7. What support does the Welsh Government provide to improve primary education in Ogmore? OAQ53946

We are providing support and driving improvements for all learners in all schools in Bridgend through the partnership of the local authority and the regional Central South Consortium.

I welcome that response and I have to say it's very welcome for me that I seem to be, every other month now, attending the opening of a new facility within Ogmore, either primary or secondary schools. Most recently, in fact, the former First Minister in September opened the new Betws primary—wonderful for that community where the previous school had been damaged by fire only a few years before—but also, even more recently, in the same community, on the same site, opening the new Welsh-medium primary school as well, Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Calon y Cymoedd. Now, this is part of a £10.8 million investment in the south Garw area, which of course has, as part of it, match funding of £5.4 million from Welsh Government. But could I ask the Minister: how do we match that investment in buildings and facilities with also the investment in leadership—both at a school level and an executive level, but also in governorship as well—so that the standards that we want coming out of those schools, the futures of those young people, are matched by the investment in capacity to give them that support from the people around them? And I see such good examples of it, I have to say, in my own area as well as the twenty-first century facilities.

Well, I'm delighted that the Member is pleased with the results of the investment in Betws, Calon y Cymoedd, Pencoed Primary School, which is another one I'm sure the Member is very pleased to see. Hopefully the children will take pride in and thrive in those buildings. I believe it is so important that we demonstrate to our children and our educators that we believe in them and that we want to invest in them by providing them with the very best facilities for them to learn and work in.

The Member makes a good point with regard to leadership. No education system can exceed the quality of those who lead it, whether that be in individual schools, whether that be in our local authorities or, indeed, in Welsh Government. And, because of that, we have invested in the creation of the National Academy for Educational Leadership, a first for Wales, which is working with its second cohort of headteachers, which is evaluating and accrediting new leadership programmes so that there is a national standard across all of Wales for professional development opportunities for leaders. It's starting at the moment with new and aspiring heads, but we will be developing a programme for existing headteachers as well as looking at the potential to provide leadership and professional learning for governors, for local authorities and others who are involved in providing that strategic vision for education of whatever level they currently are working at.

Finally, question 8, Janet Finch-Saunders.