6. Will the Minister make a statement on Estyn inspection of schools in Wales? OAQ(5)0019(EDU)

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.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for that response. As well as the Estyn inspections, schools also undergo an annual assessment by the regional consortium under the GAR—better known as the traffic light system. Why do they produce different results, and which ones should parents pay most attention to?

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 specific schools in Swansea. There are slightly different sets of criteria that the regional consortia look at and Estyn look at, but we would want to make sure that the competencies, the skills, the provision that is being judged by both Estyn and the regional consortia are as consistent as they can be. What parents need to do when looking at school categorisation and Estyn reports is they need to look at the school in the round. Estyn gives a picture of a school, categorisation does another, but actually going and visiting a school and looking at the ethos of that school—you know, parents or potential parents need to look at schools in the round, and not look at just one specific piece of information.

David Melding.

Sorry.

Question 7, Sian Gwenllian.