Therefore, we now reach the last item on the agenda today. That item is the short debate. I ask Members to leave the Chamber quickly and quietly, and I call on Jayne Bryant to speak on the short debate. Jayne Bryant. 

Diolch, Llywydd. I've agreed to give a minute in this debate to Mark Isherwood, Jack Sargeant, Hefin David and John Griffiths. The emotional and mental well-being of young people is a challenge, and that has come to the forefront in recent times. It has been recognised by politicians, parents, teachers and by young people themselves. It was telling that so many of the young people who stood for the Youth Parliament made this their priority. Young people today have more information at their fingertips than any other previous generation, but face greater challenges on the social, emotional side of growing up. It's our responsibility to listen and act. Adverse childhood experiences can have a significant detrimental impact on the life chances and attainment of young people. In 2015, research by Public Health Wales found that 47 per cent of the Welsh population had experienced at least one ACE before the age of 18, and 14 per cent four or more. Attitudes, beliefs and behaviours learnt during these very early years are often carried into adulthood, and it's imperative that we do all we can to support and nurture children. If we get things right early on, there is an ever-growing mountain of evidence to show that this will have a positive impact on not only the individual, but on society as a whole. 

A mentally healthy school sees positive mental health and well-being as fundamental to its values. Emotional health and well-being cannot be confined to just lessons. It must be part of the very ethos of the whole-school approach. I'm proud to say that there's been some really positive progress on this subject through the Assembly and through the determination of my colleague Lynne Neagle. Lynne has been a passionate advocate of improving the mental and emotional well-being of our children and young people, and has been a strong advocate for a whole-school approach. I'd like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Lynne's work and the Children, Young People and Education Committee. The CYPE committee produced a clear, evidence-based report, 'Mind over Matter', which sets challenges to Welsh Government. 'Mind over Matter' found broad consensus that school settings are key to promoting emotional well-being and good mental health, that the preventative approach needs to be embedded within the ethos of a school, not just the lessons taught, and that teachers are not solely responsible, but it requires joint working between professionals from across sectors—health, education, social care, third sector and youth work are key.

I'm very pleased to say that, in my constituency of Newport West, you do not have to look too far to find examples of schools that are trying to embrace these very principles—schools that are doing excellent work on nurturing our children and young people, and trying innovative ways to put student well-being at the heart of everything they do. Millbrook Primary School in Bettws is a school that has embraced the whole-school approach, and is doing it well. To give some background, Bettws is a community of 8,000 people. It's an area with high levels of deprivation, with six lower super output areas on the estate.

The leadership team at Millbrook primary have been researching approaches to improve the life chances and attainment of children for many years. They've looked for good practice locally, nationally, and internationally. Their motto is 'Learning about caring, caring about learning', and their mission is to make a positive difference to the lives of the young people that they work with. To be the most effective, they aim to engage with children and their families from a very early age. The philosophy at Millbrook is that happy children learn. They feel passionately that it takes a whole village to raise a child, and believe that, by nurturing families, and the community, it provides young people with the very best opportunity to achieve. The school ethos is to be outward-looking. They encourage children and families to share cultures, and to broaden horizons. The school has an onsite Confucius classroom, and they teach Mandarin.

Working closely with Newport City Council, and other key partners, they've developed a multi-agency approach, piloting the Welsh Government's Children First initiative, a place-based approach to reduce inequalities and to mitigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences. Earlier this year, I had the privilege of visiting the school, alongside the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services, Julie Morgan, and we saw first-hand the way that this worked, and you really couldn't fail to be impressed. Since this has been established, they've seen a significant reduction in the numbers of children on the child protection register. The most influential factor for this is the way in which agencies work together. Every relationship formed is based on the difference that it could make to the community, and to the young person's life. It has meant that these partnerships are no longer random acts of support, but carefully thought out and planned.

Millbrook's inspirational headteacher, Lindsey Watkins, says that the hope is that, when someone comes to the school, they feel welcomed, and that permeates throughout the building, so that all agencies are seen as one seamless team. One of the assets in Millbrook is a dedicated family room. It allows the school to provide a well-being cafe and mindfulness courses for families. The room also allows family access to other agencies on an informal basis, which helps build relationships and trust between agencies and families. For example, some families have self-referred into the prevention team. In addition, the school offers a range of family learning programmes and family activities that support well-being.

