Laura Anne Jones: ...persistent per-pupil shortfall between Wales and other parts of the UK is also just not good enough. But it's not surprising from a party that made us the only country in the UK to have ever cut an education budget. Until the recent budget, for every £1 spent in England, Wales receives £1.20. As a result, education spending per pupil in Wales should be at least £1,000 more compared to...
Laura Anne Jones: The second statement that I'd like to request is on home schooling. As you know, business Minister, three weeks ago, I requested an urgent statement from this Government on proposals for home schooling in Wales. The community are very anxious for answers, so I'd like to press you for a statement sooner rather than later from the education Minister. Lastly, Dirprwy Lywydd, I'd like to ask for...
Laura Anne Jones: Minister, last week, the UK Government's autumn statement announced an increase in funding for education, which would equate to roughly £200 million extra for education in Wales if we were to do the same, with Welsh Government, of course, receiving an extra £1.2 billion in additional funding, overall, over the two years. Minister, it's now imperative, with all the extra pressures on our...
Laura Anne Jones: ...Presiding Officer. I move this Welsh Conservatives motion in the name of my colleague Darren Millar. I welcome this opportunity to open this incredibly important debate today at a critical for education in Wales. I do find it concerning that the Welsh Conservatives had to use their time allocation to talk about education, as it's the only opportunity we've had to highlight concerns to the...
Laura Anne Jones: Business Minister, by September, our children will have had no more than three days in school in six months. Not only is their education suffering but their mental and physical health too. Vulnerable children are falling behind in key skills, and, if our children don't go back fully in September, then potentially parents might lose some of their jobs too, because they won't be able to go back...
Laura Anne Jones: ...the pandemic, were exacerbated by the pandemic, and those are not quite as forgivable. Before I go into the report, I just want to put on record again that the Welsh Conservatives commend all school leaders and staff, who have worked incredibly hard and tirelessly during a very difficult period—in most cases, who went above and beyond. Moving to the report, the children of Wales have...
Laura Anne Jones: Education Minister, I recognise these are difficult decisions for the Government, but the Government must balance the harms and benefits of any policy. And although I see you're trying to keep our children safe, and respect that, obviously, it is, ironically, having an adverse effect on our children and they are suffering, which I've seen first hand, having a 10-year-old son of primary age...
Laura Anne Jones: Thank you for your statement, Minister. Firstly, may I congratulate you on your appointment as education Minister? It's such a vitally important role; you really do have the future of our children in Wales in your hands now. And it's to this end that, as well as to scrutinise you and to hold you to account, we the Welsh Conservatives will look to work with you in any way we can, in a...
Laura Anne Jones: I just also want to place on record our thanks to all school staff for their continued resilience and hard work, and learners too. Minister, I want to thank you for your statement today, parts of which we welcome. These have been and are incredibly tough times for learners. How we evaluate the hard work being done by our schools is of paramount importance so that we can all evaluate and see...
Laura Anne Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. Thank you, business Minister. I'd like to call for a statement by the Minister for education given the recent news and worrying news that teachers are being recorded during lessons and that the footage is being uploaded to the social media platform TikTok. It is a situation that is getting out of hand, and I'm aware of many schools now having written to parents to increase...
Laura Anne Jones: Thank you for your statement, Minister. I also want to take this opportunity to welcome your comments and your opening remarks that you want to keep our schools open during these uncertain times. It was a little concerning this week when I heard that a number of children were sent home with runny noses this week, and obviously, because of the delay in testing, that meant that they missed out...
Laura Anne Jones: ...experiences. We have to make it a priority to protect our children and following generations, as we can all see clearly the enormous and devastating effect that trauma, as has been outlined, has on educational performance and life outcomes. Increased adverse childhood experiences are associated with an increase in prevalence of no qualifications and a decreased prevalence of higher...
Laura Anne Jones: Business Minister, may I please call for a statement from the education Minister to address a problem in our schools that's now escalated from the last time that I spoke to you? I want to welcome what the First Minister said earlier—that a statement has come out this morning saying that local government and schools are now going to keep open until the end of this term. The First Minister...
Laura Anne Jones: ...declare that I am still a Monmouthsire county councillor? Thank you for that answer to Delyth's supplementary, First Minister. And, further to that, can I just say that providing more Welsh-medium school places across Wales is critical to achieving the Welsh Government's target of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. So, I am sure the First Minister will join me in welcoming the news that...
Laura Anne Jones: ...to say that I've also been contacted by a number of worried parents in the Newport constituency area, because, currently, as it stands, there are 1,000 pupils isolating from Caerleon Comprehensive School, my old school. Years 7, 8, 9, 12 and 13 are all off at the moment, which is beyond comprehension really. Obviously, year groups have to stay off if there are enough cases and there's a...
Laura Anne Jones: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and, thank you, for your statement, Minister. Here we are again talking about another seismic change in education, which will have huge ramifications for years to come, if change is deemed to be necessary. There should be very positive changes if all this does go ahead. The current form of the school day has been around for decades, as you say, Minister,...
Laura Anne Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. May I start by welcoming you again to your role, Minister, as I am now formally the shadow education Minister, and it's now official? May I say that I'm very much looking forward to working with you, opposite you, on this hugely important brief, particularly at a time when we're coming out of a pandemic, and we edge closer and closer to the biggest change in education...
Laura Anne Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, since 2017, 40 per cent of school support staff registered with the Education Workforce Council have left. There's clearly a massive retention problem at the heart of Welsh education, which is causing the industry to lose experienced staff at this rate. Because of this, cash-strapped schools are having to put even more of a strain on their budgets, having to recruit...
Laura Anne Jones: ...that it would force us to be a lot better in Wales at taking into account British Sign Language needs. One area where I believe this would bring about positive change is on British Sign Language in education, as my colleague has touched on already. The recent census data shows that British Sign Language was the main language for 22,000 people across England and Wales aged three and above,...
Laura Anne Jones: ...in the statement and the new action plan was the emphasis on eradicating online bullying and racism, which only keeps growing, as we all know. This obviously affects our young people in and out of school, particularly those with mobile phones. I was just wondering how you envisage looking to try to eradicate—working with the UK Government—racism and bullying online, and when we will...
