7. What support is the Welsh Government giving to primary schools? OAQ53414

The Welsh Government identifies and provides support to schools through a partnership of local authorities and the four regional consortia. Following the most recent categorisation outcomes, it's encouraging to see that more primary schools need fewer days of support in the coming year.

Thank you for that response. A few weeks ago, I met with a number of headteachers in the Swansea area, and in their own words, they said that the situation was reaching crisis point in terms of what's happening in primary schools in that particular area. Morale is very low—those aren't my words, but theirs. What are you doing to work with schools, in the context of the current very difficult financial climate, to ensure that they are able to operate effectively? They've told me that the grants system is too complex, that the formula is something that's difficult to understand, and that they concerned that they can't care for the most vulnerable pupils, given those financial problems. So, what can you tell me today so that I can take a positive message back to those headteachers?

Well, Llywydd, I think that we do have a positive message to feed back to teachers and headteachers in Swansea.

In the report that was published only a week or so ago, which showed how schools were faring in relation to the additional support that they need, in the Swansea area, part of the ERW consortium, far more primary schools moved towards needing fewer rather than greater hours of support. Twenty-nine schools in that area moved in a positive direction, whereas only four schools were categorised as needing more support—a ratio of more than 7:1 of schools moving in the right direction. That is a tremendous tribute, isn't it, to those people who lead education in that part of Wales and the work that teachers in schools do? So, while I recognise that out there on the front line the pressures of nine years of austerity are absolutely real and are felt every day in the work that people do, the positive message I would want to give to those headteachers is that, together, through the actions they are taking, they are succeeding in providing a better education for the children who are in their schools today, and I hope that they will take some confidence from their own success and that that will give them some of the strength and the resilience they need to deal with the undoubted difficulties that all public services in Wales face.

Finally, question 8—Lynne Neagle.