Millbrook prides itself on providing a bespoke package of well-being support for children and families across the school. This includes emotional literacy support and a range of nurture and welfare programmes. These are used to provide early intervention, especially when a child has faced trauma in their life. One young person who experienced trauma gave their experience—and I quote: 'While we all have bumps in the road at some time, I had a bump in the road when my parents split up and my mum was very ill. I was so upset, I used to come to school and cry. But it was okay, because I was able to talk to Miss. Every morning, when I came in upset, she would make me a drink, we would sit and have a chat, and I felt better. I'm okay now, but I know, if I ever needed her, then she would be there for me.'

Millbrook's partnership work has also seen bonds form with another Children First pioneer school in Newport West, Pillgwenlly Primary School. The programme focuses on two schools, in two communities, with one approach. Both schools involved have researched ways of building resilience in the two communities, and the children have been at the heart of that work. Working with organisations like Barnardo's Cymru and Save the Children Cymru, groups of pupils from Millbrook and from Pillgwenlly have worked together to learn how to conduct their own community consultation plans. Children are being empowered and they are learning about the rights of a child, democracy and citizenship, working with the community to effect positive change.

Pillgwenlly primary has also become a sector-leading primary school in nurture provision, and I was pleased to join the education Minister visiting Pillgwenlly primary to see this in practice. Nurture supports the most disadvantaged pupils and is specifically recommended by Estyn as a support approach for looked-after children. The charity nurtureuk are celebrating their fiftieth anniversary in 2019, and I'm glad to see that they're supporting 40 schools in Wales with their nurturing programme. Pillgwenlly opened its first nurture room in 2004. This provides a place where children can learn in a nurture setting and their parents can join them for part of the week. All pupils have a base class, but attend the family nurture room for over half of their week. They learn alongside their parents for 10 per cent to 20 per cent of their time, and Pilgwenlly's stated priority is

'to enable our children to form attachments with others, to make the right choices and to understand why they make these choices—to be resilient and reflective.'

Another school that's just started doing this is Malpas Court Primary School. They have been on the national nurturing schools programme for one year and the school opened a new nurture room in September for the pupils in need of the most support. Within three weeks, the school said that they've already seen the impact that the nurture room has had to support children and make them feel safe. Pillgwenlly and Malpas Court's experience of the benefits of this approach are similar to that of Millbrook. They say that this works most effectively when the school as a whole community is committed to maximising the social and educational engagement of all, and when nurture groups are positively contributing and effecting whole-school culture and practices, facilitating a more nurturing environment throughout the school.

I've been incredibly impressed and heartened by the work of these schools in my constituency and I would encourage all Assembly Members, if they haven't already, to go and see a school that has adopted a whole-school approach in their area. A whole-school approach cannot be led by the schools alone. The 'Mind over matter' report concludes that

'it is crucial to develop a whole-school approach, embedding well-being into the entire school ethos, the curriculum, and staff training and professional development. A substantial step change is needed to realise this ambition.'

We have a great opportunity and we must lead on this. I know that, following the committee's report, a joint ministerial task and finish group was established to accelerate this work. I thank the Minister for her work on this and hope that progress is being made at pace. Millbrook, Malpas Court and Pillgwenlly primaries are shining examples. I look forward to a time when all Welsh children are able to benefit from the whole-school approach.

With regard to that approach to nurture, I wanted to share an example in my constituency of exactly the same whole-school approach to nurture. Nant-y-Parc primary in the Aber valley involves daily efforts to understand the emotional needs of pupils by teachers, emotional literacy groups and support for staff well-being. The school runs emotional literacy groups throughout the year groups of the school and they also help with difficulties like, for example, bereavement. One staff member—and I want to quote that staff member—told me: 'Placing a high emphasis on well-being allows staff and pupils to feel valued. It's allowed me to form positive working relationships and I feel motivated to give to pupils as I feel appreciated.'

Can I thank Jayne Bryant for offering me some time in this very important debate, and give a personal thank you to Jayne as well? As a sufferer of poor mental health, which I've said many times, I recognise the support that you give to others and look after their well-being as well. So, thank you, Jayne.

