Rhianon Passmore: ...group on music and outstanding from the correspondence of August and September and my ministerial meeting, namely (1) the provision of specific guidance for the teaching of instrumental music in schools; (2) the private teaching practice guidance across Wales; an outline specification for the operation in future of ensembles, bands and orchestras and the return strategy for public...
Rhianon Passmore: ...events and I'm privileged to now chair the cross-party group on music. Through this group, we have sought to bring together key stakeholders from across the entire music sector in Wales, from music educators to world-class orchestras, community choirs, brass bands and international artists. From the meeting of this key group, it was very apparent how devastating the impact of COVID-19 has...
Rhianon Passmore: .... I note that the Equality and Human Rights Commission's 2018 report, 'Is Wales Fairer?', highlighted that race inequality persists in Wales, with race hate crime still being too prevalent. In education, attainment gaps, the report notes, are also sadly evident. BAME groups are also under-represented in apprenticeships. And the question is: why? So, I do applaud the inquiry of the Deputy...
Rhianon Passmore: ...policies—free prescriptions, Jobs Growth Wales, presumed consent for organ donation, the single cancer pathway, the childcare offer, the doubling of the capital limit, twenty-first century schools, and the economic resilience fund. I could go on, but let me be succinct: the Tories understand the price of everything and the value of nothing, and it is Welsh Labour who the people of Wales...
Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, Minister. Thank you for that answer. The Welsh Labour First Minister, Mark Drakeford, has stated that keeping schools open was a top priority for the Welsh Government. For the parents and children in Islwyn, it is imperative for their social and mental well-being that they are able to continue their education in school with all the necessary precautions. From Risca Primary School in...
Rhianon Passmore: 8. Will the Minister provide an update on the number of incidents in Islwyn of children who have been sent home from school to self-isolate following a positive test for COVID-19? OQ55586
Rhianon Passmore: ..., with Welsh and English enjoying equal status, but many of our schoolchildren speak many more languages, and in my teacher training and wider teaching I was highly privileged to have experienced schools with over 34 languages spoken and the rich tapestry of cultural benefit that this has interwoven within the schools. For the communities of Islwyn, it is our inclusive approach that...
Rhianon Passmore: ...to ensure high quality structured work experience opportunities, especially for people from deprived backgrounds, are part of Wales’ recovery plan.' As Professor Ewart Keep from the department of education at Oxford warned the committee, the 'huge looming issue' of youth unemployment as tens of thousands of college and university students graduate this summer is stark. These young people...
Rhianon Passmore: ..., sorry. Thank you. Will the Minister provide an update on the impact of COVID-19 on the completion of statutory assessments for children and young people with additional learning needs? Many local education authority staff continue to be vired across the different departments to provide the professional capacity to work with our most vulnerable children, so will the Minister therefore...
Rhianon Passmore: ...has been stated by others today, to come from this dreadful and tragic pandemic. In Wales we need to consider, as we have, a new way, new cultures of working, travelling, procurement, organisation, education, and climate management, but mostly how the most vulnerable in our society, whether they are children or adults, can be better safeguarded and aided in times of good as well as the bad...
Rhianon Passmore: ...that and totally share that aspiration in terms of that threshold figure around GCSEs. Would you also acknowledge that there is a wide range of ability and, for some children, being able to attend school and come out of school intact is a major achievement, and that it's not all about qualifications?
Rhianon Passmore: ...you to see some of them—forcing families into food banks, from homes into homelessness. So, I am heartened that at the centre of this Welsh Labour budget is the Welsh national health service, education and public services. As a former county councillor, I know that the vital public services that are run from our city and town halls and our rural communities across Wales are the service...
Rhianon Passmore: What actions is the Welsh Government taking to assist schools in Islwyn as they prepare for the new curriculum?
Rhianon Passmore: ...outline the context of 10 years of funding cuts up to this point from Westminster, but I welcome strongly today's annual report, and I'd like to focus my contribution predominantly on two areas—education and early years, and the economy. Last Friday, I was holding my constituency surgery in Markham institute, a building we shared with the thriving Markham playgroup. And I was chatting to...
Rhianon Passmore: ...Llywydd, I am a committed socialist. In the arts and the creative sector, as in every facet of Welsh life, I believe natural justice demands equality of opportunity. Where more so than in accessing educational and cultural opportunities, so that all our pupils, irrelevant, surely, of parental income, are able to blossom and grow, whether it's in confidence or well-being or advanced musical...
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you, Trefnydd. The Welsh Labour Government was elected in 2016. One of its key commitments was to provide 30 hours of early education and childcare to hardworking parents of three and four-year-olds across Wales for 48 weeks per year. At the end of this July, there were almost 16,000 three and four-year-old children accessing qualitative Government-funded childcare. Across Wales, there...
Rhianon Passmore: 8. Will the First Minister provide an update on the help provided to parents by the Welsh Government for childcare and early education in Islwyn? OAQ54448
Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, Minister. Thank you for the confirmation, then, that the additional learning needs system will commence on that phased basis from September 2021. Teachers, parents, educators and teaching trade unions will, indeed, welcome the fact that the Welsh Government has listened and acted constructively on their feedback and the many conversations that have taken place. And I know, Minister,...
Rhianon Passmore: ...running to the next generation of Wales, and in recent years, we have seen the daily mile officially launched in Wales. This initiative was officially launched in Islwyn, in Pontllanfraith Primary School in Blackwood by the then public health Minister Rebecca Evans and the founder of the daily mile, Elaine Wyllie. This groundbreaking initiative sees primary-aged children run, walk or jog...
Rhianon Passmore: ...a statistical bulletin on active travel, 'Walking and cycling in Wales', compiled by the Office for National Statistics. And the figures show that 44 per cent of children actively travel to primary school; 34 per cent of children actively travel to secondary school. So, with new state-of-the-art education facilities being built and opened throughout Wales, the planned educational...
