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: ...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: ...all our citizens are contributing to our ultimate goal of zero waste Wales, and that must include businesses as well as people at home. I wondered if you would congratulate St Teilo’s secondary school in Cardiff, which has abolished all food-on-the-go offers, and, instead of plastic waste, paper waste—you know, wrapping up things for people to run off with—all students have a choice...
Jenny Rathbone: ...of the most polluted areas in my constituency is Newport Road, which both contains the Cardiff Royal Infirmary—ex-hospital, now enlarged health centre—but which is bang next door to a primary school, which has absolutely ghastly levels of air pollution because of the number of commuters going past the door in the morning. So, they've introduced a green screen, an artificial green tree...
Jenny Rathbone: ...said that supermarkets have given reassurances that they will be supplying even the most remote parts of Wales, ensuring that people have food, but I just wondered what advice has been given to schools and to communities about growing winter vegetables so that schools won't simply have to rely on tinned and frozen vegetables as substitutes for fresh vegetables.
Jenny Rathbone: ...I want an end to no-fault evictions, because, otherwise, private tenancies are simply not a viable alternative for families with children who can then have their children forcibly removed from the school where they're flourishing, and that obviously has a huge impact on their education. Secondly, I just wondered if you could elaborate on the solution that's now been reached with the courts...
Jenny Rathbone: ...to change, rather than adding to lists of equality issues. So, that's why I would oppose the Plaid amendment 1. I'm very pleased to read that Estyn reports that person-centred planning has improved schools' and colleges' understanding of learners' needs and improved the relationships with family members and carers. Clearly, the learning with autism programme has improved the understanding...
Jenny Rathbone: ...a really, really important issue. So, I think it's very much worthy of discussion in the Senedd. I think we have to avoid teaching to the test, which is what has been going on—certainly in some schools. There is nothing served by learning by rote, because it won't serve the young person well in the future, when the jobs that they're going to need to do in the future simply don't exist....
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you for that answer. Obviously, this is something that isn't just a matter for the Trefnydd, because, clearly, a lot of the budget is spent by the education Minister, by the health Minister, et cetera. I'm aware that the National Procurement Service is trying to get more bids from local businesses, both to reduce food miles as well as to improve the freshness of food, which is obviously...
Jenny Rathbone: ...possible for large companies to have some designated days set aside for public duties and that doesn't need to be to be a council representative, it could be to be on a governing body of a school or to work in a voluntary organisation, advising them on how to do their bookkeeping or whatever it might be. I think a lot of business in the community does support that sort of activity, but I...
Jenny Rathbone: ...transport provided for free because I think that is a necessary measure, in line with what David Attenborough and the UN experts are warning us. We have to have active travel routes to all our schools so that all our children will be able to either walk or cycle, because that has to be the main mode of transport for children who live within a reasonable distance of where they're going to...
Jenny Rathbone: ...Davies mentioned in his initial contribution. Children don't live in the city centre. Whilst I welcome the zero-emission buses that are due to go down Newport Road, which is where there are several schools as well as quite a lot of very built up residential areas, particularly houses in multiple occupation—these are not the people who get choices about where they live—nevertheless,...
Jenny Rathbone: ...the prices of any vegetables and fruit that we import. So, I wondered what plans the Welsh Government has to stimulate an increase in horticultural production in Wales, so that we can supply our schools, our hospitals and our residential homes with fresh local produce.
Jenny Rathbone: ...if they don't have those skills, because that's how they form friendships, and if they can't do things that their peers can do, it's going to be very disabling for them. So, I absolutely agree that schools have a vital role to play in getting children and young people to be more physically active, but I think the problem needs to be addressed much earlier than that. I note, from the...
Jenny Rathbone: ...-out of the teaching profession, and people leaving the profession only a few years after they've been trained. So, this is obviously a very important issue. But in St Teilo's Church in Wales High School where I am a governor, as you'll be aware, all the teachers do their lesson planning and evaluation collaboratively with other members of staff, which enables them to share good practice,...
Jenny Rathbone: ..., as John quite rightly said, is a major determinant, nevertheless there are different people within the working class who have different responses to the challenges of low wages, of inadequate schooling and all the rest of it. So, it's a really complex issue. The power of the advertising industry is certainly a factor in this issue, and the way it comes back to the Government's strategy...
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...
Jenny Rathbone: ...goods scheme. So, I think bringing them together is an excellent idea, and I support that completely. Obviously, my recent focus has been on trying to improve the amount of fresh food coming into schools, because if we really want to deliver on the healthy eating programme, we need to be able to source vegetables and fruit locally. We can't do that if we haven't got the farmers to produce...
Jenny Rathbone: ...live with their mothers, not just between nought and 18 months, which is the current possibility within the prison system. There's no reason why children couldn't live with their mother and go to school and college and work in the normal manner, in the right circumstances, where the other people in the women's centre were not a physical, violent threat to those children. But I'd like to...
Jenny Rathbone: However, I would be in a position to tell you that I have seen such denial of water in one of the schools I've visited, and privately I'd be happy to tell you which one it is. But I'm sure that these are not lone examples. You mentioned Estyn earlier on, and I just wanted to probe you as to how much you think Estyn pays any attention to the healthy eating guidelines, because I can remember...
