Mark Isherwood: I call for a statement on the education of autistic pupils in Wales. Two weeks ago, Swansea University's school of education issued a statement regarding its preliminary report on the education of autistic pupils in Wales. Its findings include that over three quarters of autistic pupils said that being in school causes increased anxiety, three in four said they had been the victim of...
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...
Mark Isherwood: Well, it's now 17 years since secondary headteachers in Flintshire raised concern that they receive one of the lowest school budget settlements in Wales, and they told me about the constant pressures they face managing this while striving for educational excellence. They've continued to receive from Welsh Government every year since one of the lowest settlements—this current year, 2019-20,...
Mark Isherwood: Deffo! Wales Deaf Youth Forum submitted this petition to improve access to education and services in British Sign Language, or BSL: improving access for families to learn BSL; adding BSL on to the national curriculum; improving access to education in BSL for children and young people; and providing better access to services in BSL, such as health, education, social care and public transport....
Mark Isherwood: Diolch. The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018, or ALN Act, aims to overhaul the current special educational needs system, placing the child or young person's views at the heart of the process and involving them and their families in the planning, intervention and review process from the outset, with schools themselves having more autonomy over their additional...
Mark Isherwood: If I could just ask you two questions relating to your statement: you refer to the committee inquiry into the educational outcomes for Gypsy/Traveller and minority ethnic learners. I wonder if you could tell me, did you take evidence from John Summers High School in Flintshire, which has played a great and leading role in engaging with the local Gypsy/Traveller community and improving...
Mark Isherwood: ...research, which found that children often feel left out of their own healthcare and think that their care is poor. The findings also suggest that migraine can limit their ability to take part in education, social activities and other important parts of growing up. Ninety per cent of affected young people report that migraine made it harder to do their school work, whilst 76 per cent of...
Mark Isherwood: ...support from Peter Black from your party then and Jocelyn Davies from Plaid Cymru and myself, to involve stakeholders from the violence against women sector in developing the healthy relationship education in the curriculum to be followed by all schools. During that time, I think both you and I referred to Hafan Cymru's Spectrum project to educate pupils in schools and train teachers in...
Mark Isherwood: Unlike England, where it's mandatory for schools to deliver a minimum amount of remote learning a day, overseen by school inspectors, there's no legal duty on schools in Wales to deliver a minimum amount of online teaching, and school inspectors are not overseeing this here. As reported today, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales not only described online education in Wales while...
Mark Isherwood: It's now, I think, two years since the children's commissioner produced her follow-up report on wheelchair accessibility in schools in Wales, 'Full Lives: Equal Access', which identified a number of areas for improvement, some of which were strict duties under the Equality Act 2010, some of which were not. It found, for example, 'over-reliance on individual schools to plan for the needs of...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. As you're aware, the service pupil premium is available in England to support service children in education, and the Royal British Legion is calling for schools in Wales to have a similar fund for approximately 2,500 children who currently attend schools in Wales. It's very positive that the Welsh Government announced £200,000 funding to support armed services children for...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. As you said, the code specifies the need to pay particular attention to the impact of the proposals for school closures on vulnerable groups, including children with special educational needs. Despite that, you recently took the decision to support the decision by Flintshire to close John Summers High School, which caters for some of the most vulnerable pupils in the area, taking...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you for that. As you're aware, concerns are regularly raised that Welsh Government criteria for twenty-first century schools funding is driving council decisions on which schools to close. When I attended the call-in on the rural school closures in Flintshire last year, evidence-based presentations were made in accordance with the Welsh Government's own school organisation code.Despite...
Mark Isherwood: Claiming that it will ‘Transform the education support for children and young people’ with autistic spectrum conditions, the ‘Refreshed Autistic Spectrum DisorderStrategic Action Plan’, published today, then only really refers to the Bill you’ve already referred to, the additional learning needs and education tribunal (Wales) Bill. How will you provide assurance to parents such as...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. Well, we know that children, pupils, young people with additional learning needs have seen their short-term exclusion rates in school go up, against the overall trend. Only two weeks ago, I was contacted by another parent, in this case in Conwy, where their autistic son had been excluded for 43 days after an autistic meltdown in school—the 43 days coincidentally taking him to the...
Mark Isherwood: What is the Welsh Government's policy on the provision of education for pupils educated other than at school?
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. When the Welsh Government first advised schools to close in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, it stated that this was with the exception of making provision for children who are vulnerable, or whose parents are critical to the COVID-19 response. Welsh Government guidance states that vulnerable children includes those with care and support or support plans and those with statements...
Mark Isherwood: ...Stage 4 of the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, your colleague Peter Black, Jocelyn Davies and I took the Government to the wire on healthy relationships education, and the assurances that we received then ensured that, hopefully—well, they contributed to the position that we're now in with your announcement today. Part of the evidence we all...
Mark Isherwood: It's 18 months since I asked the First Minister here to ensure that the business case for a new medical school in Bangor included dialogue with Liverpool medical school, after the north Wales local medical committee had expressed concern that the previous supply from there, where many of their generation of GPs had come from, had largely been severed. In addition, therefore, to the medical...
Mark Isherwood: Welsh Women's Aid believes that schools need to be equipped with the resources they need to properly publicise the benefits of the new RSE curriculum—relationships and sexuality education—in order to ensure and protect children's rights. How do you respond to the reinforcement by Welsh Women's Aid of the need for a designated and trained RSE lead practitioner to develop and deliver the...
