Jeremy Miles: Formally move.
Jeremy Miles: I thank Jenny Rathbone for that question. I think it's important to say that the ambitions that we have in our plan are ambitions that relate to every school in Wales. Every school in Wales will live in a different community, and the demographic and ethnic make-up of that community will differ in different parts of Wales. But, we want every child in Wales to be able to benefit from being part...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Helen Fychan for her contribution, and I agree with much of what she said. She started by talking about learners' experiences and those who had experienced racism in school, and many will have direct experience of that in schools. And that's our objective: not only ensuring that that doesn't happen directly and that there aren't examples of this in schools, but that there is a broader...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Laura Anne Jones for that very important range of questions, and I agree with much of the thrust of her questioning. I do agree that the role of online bullying and racist bullying and racist harassment is a very important part of this picture, and the resources that we are working on will support both learners and teachers and teaching assistants in being able to engage with that. We...
Jeremy Miles: Llywydd, strong foundations are already in place with regions and partnerships to fully embed this important work to support schools' development of the new curriculum, recognising our shared responsibility to fast track this agenda. The DARPL project has already launched a new virtual campus and a series of live events, open to all education professionals, encouraging practitioners to embark...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Llywydd. As a Government, we are absolutely clear that we expect allegations and incidents of bullying and racism to be fully investigated, with immediate actions taken to address the matter and prevent further instances from happening. We are absolutely committed to our schools being inclusive and welcoming to all pupils. I reiterated that recently against the backdrop of the case...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I thank Huw Irranca-Davies for the question and for providing a spoiler for the S4C news coverage this evening. [Laughter.] I'm sure the viewing figures will go through the roof as a result of that spoiler. Well, it was a special experience to be at Ysgol Llanhari this morning. I'd like to thank them for their welcome and for the invitation to be there with you, Huw. I had an...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Vikki Howells for those questions. I think that the relationship between Mudiad settings and early years in particular around the deployment and recruitment of teaching assistants who are able to provide their services and the important work that they do through the medium of Welsh is a really exciting possibility, actually. So, it's quite a complex area and it's one where there's...
Jeremy Miles: Well, you're exactly right in that. And as I did with Samuel Kurtz, I would invite the Member, if she has any particular steps to suggest that aren't contained within the plan, I'd be more than happy to listen to them. There are two main points in the Member's questions. First of all is the role of local authorities in ensuring that progress in made in terms of their responsibilities to...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Samuel Kurtz for that question. As he said in his contribution, nobody has a monopoly on good ideas. This document is the fruit of the Government's work, working with our stakeholders and our partners across a range of sectors, but if you have further suggestions that are constructive, then we would be very content to consider them. As you say, everybody has a contribution to make to...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Our ambition for a million Welsh speakers by 2050 demands changes and actions that are far-reaching. Our new curriculum puts the Welsh language at the heart of learning in Wales, but if we are to create a nation where people speak and use the language as part of their everyday lives, increasing the number of learners in Welsh-medium schools is vital. For us to do...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you for that supplementary question. We are very aware of the impact that the pandemic has had on the capacity to assess and support the needs of learners with additional learning needs at all parts of their education journey. Last year, we awarded a £10 million recovery package to local authorities, and the purpose of that was to fund the reintegration, if you like, of pupils with ALN...
Jeremy Miles: Our additional learning needs reforms promote collaborative assessment and planning to facilitate early identification and intervention. Early years ALN lead officers and ALN co-ordinators are helping to ensure that additional learning needs are met, and the child development fund and Flying Start are responding to increased demand for additional developmental support.
Jeremy Miles: The Minister for Economy and I work very closely on this area, because it's a cross-cutting theme and we're both passionate about it. It's really important, I think, to take full advantage of the opportunities that the new curriculum will bring, with a real focus on understanding career options from an early age—an earlier age than perhaps most children and young people currently have an...
Jeremy Miles: That's a really good question and a really good point that the Member makes in his question. The £1.5 million in grant funding that I referred to earlier, some of that is—. For example, we've recently invested in Techniquest to explore delivering programmes of work to enhance science and maths in primary and secondary schools, developing that love of science, if you like, at an early age,...
Jeremy Miles: The Welsh Government has provided almost £1.5 million in grant funding this year to support the delivery of science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiatives, with the primary aims of supporting and developing STEM enrichment activities, narrowing the attainment gap and encouraging the take-up of STEM subjects at GCSE and A-level.
Jeremy Miles: [Inaudible.]—point. I think the additional funding that has been made available to local authorities in order to implement the new reforms has, of course, been significantly enhanced and extended in recent months. In January, I announced an additional £18 million, and I announced a further £4 million for special schools specifically at the beginning of March. But, the point he makes is...
Jeremy Miles: We are co-creating an accountability framework to understand the impact of the implementation of the new ALN legislation. This will include assessing the effectiveness of implementation, obviously, but also identifying barriers and also measures to support implementation and exploring the emerging impacts and benefits of the new system.
Jeremy Miles: The most recent figures that I've seen show acceptances for secondary priority subjects, which is the area of key concern, increasing by 8 per cent, and acceptances to train to teach through the medium of Welsh, including Welsh as a language, increasing by 45 per cent. So, that's the reality on the ground. But, actually, the issue is much bigger than the figures for one or two years; it's a...
Jeremy Miles: Well, thank you for that, and I think it's absolutely an important point, as we've heard already today. I hope the Member will be reassured—I'll be publishing a 10-year plan very soon that will set out the steps we plan to take in partnership with a range of other organisations to increase the number of Welsh-medium teachers generally, but specifically as well in the areas that she has...
