John Griffiths: I would like to—not for the first time—raise the issue of community-focused schools, which I continue to believe is very important to the performance of our education system in Wales. I think one issue that Estyn has raised in its report, and consistently raises, is variability in the education system in Wales. That variability applies to community-focused schools. Some schools are very...
John Griffiths: ...against women, and redouble and renew our efforts to make sure that this legislation is effective? There have been quite a number of common themes, and I think the strongest one has been around education and healthy relationships, and understandably so if we’re talking about prevention, obviously; we need to make sure that in the earliest years and throughout school and beyond, our...
John Griffiths: ..., if he is not able to clarify the legal status and outline when it will be published today, to clarify when these decisions will be made. I would now like to move on to our findings around education. This has proved to be a controversial issue. The White Paper stated that education on healthy relationships should be mandatory in all schools, but this wasn’t included in the Bill. This...
John Griffiths: I think it’s good that we’re debating and discussing further education in the Assembly today and reflecting on its contribution to education and skills in Wales, because I do believe it is a very impressive contribution, which should be recognised, and we should discuss how we can strengthen it and take it forward. One aspect of further education, of course, is the opportunity to have a...
John Griffiths: Cabinet Secretary, I wonder if you would agree that the prospects for good pupil engagement are greatly enhanced if parents and the wider community are engaged closely with their local schools, and, if so, whether you will work to devise a mechanism or system by which we can be confident that there will be good-quality community-focused schools consistently delivered right across Wales.
John Griffiths: ...the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. We made a range of recommendations, including ensuring that teaching about healthy relationships is delivered in all schools as part of the new curriculum being put in place following the Donaldson review. The committee was influenced by the view of the national adviser, who told us that the curriculum should...
John Griffiths: In terms of the outreach effort, Cabinet Secretary, I know that it’s important to address the issues that Gypsy/Traveller families have in the round, including better educational attainment and better school attendance. I know that that effort involves not just work in the schools, but also within the community and the whole-family approach. In terms of the whole-family approach and...
John Griffiths: ...considering those advantages of community centres in deciding on the way forward with Communities First. Also, Cabinet Secretary, I wonder if you could say a little bit about community-focused schools, because I also believe they’re very important in terms of working with parents and local communities around child poverty issues and general quality of life for children. I believe that...
John Griffiths: ...be anchored around the existing university city centre campus and would involve the relocation of Coleg Gwent’s Newport campus from Nash in the city to that riverfront site. It would put further education and higher education in the faces of local people with its central location and, I believe, greatly strengthen progression routes from FE into higher education. And also, of course, we...
John Griffiths: ...to build on the interest that’s being created. Throughout all of this, Dirprwy Lywydd, we’re also looking at other aspects such as healthy eating, linking with healthy eating networks in schools, and there will be particular projects as part of this coming together that address those issues in schools. I hope very much that we drive forward physical literacy in our schools, because...
John Griffiths: ...early as possible. I very much agree with the emphasis on the first 1,000 days, and I know there’s a building amount of evidence as to the importance of those early years. We’ve got healthy school networks, of course, and I think there’s some very good practice there. We have new opportunities, I think, to drive improvements to physical literacy, following Tanni Grey’s report,...
John Griffiths: Cabinet Secretary, a big part of the job of Government is to decide on priorities, and for me there is no higher priority than education. I believe a well-educated population benefits all aspects of life and life chances in communities. In addition to that, the recent report by Gerry Holtham and Brian Morgan looked at economic development policy across the world and found the strongest...
John Griffiths: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on the overall budget allocation to the education portfolio? OAQ(5)0065(FLG)
John Griffiths: As others said earlier, Minister, I think it is very important that we get a more physically active population in Wales. I do believe that community-focused schools, as Angela Burns touched on, are a very important way forward. I also think that air pollution hasn’t had sufficient attention. I met with a group recently, for example, that told me that capital conversion costs for their...
John Griffiths: ...professionals to carry out those jobs. So, again, I think that will be a significant part of that work. As the Member stated—it’s my experience as well in Newport, as a multi-ethnic area, that schools with high levels of children from a variety of diverse communities do bring a lot of energy, a lot of commitment to education, and a lot of drive to succeed to those schools, for their...
John Griffiths: ..., we have, just today actually, been engaged in scrutiny of the Cabinet Secretary and, indeed, the national adviser, and many of our questions focused on healthy relationships and how we get the school educational offer right. We’ve also written to Kirsty Williams and have had a response in that regard, which we will follow up. Much of it, of course, revolves around Donaldson and the...
John Griffiths: ...Professors Brian Morgan and Gerry Holtham recently carried out research on what works in economic development across the globe. They found a very strong correlation between high levels of spend on schools and economic success. As well as the economic advantages, of course, education is a good in itself and benefits all aspects of life. Will Welsh Government work to increase funding to our...
John Griffiths: ...to get on board, and we will need local authorities and public sector employers in terms of the way they facilitate their staff to make active travel journeys to work and from work. We will need schools, of course, perhaps to do even more around safe routes to schools, cycle training, and I hope sometimes the provision of bikes for children in more disadvantaged circumstances who haven’t...
John Griffiths: ...and the new model of community learning centres. I wonder if you could tell the Chamber a little more about how that would work in relation, for example, to existing ideas around community-focused schools. It seems to me that community-focused schools have a lot to offer in tackling poverty. They can support education through getting parents and the community more involved in the...
John Griffiths: What level of priority will be given to education in deciding Welsh Government policies?
