Jeremy Miles: As I said to the Member in my earlier response, I plan to bring forward a statement in the summer term on leadership and that will lay out our position at that time.
Jeremy Miles: Well, I have not been sitting on it. The point that the Member makes is very important. We know—and she will recall from my statement last week in relation to ensuring that we have a system that delivers high standards and aspirations for all our learners—that one of the key contributors to that is school leadership and that good leadership in schools is able to make a significant...
Jeremy Miles: The Member asks a very important question about a very serious matter. And she's right, obviously, to identify the fact that it is more challenging to be able to understand the experience of home-schooled children, which is why we are keen to make sure that children are being taught in school with their peers, subject to the safeguarding regime that all schools operate. She will know that the...
Jeremy Miles: Well, on the point in relation to exams, I do understand, obviously, that there'll be students this year sitting external exams for the first time, and some of the support that I've outlined in my answer to Russell George is intended specifically to support those students. The challenge that we have been wrestling with throughout, really, is the loss of teaching time. That's the fundamental...
Jeremy Miles: Yes, of course I can. The support that is available is available to students in all parts of Wales, and is available equally. And I would ask your student to look at the Power Up website, which the Welsh Government launched some weeks ago, which has a suite of resources to support learners with their examinations as well as a comprehensive indication of what the changes are to course content,...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I thank the Member for that supplementary. I can't comment on the specifics of his constituents' situation for reasons that he will understand, but, if he writes to me about that particular situation, I'll be very happy to have my officials look into it.
Jeremy Miles: The WJEC have announced adaptations to exams, with reductions to content and advance information to help learners prepare. We've provided £24 million of exam-year funding to provide attendance, teaching, revision and transition support to enable A-level students to progress. A communications campaign signposting learners to useful revision and well-being resources has begun.
Jeremy Miles: We are committed to ensuring learners across Wales can access a high standard of education and reach their full potential. The new additional learning needs system ensures that all children and young people that require additional support to meet an ALN have the support properly planned for and protected.
Jeremy Miles: Countering the effects of poverty on children and young people’s attainment is central to our flagship pupil development grant. Year on year we have extended the PDG to reflect the increase for children eligible for free school meals with funding for 2022-23 now over £130 million.
Jeremy Miles: In recognition of the pressures facing families, on 14 March I announced an additional one off payment of £100 to every child or young person eligible for PDG Access for the upcoming school year.
Jeremy Miles: The Member has made some very, very important points in her question there, and I'm glad to hear of the school of which she's a governor focusing so clearly on the importance of pupils being in school as the best environment in terms of their well-being, but, obviously, certainly the best environment in terms of their learning. We've been doing a significant piece of work in relation to...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for those questions. She's entirely right in saying that we need to continue to support schools through the period they're going through at the moment, which continues to be challenging, of course. She asked towards the end for confirmation of what's been spent in supporting our schools. In this financial year, for example, some £278 million has been spent specifically in...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Laura Jones for the welcome she's given to the initiatives that have been announced in the statement today. In relation to the point that she opened on regarding community schools, she will know that there's a range of experiences in schools across Wales in terms of the extent to which they are able to, in their own circumstances—where they are on the journey, if you like. Some...
Jeremy Miles: We will work, Dirprwy Lywydd, with the Education Workforce Council and our initial teacher education institutions to ensure that the nature of educational disadvantage, its impact on educational achievement and how that can be overcome, is a prominent element of our initial teacher education programmes. We will also include this as a key feature of induction and of professional learning...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Tackling the impact of poverty on attainment is at the heart of our national mission in education. That's the only way we can succeed in our aim of achieving high standards and aspirations for all. In implementing this vision, I am committed to avoiding deficit approaches, but instead to focus on positive actions to help realise the potential of all young people in...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Mike Hedges for that suggestion. We are reviewing our guidance at the moment, and I'll make sure that point is fully taken into account in that review. I recognise the points he made in his contribution to the debate earlier on that subject. We agree that children and young people should not be disadvantaged by school meal debt, and we have already taken action. In November, we wrote...
Jeremy Miles: In 2019, Dirprwy Lywydd, we became the first Government in the United Kingdom to make uniform guidance statutory to better support governing bodies in making their decisions on school uniform policies in respect of access, affordability and flexibility. We will continue to work with schools and governing bodies to ensure the guidance is effective in supporting affordability for families...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. May I begin by thanking Plaid Cymru for putting forward this motion today? The steps that have been outlined are ones that we as a Government are already taking. So, we are happy to support the motion moved by Sioned Williams as well as the amendment moved by Laura Jones. We know that poverty can undermine the ability of children to learn, it can limit their...
Jeremy Miles: Formally.
Jeremy Miles: Thank you to Sioned Williams for acknowledging that the wording of the duty in terms of the Welsh language, in my view at least, encourages the commission to be ambitious, but of course we accept that there is an opportunity to look again at that.
