Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Minister, for that. I'm glad that you recognise that this is a really important tool in the armoury for getting all children back to school where possible and really maximising those opportunities. So, I'm disappointed to report that, in at least one of my primary schools, children have only been offered four hours maximum over this three-week period, simply because they've been...
Jenny Rathbone: We are in danger of comparing apples and pears. In my constituency, in the secondary schools serving my young people: 65 per cent of pupils at Llanishen High School got five As to Cs, including language and maths; 76 per cent at Bro Edern; 86 per cent at Cardiff High School. So, which one did better? Well, superficially, Cardiff High did, but what proportion of this school has special...
Jenny Rathbone: ...versus 5 per 10,000 across Wales, though the numbers were the same in the previous year across the country, 5 per 10,000. But, behind these small numbers there are other strategies that some schools use to get rid of pupils they no longer want to be responsible for. Managed moves is one strategy. Looking the other way when challenging pupils fail to turn up is another. Deregistering a...
Jenny Rathbone: ...at new ways of dealing with the austerity budget that the UK Government hands down to us, but I want to just focus on the particular problems that Cardiff faces as a result of the way in which the education improvement grant has been absorbed into the overall rate support grant. Not only is our local authority having to cope with a reduction of 11 per cent in the education improvement...
Jenny Rathbone: ...to say, that we all have a responsibility to all our children. Whether we have children or not, they are our future. And the best way in which society looks out for children, once they’re of a school age, is in school. So, it seems to me that, while it doesn’t mean to say that just because a child is being home educated that they are at risk, the fact that they are not in school means...
Jenny Rathbone: ...delivering the offer that was in the manifesto. Co-location is incredibly important because otherwise there's a danger that people have to keep their child in a nursery that doesn't offer the early education that all three and four-year-olds are entitled to as well. So I'm particularly interested to pursue with you, as you refine the offer and you're in discussions with local authorities,...
Jenny Rathbone: ...Jones said, the level of sexual harassment is so widespread that it really requires a response across society. But it really does underpin the importance of compulsory relationship and sexuality education, because young people need educating on how to keep themselves safe. These bad beasts, which we all find really convenient, parents give their children these things without realising what...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much, Minister, for your excellent statement. I'm really, really pleased that we are going to be offering all students some opportunity to be in school some of the time for at least four weeks before the August break. I absolutely agree with you that vulnerable and disadvantaged students are very unlikely to turn up at anything other than their very own local school, and so...
Jenny Rathbone: ...minute of my time to Heledd Fychan. I represent a very diverse constituency, with both some of the poorest and some of the richest households in Wales. I've long been intrigued by the way different schools in Cardiff and elsewhere deal with pupils' behavioural difficulties and the efforts, or not, they've put into avoiding excluding pupils. About 10 years ago, Julie Morgan and I visited...
Jenny Rathbone: My concern is about the rights of families to get an independent assessment of additional learning needs, both independent of the school and the local education authority. I’ve had several constituents who are educational psychologists contact me about the absence of a statutory role for educations psychologists in the draft Bill, and there has been no statutory obligation for families to...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much, Cabinet Secretary, for the statement. Obviously, this is a very important area of our manifesto commitments. I’ve got over 20 schools in my constituency—primary schools, that is—all of which provide foundation phase early learning from the age of three. But all of them are providing part time. So, that is the reason why, Mark Reckless, you can’t simply be...
Jenny Rathbone: ...’s budget to pilot the childcare pledge for 30 hours a week for 48 weeks a year, which is a very ambitious pledge, which I welcome greatly. There’s a further £20 million allocated in the education budget for the following year to invest in childcare settings alongside the twenty-first century schools programme. I note that Carl Sargeant has told the children and young people’s...
Jenny Rathbone: ...the view that this is a great opportunity for all learners—the new curriculum as well as the additional learning needs Act. I just wanted to ask you what plans you have to co-locate all special schools on mainstream school sites in the future so that people with ALN, who come in all shapes and sizes, can benefit from the additional resources you get in mainstream schools, particularly in...
Jenny Rathbone: What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the number of school leavers continuing their education in further and higher education?
Jenny Rathbone: ...responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for climate change and the environment, but I hope we can see a whole-system approach by the whole Government. I’m sure that the Cabinet Secretary for Education would also have some responsibility for ensuring that our children in school are not being subjected to unnecessary levels of nitrogen dioxide. Therefore, what would the advice be to...
Jenny Rathbone: ...themselves or being abused, entering into abusive relationships. This is so important. Of course, all children must have mandatory RSE. So, I hope that the code will include mandatory menstrual education, because not just girls, but boys as well, need to understand that this is something to celebrate, not to be regarded as a curse, because if we don't have periods we won't have the human...
Jenny Rathbone: Diolch. Thank you for your statement. Of course, the things that David Melding cites as being very good for looked-after children—pastoral care, good tracking of pupils’ progress, and listening schools—are things that we need for all our pupils. Obviously, one of the issues is how we tackle coasting schools, which aren’t facing the challenges that teaching in difficult areas are...
Jenny Rathbone: However challenging the situation is in Wales, it's nowhere near as challenging as for pupils in England, where schools that have been found to be in special measures are simply being hung out to dry because they are obliged to be taken over by academies, and academies are simply walking away. They don't even get inspected by HM inspectors, so it's absolutely ridiculous for people on the...
Jenny Rathbone: I wanted to pick up on two things that are in the report and one that is not. First, I would also like to hear from the Minister about the children who are at risk when they’re being home educated, simply because they’re not being seen regularly by other services. As the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child observes, they do need to be seen by a professional at least annually, so they...
Jenny Rathbone: Minister, you and I both had the privilege to see the wonderful facilities at Howardian Primary School, which is one of our new twenty-first century schools, where there was a dedicated cookery teaching area—that was wonderful—as well as some fruit trees and strawberries growing in the playground. Cookery lessons were popular with the pupils I spoke to in year 3, although some of what...
