Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Huw, for that. Can I assure Members that we have developed a dashboard to give an overview of the situation across all local authorities following COVID-19, and the dashboard highlights that local authorities are on track to meet their Welsh in education strategic plan targets. Clearly, if there are concerns about the ability of an individual local authority to meet their targets...
Kirsty Williams: Since 29 June, our learners have been taking the opportunity to check in, catch up and prepare for the autumn term. Working with stakeholders, we are developing robust plans for children’s return to school in September, and, as I have said on numerous occasions this afternoon, Presiding Officer, I intend to make a statement later on this week outlining my plans.
Kirsty Williams: Well, Presiding Officer, I understand that children, parents and professionals want to know more about what we can expect in September. We are undertaking those discussions, as the Member alluded to. Sometimes these discussions are complicated by the way in which our education system is structured in Wales, which means there are many, many stakeholders that need to be engaged before we can...
Kirsty Williams: Mandy, I am a parent that lives in a constituency on the Welsh-English border. Yesterday, my year 9 daughter was able to return to school for the second time. If I lived across that border, in Herefordshire, she would not set foot in a classroom until September. Let's be absolutely clear what the education system and the teachers and the headteachers and the support staff and our local...
Kirsty Williams: Of course, Jack. I have endeavoured, throughout this entire period, to be as clear as I can be with educational professionals in Wales and with the parents of Wales. Sometimes that has not been easy, because of, sometimes, the lack of understanding, from especially aspects of the press, about discussions and announcements that have been made regarding other jurisdictions and the impact it has...
Kirsty Williams: Reducing class sizes, targeted at those who will benefit the most, is a key action in 'Our national mission'. I have made available an additional £36 million over this Assembly term to reduce infant class sizes.
Kirsty Williams: Well, as I made clear, I think, in my first answer, Presiding Officer, reducing class sizes has been a priority for me and this Government. We have invested in that, and that investment has led to an additional 110 extra teachers working in our schools, and an additional 45 teaching assistants. And in some places, it's not the staff that have been the constraint, it's the actual building, and...
Kirsty Williams: It is essential that those who need personal protective equipment have access to it. Our guidance on increasing operations in schools sets out the use of PPE by practitioners and support staff within the education sector.
Kirsty Williams: There are only very, very specific circumstances where the Welsh Government advises that staff working in our schools should use a face mask. With regard to face coverings—because there is a significant difference between the two—we do not advise that face coverings are necessary within a school setting.
Kirsty Williams: I think, Janet, as learners return to the physical school environment, practitioners will be providing a combination of approaches, especially for those children for whom, perhaps, a return to school is not recommended at this time.
Kirsty Williams: Janet, as I said in answer to Siân Gwenllian, schools have distributed over 10,000 individual devices, and over—. Actually, Welsh Government has provided over 10,000 software licences that allows the equipment to be converted into what a child needs. Actually, the number goes above that, because individual schools had already proactively sent out a number of devices. If you are in touch...
Kirsty Williams: We have published operational and learning guidance for schools and settings that sets out the physical, mental and educational benefits of outdoor learning and emphasises that they should maximise the time learners spend outdoors. The benefits of outdoor learning are particularly relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kirsty Williams: Well, Jenny, I think access to outdoor learning, whether we find ourselves in a pandemic or not in a pandemic, has real benefits for children: for their mental health, for their physical health, for their ability to understand their environment and how important that is. I've been overwhelmed to see via social media the very innovative approaches that many schools have taken during this...
Kirsty Williams: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I am very pleased to introduce the curriculum and assessment Bill for the Senedd’s consideration. I do so on behalf of this Government and for the teachers, academics, practitioners, businesses, unions and many others who are building this future for our learners, our schools and our nation. Now, we could not have anticipated that we would be turning this page of...
Kirsty Williams: Colleagues, now is the time for the first-ever truly made-in-Wales curriculum, shaped by the best learning here and further afield. The essential features of the current curriculum devised in 1988 by the then Westminster Government is simply not fit for purpose in contemporary Wales—one that was designed before the fall of the Berlin wall, before it was smashed into rubble. Well, that's not...
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank Suzy Davies for that series of questions? As she will have alluded to, the intention is that the curriculum will become statutory in all primary settings and year 7 of secondary settings for the start of the academic year 2022. So, undoubtedly, COVID has had an impact on planning—that is without a shadow of a doubt—but we still have a considerable period of time for schools to...
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank Siân Gwenllian? And can I say that I welcome very much the process we've now got to in terms of scrutiny? I have been in this Chamber long enough, both on that side of the house and on this side of the house, to know what a valuable process the scrutiny process of this Parliament is and how, often, legislation is stronger and better as a result of that. That's the whole point why...
Kirsty Williams: Well, Deputy Presiding Officer, I think the Member has thrown down a challenge to me, one that I'm very happy to pick up, to convince him of why he needs to support the change in our curriculum. The duty will lie on each individual school, each individual headteacher to design a curriculum, and then the legal duty then falls to the headteacher and the governing body to implement that...
Kirsty Williams: Okay. I've been told. And I'm glad to be back as well. I've missed everybody. [Laughter.]
Kirsty Williams: Deputy Presiding Officer, can I thank Lynne Neagle for her contribution this afternoon and thank her for the support for the consultation that has gone out today? Everybody in this Chamber knows how passionately Lynne feels about this specific subject. Everybody here will also know that she is a hard taskmaster, and if she's happy with it, it must mean that it's a good document. So I'm really...
