David Lloyd: Trefnydd, I call for two statements. The first: Estyn and the school organisation code of the Minister for Education have both noted the need to look at the possibilities of federalising thoroughly before schools such as Felindre, on the outskirts of Swansea, are closed. Now, as the governing bodies at Felindre and Lôn Las school, nearby, have unanimously agreed on the principle of...
David Lloyd: ...substantially, from £100 a year to £390 per year. Now, clearly, this will have a significant impact on families across the county, but it will have a particular impact on the only Welsh-medium school in the county, which is Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera Bro Dur, and the only faith school in the county, which is St Joseph’s Catholic School. With pupils traditionally travelling to these schools...
David Lloyd: Trefnydd, you will no doubt be aware of the announcement by Neath Port Talbot Council last week that they intend to withdraw from the ERW regional area education consortium as of March 2020. Now, clearly ERW has been through a difficult time in the past few years, but in recent months, following the appointment of a Welsh Government official as interim managing director, positive progress...
David Lloyd: ...environments. Children who are delayed in fundamental motor skills are less likely to be physically active both now and in the future. We heard about successful kinaesthetic instruction for pre-schoolers—SKIP—an evidence based programme of professional development that has been used to train teachers, teaching assistants and parents about the importance of early movement for child...
David Lloyd: ...to other countries for the excellent examples in some areas. And, of course, that’s what Suzy Davies started with in her contribution, and thank you to her for that, telling us about some past school lunches—I won't pursue that—but, of course, that international experience, in Finland, in particular, again innovating, as Finland innovates in several different fields, and spending the...
David Lloyd: ...to help inform our approach to looking at workforce issues throughout the fifth Assembly. We heard from a wide range of organisations and individuals across the spectrum of involvement in training, education, and recruitment. Last autumn, we launched the inquiry into medical recruitment and ran a further written consultation exercise. Our terms of reference included a focus on the capacity...
David Lloyd: ...a recent University of South Wales study showed that a quarter of gamblers do not consider themselves to be gamblers, and that applies to children as well. So, pushing further on this issue of education in schools, obviously my colleague Bethan Sayed previously has raised the principles of financial education, which would incorporate this sort of education, but really we need to be...
David Lloyd: In looking at the most recent record of Bridgend County Borough Council in terms of Welsh-medium education, unfortunately the story isn’t a positive one. The council has failed over recent years to ensure that Welsh-medium education is a realistic option in a number of communities. In reality, a number are concerned locally that there’s an institutional problem in the authority where the...
David Lloyd: Thank you very much. In this debate, I'm going to focus on Welsh-medium education and experience as the former chair of the governing body of Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg y Login Fach in Waunarlwydd, Swansea, with 250 pupils and 92 per cent of them coming from non-Welsh-speaking homes. It's likely that the lack of action taken and lack of any meaningful response to Professor Sioned Davies's 'Un...
David Lloyd: Thank you for that answer, Minister. Clearly, school attendance is vital if pupils are to achieve their potential, but in looking at the local data in Swansea in more detail, what is absolutely apparent is that despite efforts by both Welsh Government and the local authority, there remains a stark contrast in school attendance rates between relatively affluent areas such as Bishopston and...
David Lloyd: ...can include providing emotional support as well as help with health needs, mobility and domestic tasks. In some cases, this can occupy a considerable amount of time, which affects young carers' education as well as their social lives and their leisure opportunities. The impact of caring on children and young people is substantial, and young carers face worse prospects than their peers, for...
David Lloyd: 7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the number of school leavers not entering education, employment or training in South Wales West? OAQ51456
David Lloyd: ...through the century. That’s an increase of somewhere in the region of 400,000 Welsh speakers across Wales, or an average increase of 18,000 for each of our current counties. Of course, the education sector and its Welsh in education strategic plans are crucially important to this, and, in light of that, do you believe that enhancing the capacity of Welsh-medium primary schools by some 20...
David Lloyd: ...growth again, but we need a landscape that understands the importance of this for our children and our children’s children. Through promotion, we need to advocate the advantages of Welsh-medium education. Some people out there believe that, if you send your child to a Welsh primary school, they don’t learn English at all. Well, no, that’s nonsense—naturally, you have a Welsh-medium...
David Lloyd: ...minimum and stuff, but the evidence we took—we try to base everything on evidence—is that that has to happen. It is not happening when the 120 minutes is not prescribed now in an awful lot of schools. They don't get anywhere near the 120 minutes, however much people would like it so to happen. It doesn't happen unless you put it on a statutory footing and that, again, is the evidence...
David Lloyd: ...as you say here, over 60 per cent of our adult population are overweight or obese, which has become a normalised state. Yes, correct; it has. With around 20 per cent of our children starting school each year who are already obese or overweight. Now, obviously, it's a balance of what Government can do and what the individual can do. Government, as you've alluded to, can do things like...
David Lloyd: ..., provides. We have had a comprehensive analysis of this whole monstrous issue. And, yes, we are left with the importance of awareness-raising among the involved communities and the importance of education in schools. Very much the same theme was carried on by Jenny Rathbone and also by Jane Hutt, and I congratulate you both on your presentations, particularly as regards Jane and the...
David Lloyd: ...to prevent them from entering the care system? Finally, while there is support for foster carers and adopters with any behavioural issues, there doesn’t seem to be the wider awareness in the educational system, with some schools apparently not making allowances that a bad start in life may be behind some challenging behaviour that needn’t happen if schools made reasonable adjustments....
David Lloyd: ...been given a Welsh upbringing, to such an extent that I wasn’t able to speak English until I was seven and I didn’t know what the concept of a second language was. I had to learn English to be educated. I welcome and admire the Government’s courage in aiming for 1 million Welsh speakers and I’m with you 100 per cent. Of course, we’ve been here before: it was 1900 and there were 1...
David Lloyd: ...in local government. That's why I was proud to be a local county councillor, because environmental health is within local government, housing is within local government, public transport, planning, education, social services—they all lie within local government. So, local government has a huge role to play in tackling those determinants of ill health, those matters that make people ill...
