Angela Burns: Well, thank you for that, but the reality in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire is, over the last decade and a bit, only one out of the five secondary schools in that constituency have not been in some form of special measures or targeted intervention or needing to improve significantly. Now, with education being hit by COVID over the last 12 months, it's inevitable that the schools that...
Angela Burns: ...for all the work that you are doing in this area, because it is vitally important. Lynne touched on a question that I wanted to bring up, about how we are making sure that it gets out to secondary schools and primary schools, because of course one of the big issues I have concerns over is the use of social media and the way that social media really does drive vulnerable...
Angela Burns: Earlier this month, your Cabinet Secretary for Education announced a £14 million injection of cash to help fund school repairs. This is a very welcome sum of money, and her statement very clearly said that every school will receive some funding. Now, throughout Wales, we have a number of new builds, either built this year or literally in the last sort of 18 months to two years. In my own...
Angela Burns: ..., of the last contributor who gave it her usual amount of great gusto. I am very pleased to participate in this debate, because I think one of the mistakes that we sometimes make is that we think education is linear: children are born, they go to primary school, they skip along to secondary school, they go to FE, HE and pop put the other end and get some kind of job, and then through...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Presiding Officer. David Rees said that education is a gift, but I think that education is actually a fundamental right. Because without a good education how can the child grow into an adult with a good education and with the capability to contribute to their own lives, to the lives of the people they know and love, and to the lives of our country? And how will our country grow and...
Angela Burns: ...Government policy is centred on making sure that the large urban centres are catered for to the cost of the more remote and less populated rural counties of Wales. Policies surrounding healthcare, education and economic growth cannot be implemented through a one-size-fits-all approach, and the Government needs to remember that, for many, a rural way of life is one of survival and hard...
Angela Burns: I know, Cabinet Secretary, that you and I both share the same view and priority to get as many children into school, as often as possible. But there is one small area that does concern me, and that’s the area of children who are persistently sick. I have had a number of constituents come to me, where their children have either had the bad luck to have a series of tonsillitis bouts, where...
Angela Burns: ...the impact it has had on them. A study by KPMG finds that by the age of 37, each illiterate person has cost the taxpayer an additional £45,000 to £55,000 if you add in the extra costs relating to education, unemployment support and, very often, a tangle with the criminal justice system. We do not just have a duty to help those with dyslexia, but we also have a duty to wider society. Now,...
Angela Burns: ...the delivery plan and listened to what you said, and listened to what Rhun said, actually I’ve just decided I just want to make one comment: why oh why are we not looking at how we do physical education in schools? Because, Minister, I’m going to just quote your words here. You said we’re not successful in delivering these changes. We don’t exercise enough. We do not eat well...
Angela Burns: ...the consequences of being too overweight for people, especially in their later life, and where we’ve got to stop it is with the young children. So, my concern is that, whilst you’re encouraging schools to take up these kinds of options, while you’re encouraging these holiday activities, what I think we need to put into place, and what I was wondering was whether you’ve had many...
Angela Burns: ...apologies. Minister, could you just confirm for us, in terms of the consultation that was undertaken by the previous Welsh Government on the additional learning needs Bill—? I know the previous education Minister did say he’d go back out consultation again. There was no element asking parents and carers what they thought about the transportation of their wards, their children, to...
Angela Burns: ...across as real, decent, grounded human beings, and a real example to our young people. So, I come to the heart of my question, which is: will you have discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Education to talk about how we can up the hours and minutes that young people in primary school spend in sport? It’s actually been cut consistently, year on year. If we want to identify not just...
Angela Burns: ...their handwriting. However, it is becoming more common for dyslexia to be diagnosed early, and it is this early detection that enables the intervention that is so critical to forging a successful educational flight path for a dyslexic child. Close to 10 per cent of the UK population has dyslexia; in real terms that’s more than 6.3 million people. Extrapolate this figure for Wales, and we...
Angela Burns: ...persons. There is no doubt that ensuring people stay well and maintain a healthy lifestyle is of vital importance to the individual, and, consequently, is of enormous benefit to the public purse. Educating the younger generation is an obvious place to start. If we can prove their physical and mental health and sense of well-being, then we are all alleviating the pressures of the future....
Angela Burns: ..., understanding and comprehension, so they go to the internet to try to read up about it. I've pointed them and signposted them to charities that I know of. I appreciate that there's a lot done in schools and in the school setting to educate the children. We wait for child and adolescent mental health services to come and step in, or we wait for other mental health interventions. But I...
Angela Burns: ...try and drive this change forward, would be absolutely key. So, Cabinet Secretary, I would ask you to perhaps tell us a little bit about what discussions you’ve had with the Cabinet Secretary for Education to drive this forward. I do want to add that I speak not just as an Assembly Member, but also as a mother, and, as many of us who have young children in our lives whom we love and...
Angela Burns: ...too aware that today's children and young adolescents are putting up with societal pressures that we did not have to put up with. There are horrendous things going on via the internet, bullying in schools, there's just a whole raft of things, let alone the pressure of performing, of examinations and of trying to move forward as people. If you're fit and you have that release, and you have...
Angela Burns: ...that I speak on my own behalf because, of course, the Welsh Conservatives had a free vote on this matter. Minister, have you had any additional thought as to promoting this with your colleague, the education Secretary, in terms of getting the message through to young people in particular? I conducted a very unscientific piece of research at the weekend when I saw this was coming up, when I...
Angela Burns: ...went out of my head. Thankfully my husband was present and he saved our little girl’s life. Today she is 14. I can tell you now, she does not and has not learnt any lifesaving skills at school, but she’s learnt them from her mummy and her daddy, and she will grow up to be an adult who, perhaps, won’t panic if the same thing happens to her—if her child were to choke on a grape. I...
Angela Burns: ...that one in three will only have one episode, and yet, once in the system, it can be very difficult for them to break the cycle, move forward, learn to cope with their illness and get back into education or the workplace. Stigma, and fear of stigma, is shown to play a large role in this inability to reintegrate. Another third will manage with medications, and, again, the same stands true...
