Thank you very much, acting Presiding Officer. I’d like to congratulate Vikki Howells on choosing such a vitally important subject for this debate. I just wanted to refer to a visit I made to Denmark some years ago, with a delegation, looking at education provision. I visited a preschool, such as she referred to in Sweden, I think, for two and three-year-olds. The two and three-year-olds were playing outside in the snow. It was bitterly cold. They were crawling on a great tree that had fallen over, it was an old, sort of, rotten tree, and they were scrambling all over it and they had bright red jumpsuits that covered them all over and they were having an absolutely wonderful time. I really felt, when I saw those children, that probably for the same aged children at home we’d probably have them in over-heated rooms, carefully cosseted, at that time.

So, that’s why I think it’s so good—and I’m glad that Vikki Howells has mentioned this—that we are making such progress in the foundation phase, making sure that there are outdoor classrooms and that there are opportunities for children to connect with nature at a very, very early age. And I also want to applaud the forest school movement and the fact that children have all the great excitement at being able to light fires and to be out in natural surroundings, and I hope that this is something that Wales will be able to take further and that the education Cabinet Secretary will be able to even further extend the opportunities for outdoor activities. So, thank you very much.