1. A wnaiff Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet ddatganiad am gategoreiddio ysgolion yn Sir Fynwy? OAQ51856

Of course. Categorisation provides a clear picture of how well schools are doing and the level of support they need to do even better. This year, Monmouthshire has seen an increase in the primary schools in the green category, which is a testament to the hard work of the staff at the schools and is something to be celebrated.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. You've clearly got the same figures there in front of you that I've also seen. There has been, as you said, a steady improvement in categorisation in Monmouthshire, going from just three green schools five years ago to 13 today. This progress is a credit to the work of teachers and headteachers, and pupils, and also of course the local authority and the regional consortia involved, which has offered considerable support over the last number of years to headteachers, in offering challenge and sharing best practice. How are you working with the Education Achievement Service, and other consortia, to ensure that the sharing of best practice does happen between consortia as well as internally?

Well, I'm glad that we've got the same figures; it would not have been a very positive start if we had a different set of categorisation data between us. You're absolutely right, Nick, to identify that school improvement is a joint endeavour, between the staff and the leadership of individual schools, the local education authority. And I would like to pay tribute to Councillor Fox, I believe, at Monmouthshire council—sometimes, he and I have had some cross words about the performance of Monmouthshire, but this categorisation demonstrates that progress is being made—and also the regional consortia. It is important that regional consortia work together to learn from each other so that there is a consistent set of approaches to school improvement across the nation.