wales, to make them aware of their indicative allocations—they're only indicative because, of course, this is a demand-led grant—and to confirm with them the formal terms and conditions of that grant. We are also working with them to ensure that bureaucracy...
Kirsty Williams: Darren, I can confirm that we will be using, as I said, a variety of media channels over the summer to alert parents to the availability of this grant. Indeed, the most successful Facebook post on the Welsh education Facebook page in the last month has been the post that alerted people to the existence of this grant. That was shared more than any other post, and we will continue, as I said,...
Kirsty Williams: Let's be absolutely clear: local authorities, via ADEW, were consulted throughout the month of May. I made my statement in this Chamber on 7 June. Individual directors of education were provided with an update on 8 June. By 29 June, all local authorities had received their indicative allocations and the criteria for the grant, and that was formally confirmed on 9 July.
