Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Darren. Our national mission is to raise standards of education for our young people across the nation. We are developing new evaluation and improvement arrangements, which will further support school improvement, and I will update Members on those arrangements in the coming weeks.
Kirsty Williams: Well, Llyr, you are right—it is the individual responsibility of individual schools to ensure that they have the resources within those schools, and should plan accordingly. However, I'm aware that not all schools find themselves in the same position, and we've just talked about equity between urban and rural education, and no school should not have the facilities it needs within the school...
Kirsty Williams: I'm glad that the Member is aware of the innovative e-sgol project that is indeed being piloted for the Welsh Government by Ceredigion County Council. It builds on the experience of the Scottish Government in delivering education in the highlands and islands. Sometimes, we are concerned about our rurality; well, delivering education in those circumstances, in a bilingual system, the same as...
Kirsty Williams: The Member is right to say that we need to ensure that schools have the hardware, both outside of the school premises and in school, to ensure the curriculum can be delivered. As I have said, we have committed £5 million to upgrade broadband as part of the Learning in Digital Wales programme. I'm pleased to say that of the five difficult-to-reach schools identified in north Wales, three of...
Kirsty Williams: The information technology capacity in north Wales varies from school to school. In addition to £5 million for broadband upgrades, I have allocated £1.7 million to support schools in delivering the digital requirements of the new curriculum, with priority given to schools most in need of upgrading in-school infrastructure.
Kirsty Williams: It is essential that all our young people have access to music education. I recognise that more must be done to support them to have the opportunity to develop their talents and skills. That is why I have made available additional funding in 2018-19 and 2019-20 to support music activities.
Kirsty Williams: South Wales West constituency showed improved attainment for its level 2 inclusive performance in 2018. There are no schools in an Estyn statutory category in Neath Port Talbot or Swansea, but three in Bridgend. Local authorities have statutory responsibility for intervening where appropriate and should take prompt action to address any issues.
Kirsty Williams: Across Government we are prioritising support for schools through the local government settlement. We continue to provide significant additional grant funding over and above the core funding for schools through local authorities. Over this Assembly term, we have committed to invest £100 million to raise school standards.
Kirsty Williams: I refer the Assembly Member to my responses on 25 April and 19 September 2018. Schools funding is the responsibility of local authorities as is set out in law in Wales. There are no current proposals to review the way in which schools are funded.
Kirsty Williams: The adult learning in Wales policy reaffirms our commitment to adult learners. Following a recent consultation, officials are working with the sector to take forward changes to delivery structures and funding of adult learning. We are seeking to ensure a more equitable and sustainable model operational from September 2020.
Kirsty Williams: Estyn is an independent body and, as such, the work of the inspectorate is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales. The independent review of Estyn considered the implications of our education reforms on the future role and operation of the inspectorate.
Kirsty Williams: Let me be absolutely clear in response to the questions and comments from Michelle Brown: teachers understand where their pupils are in their learning as, she is quite right, they spend every working day doing just that, but the online assessments provide teachers with an extra tool, high-quality personalised feedback on learner skills, so that they can then put in place the appropriate...
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank Bethan for those questions? The online adaptive testing is intended to replace the current paper-based tests that all children sit from year 2 through to year 9. So, these online adaptive tests will be available to the same timescales, so children will be able to take these assessments from year 2 through to year 9. The important thing about the adaptive testing is that the...
Kirsty Williams: Could I begin by thanking Suzy Davies for that series of questions? First of all, can I say that the Member referred to the assessments on a number of occasions in her contribution as 'tests'? These are not tests; they are assessments. There is a difference between a high-stakes test and an assessment that is used for the purposes of informing teaching and learning going forward. If I might...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Deputy Presiding Officer, pupil assessments' prime purpose must be to provide information that guides decisions about how best to progress learning, and to provide information to the learner, to the teacher and to parents and carers. Therefore, assessment should improve learners’ learning, teachers’ teaching and parents’ understanding. I am pleased...
Kirsty Williams: Mark Drakeford.
Kirsty Williams: The evidence to note from the Schools Challenge programme in Wales was mixed. Undoubtedly, there are some schools that benefited from participation in that programme. There are some schools that, despite considerable extra financial resource and support, failed to make the progress that we would have liked to have seen. Again, one of the challenges around Schools Challenge Cymru is that that...
Kirsty Williams: I welcome very much the chief inspector's annual report for 2017-18. I'm looking forward to studying the report in more detail, and of course will formally respond in the Plenary debate, which I understand, Presiding Officer, is provisionally scheduled for 19 February of next year. I'm glad that the Member has acknowledged the progress that has been made in the primary sector, but I would be...
Kirsty Williams: Our national mission sets out clearly our plan to raise standards for all young people in all of our schools. We are delivering record investment to support teacher development, to support our most disadvantaged learners and to enhance leadership capacity and good practice across the system.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Darren, for your thanks with regard to the determination. I would be the first person to hold my hands up here and agree with you that that determination took too long and we will need to do better in ensuring that such determinations that may come to Ministers are taken in a more timely fashion, and I hope that I and my officials will be able to use that experience to ensure that...
