Neil McEvoy: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on the mandatory wearing of face masks for school children? OQ56451
Neil McEvoy: ...extremely impressed by the precautions taken—very well organised. I know there are other places like that as well. In these regulations there are so many contradictions. We have segregation in school, yet on the bus everybody mixes. There's little education about masks, in terms of how often you should change your masks. I see people walking around in visors, thinking that they're...
Neil McEvoy: We're in a position now, if we're talking Gwynedd—. Abersoch—it's come up earlier, and the school has to close, the primary school, because of a lack of numbers, directly related to second-home ownership. Now, with decades of being in power—my in-laws live just up the road—with decades of being power, what has Plaid done in Gwynedd to resolve this problem? Next to nothing—bron dim...
Neil McEvoy: ...Well, we can discuss, first of all, as a country, and we can say, 'What is Wales? What are we? Where are we going?' Guaranteed freedom of expression, a guaranteed right to a home, a right to a free education. These are all the kinds of things that we could discuss in a constitution, and then we could say, 'Right, that is us. That is Wales. If you come to Wales, you sign up to the...
Neil McEvoy: ..., because I didn't know a word of Welsh until I was 32, and I remember a Danish person speaking to me in Spain in Welsh, and I thought he was speaking to me in Danish. That's how embarrassing my education was. So, I believe passionately that immersion classes should be freely available for teachers and for pupils. So, my question really is: why was that voted against last week? Since it's...
Neil McEvoy: I usually contribute in English because I am more confident in English, because when I was a school pupil, I wasn't able to learn Welsh—there wasn't a word of Welsh taught until I did an Wlpan course. Now, that was an immersion course. And then, last week, I was very concerned when the Labour Party, and the Minister, and Plaid Cymru, voted against immersion teaching.
Neil McEvoy: ...sizes: there's a different relationship in the classroom, there's more of a community, there's more time for children, one-on-one tuition becomes eminently possible. There's a reason why private schools offer small class sizes; we know that. So, you're in a position now—you could usher in change with an aim to radically cut class sizes. A big-bang approach in this emergency, if you like:...
Neil McEvoy: 5. Will the Minister make a statement on class sizes in schools in Wales? OQ55411
Neil McEvoy: .... There is no excuse. Again, we need to upskill staff to be able to do that. In the Netherlands and all around the world—many places—it's very common for people to be multilingual through their education systems. I remember going to Spain and watching seven-year-olds do geography through the medium of English. It was really interesting. On the issue of class sizes, the last speaker...
Neil McEvoy: ...to use this opportunity to encourage, in this context, the MS for Cardiff West to maybe have a word with their staff member and tell him to stop treating the inspirational teacher of that dance school in such a bullying, aggressive way. I think he's bringing his employer into disrepute, almost. It's certainly embarrassing him, and that's a code of conduct issue, so I'd ask the MS for...
Neil McEvoy: ...about people suffering domestic abuse at home. There's also the issue of children in care having less supervision now. I'm concerned about the amount of things being conducted online, especially education. There's a loophole in the law that you don't need a DBS to tutor online, and I think that's a huge loophole that this Bill could address, actually. Ultimately, I don't think we have any...
Neil McEvoy: ...who should be doing something about it. If you are a child who has been alienated from a good and loving parent, you are more likely to live in poverty, you are more likely to do less well in education, you are more likely to suffer mental illness, you are more likely to self-harm, you are more likely to abuse substances, you are more likely to have difficulties yourself in forming...
Neil McEvoy: Minister, in the last 10 years, pupil spending per pupil has fallen £500, which is almost 10 per cent. Schools are really struggling financially. They're in a position where they're going to have to be laying staff off. So, as the Minister for Education in Wales, with that backdrop and with that crisis in funding, how can you justify your Government's position and what are you going to do...
Neil McEvoy: 3. Will the Minister provide an update on educational funding per pupil in Wales? OAQ54583
Neil McEvoy: ...on making the fight against knife crime an absolute Government priority. I attended a very well-attended vigil in Cardiff recently with lots of parents and lots of young people, and it was an education to listen, especially to the young people talking about how they are affected by knife crime. I'm wondering whether or not Government Ministers or officials will sit down and meet with...
Neil McEvoy: ...we’ve got to come together and decide the Wales that we want. Wales could enshrine rights in the constitution of our future Wales—a right to a home, a right to free healthcare, a right to free education, a right to a job, and a right to free speech. Wales needs a people’s parliament—sovereign and legislating in the Welsh national interest. It’s an old concept—it’s called...
Neil McEvoy: I’d like a statement from the Welsh Government on the proposed closure of two Welsh-medium schools in Pontypridd. Labour Rhondda Cynon Taf wants to close ysgol Pont Siôn Norton and ysgol Heol-y-Celyn to build a bigger Welsh-medium school miles away—miles away—from pupils. There are children as young as three years of age who will be expected to travel up to six miles to go to school....
Neil McEvoy: ...measures and support put in place. As a general rule, there is huge class discrimination in taking children into care: do not be working class; do not be on a low income; do not be without formal education; do not be a former child in care; do not be a former victim of child abuse or rape, because, I tell you, in some circumstances, all this will be held against you and I've seen the cases...
Neil McEvoy: ...2018, Caerphilly had the highest cost placement at £16,500 a week. Cardiff spent £64,000 per child—per looked-after child—in 2016-17. Now, it would be cheaper for a child to go to boarding school and to go on holiday during the holidays and have that paid for by the public purse than to be put into care. It's an incredible situation. Taking children into care has become a lucrative...
Neil McEvoy: .... The course for teachers for the deaf at the University of South Wales has just been scrapped. There's a huge issue as well about British Sign Language deprivation and the issue of fatigue in school for pupils who have to lip read with difficulty. I support the recommendations. I think British Sign Language should be a minority language. It should be on the national curriculum and there...
