Kirsty Williams: Thank you, David. I would like to say that absence from secondary schools has dropped faster for free-school-meal pupils than for any other pupils over the last five years. Since 2009-10, it has dropped 3.6 percentage points, whereas for others it dropped by 2.6, so we’re making better progress for children on free school meals than we are with the rest of the cohort. But there is still...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, David. The all-Wales attendance framework has a direct impact on levels of attendance. Along with wider education programmes, including ‘Rewriting the future’ and the pupil deprivation grant, positive progress is being made in better engaging all young people in education.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Mike. Estyn is an independent body and the Chief Inspector for Education and Training in Wales is responsible for the inspection of schools. Inspectors will make judgments about the standards, provision and leadership at a school based on Estyn’s common inspection framework.
Kirsty Williams: Well, thank you, Mike. Can I take this opportunity to commend you for the leadership at the schools where you are a governor that have seen both very positive Estyn results and have actually seen improvement in their school categorisation scores, moving from being categorised as yellow in 2014 to green in 2015? So, many congratulations to you, Mike, and your fellow governors, in those...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Oscar. Just to be clear, and to have it on the record, improvements this year show our highest ever end of key stage 2 results, and results for key stage 3 have also improved. We welcome the news that the gap in performance between girls and boys has narrowed in most subjects at key stages 2 and 3, and there’s yet more improvement in most subjects above the expected level across...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Oscar. We have seen continued improvement this year across all subjects at key stages 2 and 3. There were also improvements in mathematics and the overall foundation phase indicator at foundation phase. These improvements demonstrate a continued positive impact of our focus on improving standards and outcomes for students.
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank Simon for that? The current legislative framework already allows schools and local authorities to procure Welsh produce if they wish to do that, and many do, where they can, and where they can balance, as I said, the issues around local procurement with maintaining school meal prices at a level that is affordable for parents. We’ll be looking to review what opportunities may...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Nick. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the event that you were at, but Lesley Griffiths, my Cabinet colleague did, as did my officials. Now that I know that there was jam roly-poly on offer, I’m particularly disappointed I wasn’t able to get there. I am aware that there is a constant review amongst local authorities of how they can ensure that the very best...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Nick. The Healthy Eating in Schools (Nutritional Standards and Requirements) (Wales) Regulations 2013 aim to improve the nutritional standards of food and drink served in Welsh schools. This helps ensure children and young people are offered healthy food and drink throughout the school day.
Kirsty Williams: The Welsh Government does not make payments to schools in the private sector.
Kirsty Williams: The Welsh Government does indeed make a payment to support Welsh-medium education in London, where many Welsh people find themselves working and want to avail themselves of a Welsh-medium education for their children. We do know that education is vital in ensuring that the Welsh Government’s exciting and exacting targets on Welsh speakers—. If it’s to be met, we do need to focus on...
Kirsty Williams: Presiding Officer, I had thought that I had been crystal clear in the debate last week about my views on grammar schools. There is no evidence at all that grammar schools serve their students any better than traditional comprehensive schools. We know that they are bad news for the poorest students and we also know that the OECD, even though it had many tough things to say about Welsh...
Kirsty Williams: I’m assuming that the Member was in the Chamber yesterday for my statement on the Diamond review, where I stated quite clearly that the Welsh Government have accepted the underlying principles contained in that report. I want to ensure that Welsh students will be supported in a system that is unique in the UK, in that it is fully portable, so that students can study in other parts of the UK...
Kirsty Williams: No, I don’t know them already actually, Simon. I don’t and if you have evidence that I do, maybe you should get up and say it. [Assembly Members: ‘Oh’.]
Kirsty Williams: Thank you. We are not waiting for the PISA results to come. We have embarked on an ambitious programme of educational reform, shaped by the expert views of the OECD, which had some very critical things to say about the Welsh education system when they reported in 2014. I am taking those things very seriously and, in fact, I have asked the OECD to come back to Wales this term so that I can be...
Kirsty Williams: What I can tell the UKIP spokesperson is, by not waiting to see what the PISA results are before—
Kirsty Williams: The leadership college, as I said to you prior to the summer recess, will be established during this year and will be taking and providing courses by the start of the next academic year. With regard to school managers and different forms of school governance and leadership, I hope to be able to make those announcements in line with resources allocated in the Welsh Government’s budget, which...
Kirsty Williams: I recognise this as a real, real issue for our potential next generation of school leaders, and there is a number of things that we need to do: we need to ensure that individual local education authorities are providing support mechanisms for those people to make the next step; and we need to work with our consortia to ensure that, in taking the step into being a headteacher, people will be...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Llyr. I recognise that workplace stress and ill-health arising out of the workplace is of huge detriment to the individuals involved and to our ability to transform education here in Wales. The Member will be aware that, as part of our pioneer schools and networks, some schools are currently looking at workload issues to see what we can do to reduce workload in the...
Kirsty Williams: Presiding Officer, can I thank the Conservative spokesperson for his support for the Welsh baccalaureate? I know that he recognises it as an important qualification. The Welsh bac, passed at advanced level, is the equivalent of 120 Universities and Colleges Admissions Service points. That is the equivalent to an A grade, and I met many students over the summer that had gained a place in...
