Kirsty Williams: Of course.
Kirsty Williams: Of course.
Kirsty Williams: Clearly, your lobbying must have paid off and they didn't want to—. They wanted to spare your blushes, Rhun. Following a 14-week public consultation, the revised code, which now includes a presumption against the closure of rural schools, and the first ever designation of rural schools for this purpose, came into force, as the Chair said, on 1 November. A presumption against the closure...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I've listened carefully to the debate that's taken place this afternoon and I'm grateful to the Members for the time that they've taken to participate and for the clear passion that many of them have expressed for rural schools in the areas that they represent. I am clear that there can be real benefits—academic, cultural and social—to pupils and...
Kirsty Williams: Let us be absolutely clear: just a few moments ago, UKIP was telling us that we had far too many people going on to university to study academic subjects, and actually our focus as a Government should be on encouraging—[Interruption.]—be on people, encouraging them to do other routes. Let's be absolutely clear: where pupils are choosing to study modern foreign languages, they are doing...
Kirsty Williams: Well, Jane, I am aware that the cabinet of the Vale of Glamorgan Council decided to proceed with the proposal to transfer Llancarfan Primary School to a new site. The statutory notice, as you will be aware, was published on 5 November and provides a 28-day objection period in which anyone can respond. In this case, objections have to be done by 3 December. The local authority must then...
Kirsty Williams: The performance of young people who study modern foreign languages at AS, A-level and GCSE remains strong. We have invested £2.5 million in our 'Global futures' plan to enable young people to understand the importance and the opportunities of studying modern foreign languages.
Kirsty Williams: Jane, rural schools play an important role in our national mission to raise standards and extend opportunities to all our young people, which is why we've taken action, including publishing a rural education action plan and introducing a small and rural schools grant, to help address the challenges that they face.
Kirsty Williams: Well, Mark, I don't believe that there is a one size fits all; it very much depends on the needs of individual children, and, indeed, the views of the parents of those individual children about whether they want their child to be educated within their community, and the cohort within the community, or whether that child is better served by very specialist placements. What is really important...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Lynne, for the question today and the correspondence that you have been engaged in with me and officials regarding the SenCom service, which was a very, very good example of how regional working and local authorities were pooling resources to create a very specialised service to meet the needs of a specific group of children, which is perhaps difficult to do when...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Lynne. Through our national mission, we are reforming our education system to enable every learner, regardless of background or personal circumstances, to reach their potential. Local authorities have a duty to meet the needs of all children with special needs, including those with sensory impairments.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Vikki. I'd be very pleased to receive evidence from your constituent, on an anonymous basis if that would make the individual feel more comfortable, so this can be explored. As I said in my earlier answer to Caroline, as well as working with the NPS to produce what I believe is a stronger procurement framework than we currently have at the moment, I'm currently...
Kirsty Williams: It has been factored in to the evidence base that we have based the pilot project on. We do know the importance of supply teaching in raising standards in Welsh schools and the ability to maintain a level of consistency with one supply teacher working across a group of schools so that teacher gets to know those schools and those pupils better. Conversely, the pupils beginning to develop a...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Caroline, for your support for the supply teacher cluster pilots, which I've introduced. The investment of £2.7 million in that project is ensuring that 15 local authority areas are involved, and we have 50 teachers working across 100 schools as part of that. The evaluation of that pilot project has just begun. We need to learn the lessons of what parts of it have worked well,...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you for the question. The National Procurement Service has recently published a new tender specification for commissioning education agency workers, which clarifies the position on agency fees. Local authorities and schools are best placed to manage the deployment of supply teachers and monitor agency spend under the revised arrangements appropriately.
Kirsty Williams: Well, of course, Presiding Officer, the Member is right to say that different areas of Wales will require different skill sets to respond appropriately to the economy in that area. I would refer the Member to the statement given by my colleague yesterday, the Minister for skills and lifelong learning, which spoke of the reform to the way in which we are funding, for instance, further...
Kirsty Williams: Perish the thought, Presiding Officer, that we should value education for education's sake. Can I just say that the Welsh Government has committed to a comprehensive reform of post-compulsory education and training, which looks to break down the barriers between higher education, further education, work-based learning and apprenticeships to allow students to be able to have more flexible...
Kirsty Williams: No, I do not believe that to be the case. I want to ensure that Welsh-domiciled students that have the academic ability and the desire to study at a higher education level have the opportunity to do so, and are supported by the most generous system of student support in the United Kingdom.
Kirsty Williams: Well, of course, Mark, as I have said, we have seen a record number of Welsh students gaining a place at medical school, whether that be medical schools here in Wales or, indeed, in the rest of the UK, which shows the strength and the ability of our A-level students to secure those places. I have not been personally involved in those discussions with providers across the border. My priority...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Rhun. I, like you, am delighted that these opportunities are being made available for students in north Wales. Obviously, routes into medical school start from the very choices that children make when they take their GCSEs. That's why, this term, we're seeing the roll-out of our reformed Seren programme, which looks to support children earlier in their educational career,...
