Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Huw, and thank you for acknowledging the immense efforts that headteachers, classroom teachers and teaching assistants have put in, finding innovative new ways to keep children learning at this time, and going above and beyond to support children and families. Clearly, we need to utilise all opportunities to address the interruption of learning, and ensure that children have the...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Huw. There are currently a range of measures to support learning, including extensive professional learning, significant investment in devices and connectivity, and £29 million for the accelerating learning programme. I am considering further actions to address the pandemic’s impact on learners’ education, health and well-being, and I will publish a learning recovery plan shortly.
Kirsty Williams: David, I couldn't agree with you more and I will indeed write to you.FootnoteLink As I said in my original answer, guidance for our new curriculum for schools includes a section on learning about human rights, so that's understanding human rights and the sources of those rights; learning through human rights, which is the development of values, attitudes and behaviours that reflect human...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, David. The Curriculum for Wales’s fundamental purposes include learners becoming ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world. Our guidance is clear that embedding the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in learning and teaching is key to the vision for every school’s curriculum, so that learners can learn about, through and for human rights.
Kirsty Williams: You're absolutely right. To achieve the target in 2050 we do need to recruit more teachers who are able to teach in our Welsh-medium schools and in our bilingual schools, and we also need to equip our teachers working in English-medium schools to deliver high-quality Welsh lessons. We have set targets for ITE providers to recruit to the initial teacher education programmes, and we have...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Delyth. Welsh Government are supporting Blaenau Gwent with the development of the school that you have just referenced with a grant of £5.8 million. That grant has been awarded to address the very real logistical and travel problems that you have identified, and that has meant that families who would previously have chosen Welsh-medium education have not done so, because of the...
Kirsty Williams: Demand for Welsh-medium education in South Wales East remains high. Our investment in five new Welsh-medium primaries and several childcare and school extensions in this region will further support this upward trend. This is encouraging news, I think, as local authorities head towards the publication of their new Welsh in education strategic plans, with individual targets aligned with the...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Nick, for your recognition of the real challenges that families have been facing at this time. I don't think anybody has not found home schooling or supporting remote learning at home particularly challenging. I'll hold my hands up myself; it is really, really difficult to do, and if you are working yourself, then it is particularly challenging. I want to say thank you to parents...
Kirsty Williams: I can confirm that discussions have been ongoing between the Welsh language division, the further education and apprenticeship division and finance officials to further explore what more we can do to support the important work of the coleg.
Kirsty Williams: As I said earlier, the disruption to schools has had a significant impact on learners' progression, health and well-being and confidence. It has affected some more than others—particularly those that are in the examination cohorts, the early years, and those that are disadvantaged in some way. We are working with our partners to develop a sustainable and resilient approach to promoting...
Kirsty Williams: I've provided the coleg with over £0.5 million this year for a range of projects, and strategic projects have been extended to all colleges in the priority areas of health and social care and childcare and public services. Because you're absolutely right; we need to make sure that we have the workforce with the linguistic skills to meet the needs of all communities and citizens in Wales....
Kirsty Williams: I am very pleased with the significant progress of the coleg Cymraeg since the publication of the ambitious and robust action plan. Over 100 additional learners have been supported, and much-needed health and social care resources have been created. The next Prentis-Iaith language modules are also in development after the first level surpassed all of our expectations.
Kirsty Williams: The Welsh Government's budget for 2021-22 includes £4.85 million for the school holiday enrichment programme. This represents a £2.15 million increase on the amount that was available in the previous year. We believe that this will allow us to fund places for up to 14,000 children in Wales. We continue to work with the Welsh Local Government Association, who manage the programme with us, to...
Kirsty Williams: The range of measures to support learning include extensive professional learning, significant investment in devices and the £29 million accelerating learning programme. Schools in Rhondda Cynon Taf have received over £2.3 million from that £29 million investment and an allocation of over £358,000 from the £7 million fund to support coaching and mentoring for examination years.
Kirsty Williams: Siân Gwenllian is right; these subjects must be taught in Welsh schools, and they will be taught in Welsh schools—[Interruption.] No, if you let me finish, Siân Gwenllian—they will be taught in Welsh schools because they are included in the 'what matters' statements, which are a mandatory part of the curriculum. I'm sure Siân Gwenllian knows the meaning of the word 'mandatory'. They...
Kirsty Williams: It will be compulsory under the terms of the new Curriculum for Wales for both Welsh history and black and minority history to be taught in our schools. That is because they are outlined in our 'what matters' statement, which is a statutory part of the curriculum.
Kirsty Williams: The decision to put relationship and sexuality education on the face of the Bill is as a result of the recommendation by the independent review that I set up as the Minister. The inclusion of making sure that, in setting the curriculum, schools have regard for mental health and well-being is perfectly in line with the policy direction of this Government to ensure a whole-school approach. So,...
Kirsty Williams: Well, finance for recovery is in addition to usual school budgets and, in this financial year, we have invested £29 million in our recruit, recover and raise standards fund, and additional moneys for examination cohorts, as well as additional moneys for the production of support material for examination cohorts. I always take every opportunity to maximise funding to the ALN system,...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Suzy. There is indeed a real enthusiasm from the trade union side and local education authorities to look to prioritise examination years, for exactly the reasons that you have outlined. Teachers would like those children back to as much face-to-face provision as possible, so that those assessments and that work around assessment can be carried out. I want to give reassurance: the...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Suzy. The guidance was shared with our trade union partners on Friday of last week, and we have been working with them in the meantime to ensure that the guidance meets their satisfactions, and to work with them rather than issuing guidance and then only having to retract it as a result of comments that are made by the profession. I have been very keen to release that guidance as...
