1. Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government’s plans to develop secondary education in Pembrokeshire? OAQ(5)0036(EDU)

Thank you, Paul. Local authorities are responsible for planning and delivery of their education services, balancing local needs and demands. When proposing change, they must ensure that they comply with the statutory school organisation code.

I’m grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for that response. Now, the Cabinet Secretary will be aware that a number of consultations have been held regarding secondary provision in Haverfordwest over the last two to three years, which has delayed the progress of improving education for children and young people. It’s now important that Pembrokeshire County Council start delivering, because this number of consultations, which have resulted in huge delays, have been damaging to children’s future in the area. Therefore, in the circumstances, will the Cabinet Secretary tell us what role the Welsh Government is playing to ensure that there are no further delays and that we see the establishment of an 11-19 English-medium school in Haverfordwest as soon as possible?

Thank you, Paul, for that question and the points you make regarding the importance of delivering change in Pembrokeshire to further improve the educational outcomes for children and young people in your constituency. You will be aware that, if there are any changes, there is a possibility that some of those changes will be referred to Welsh Government for decision. Therefore, it would not be right for me to make any comments on the merits of any proposals.

I do expect councils, as I said, to comply with the obligations that are placed on them by the school organisation code. I am due to go out to consultation on the robustness of that code later next month. But I’m keen to ensure that all authorities take advantage of the £1.4 billion that exists in the twenty-first century schools programme to deliver up-to-date, first-class facilities, which we know makes a massive impact on the teaching of the teachers who teach in those buildings and the children who receive their education in them.

I want to ask my question in Welsh. Does the Minister have any evidence to support the comment I heard recently that schools that offer education just from the ages of 11 to 16—that is, to GCSE level—are doing better generally than schools that offer education to children from 11 to 18. Is there any truth in that comment?

Thank you for that comment. Some of our most successful schools are 11-16 schools, but I am not aware of any comprehensive study that looks at the comparative outcomes of schools that offer curriculum through 11-16 or 11-18. What’s really important is that local authorities take into consideration the unique characteristics of the area in which they are delivering education. We are seeing a broad variety of schools, as I said, working across 11-16, 11-18, and, increasingly, we’re seeing the development of through schools, where children are educated for the entirety of their educational journey on one particular site. I had great pleasure recently, joining with the Presiding Officer, of opening such a school in Llandysul. It’ll be interesting to be able to compare outcomes of these different models so that we can learn what works best. But each local authority will have to make the decision that is right for their local population.

Both questions do throw up an interesting conundrum, I think—both the saga that’s happened in Haverfordwest and Eluned Morgan’s question. And it is a difficult task, because what’s likely to happen now in Pembrokeshire is we’re likely to have some 11-16 schools, some schools with sixth forms and some provision in further education college but in a separate sixth form provision in that FE college. And it just seems that it is a piecemeal approach that we are taking, in a small nation of 3 million people, allowing these local solutions that, on the face of it, appear to be wonderful, but are they actually delivering the highest educational standards? And that’s where Welsh Government comes in. So, has she been able to form a view yet as to whether the best provision of post-16 education is through a school-based campus approach or through an FE-college-based approach?

I don’t see it to be my job or, indeed, the job of Welsh Government to dictate to individual communities the nature of the schools within those communities. I think local education authorities are best placed to make a judgment, in consultation with parents, teachers, pupils and their local populations about the types of schools that best fit with them. We know that some of our best performing schools are 11-16 schools. We know that other schools that have sixth forms also perform well. There is not one size that fits all, even in a small nation, and I think it is an important principle that Welsh Government sets the expectations we have for all schools, which is excellence for all pupils and driving up standards, but, as for the nature of individual schools, that is best left to local populations to decide what fits their communities best, and I do not want to dictate to those communities from the centre.