Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 17 October 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 1:54, 17 October 2018

Thank you, Suzy. Let me be clear: there is hardly a day goes past when I am not asked to put something in the curriculum, so, believe me, there is a lot of demand for very many subjects to be a statutory element of the curriculum. I don't know if I've ever had falconry, but I have had other things of that ilk that have been suggested to me should be mandatory for all schoolchildren.

On the issue of bullying, I'm sure that many Members may have seen newspaper coverage and internet coverage of some cases just this week of a young girl. I want to make it absolutely clear: there is no place for bullying of any kind of any of our students in our schools. I expect our schools, as I said to Leanne Wood, to be safe spaces for our children and young people. We are in the process this very term of updating and refreshing our anti-bullying guidance to all schools to make it a much more useable document than perhaps we have had in the past and that will be published later on.

The Member also makes a very good point about the identification and support of children with additional learning needs—