Acting Presiding Officer, I'd like to put on record a school in my constituency as well, Ysgol Tŷ Ffynnon, which has taken on this approach and actually, earlier this year, became the first school in Wales to complete the national nurturing schools programme—a two-year programme, which I fully endorse to other schools to take part in around Wales. As part of this, the whole school has embraced the six principles of nurture, and the nurture group sessions, as Hefin says, allow their pupils to take part in activities that develop self-awareness, build self-esteem, perseverance and positive thinking. But that also helps the teachers and the families as well; it's all about looking after each other, being kind to each other and giving each other respect throughout the day. So, I'm very proud of the school in my constituency, Ysgol Tŷ Ffynnon, and I know they're honoured to be the first school known in Wales as a nurture school, but not just that, a nurture school for the whole community, as well. So, thank you, Jayne; thank you, Presiding Officer.

May I congratulate Jayne as well for bringing this very important and progressive set of matters to the Assembly today? It's so important that children get the best start in life, isn't it? None of us know what life may throw at us, so developing that emotional resilience is so important for the whole of our life course. I'd like to, as have others, highlight a school in my constituency, Somerton primary, which has been recognised by Estyn as showing a very good example in terms of the nurture approach. They've been running nurtureuk's national nurturing schools programme, and staff there believe it's made a real, positive difference to the pupils in that school. If I, as Hefin did, could just quote one of the staff members, who said that, 'It has really helped a significant change for the better, with growing confidence and self-esteem, sharing and co-operating, and producing better strategies to cope in different social situations. Behaviour and attitudes to learning have all improved.'

Well, we heard that 40 schools in Wales are currently on nurtureuk's national nurturing schools programme, building a whole-school nurturing approach, but also, according to nurtureuk research, in 2015, there were 144 schools in Wales with some form of nurture provision, an increase on 101 from 2007. On the work of schools in north Wales, in particular we heard reference from Jack to Ysgol Tŷ Ffynnon in Shotton, but also Ysgol Maesincla in Caernarfon—both excellent examples of settings taking a whole-school approach to nurture. I've often given attention to school exclusions, and particularly how these disproportionately impact pupils with additional learning needs. Ysgol Maesincla has seen a reduction in exclusions since it's opened its nurture groups and adopted a whole-school approach. Similarly, in Shotton, Ysgol Tŷ Ffynnon has said that during its nurture group sessions, its pupils take part in activities to develop self-awareness, build self-esteem, perseverance and positive thinking, which support their well-being, behaviour and, therefore, their learning. 

I call on the Minister for Education to reply—Kirsty Williams.

Thank you very much, acting Presiding Officer. I'd like to start by thanking Jayne for bringing forward this debate today and for describing the fantastic practice of her local schools. It always gives me a huge amount of pleasure to hear from Assembly Members of the fantastic work that our teachers and support staff are doing every day in communities the length and breadth of Wales.

As has already been said, this is a hugely important issue, and one that I believe we are making good progress upon, particularly since the publication of the Children, Young People and Education Committee's 'Mind over matter' report last April. Like Jayne, I'd like to thank all Members of that committee for their work in this area, and in particular to acknowledge Lynne Neagle's contribution in pushing this agenda forward. We all have a role and responsibility to promote mental well-being and build young people's resilience. Schools are very much on the front line of this issue, and that's why school staff need the skills, the knowledge and the understanding to support our children. Now, that does not mean school staff becoming experts in psychology or psychiatry, but what it does mean is that they're able to see when a child is struggling emotionally, they recognise the signs of distress, and, crucially, have access to the support they need to enable a young person to continue to engage in their education.

Our national mission action plan sets out how we intend to improve the school system by developing a transformational curriculum and assessment arrangements that will place well-being at the heart of our education system. Our new curriculum for Wales is the anchor for our commitment to emotional well-being, supporting young people to become healthy, confident individuals, building their mental and emotional well-being by developing their self-esteem, their resilience and empathy.

But, actually, what does that mean in practice and what is a whole-school approach? Teachers tell us that they are concerned about their students' mental health. They feel that they're being asked to deal with mental health issues outside their competencies as teachers, and they often feel unsupported by specialist services. There is a clear need for teachers to have help and support in responding to children experiencing difficulties such as anxiety, low mood and compulsive self-harm or conduct disorders.

But, it's also important, I think, that we must not medicalise the process of growing up. This is what young people themselves told us in the 2016 'Making Sense' report, compiled by and representing the views of young people. Almost 40 per cent in that survey cite that their teacher is a person whom they would prefer to seek support from. This theme was further developed in 'Mind over matter', which highlighted the important role of education in addressing the emotional and mental health needs of young people. And in particular, the needs of the so-called 'missing middle', young people with real emotional problems but who aren't necessarily mentally ill and who often find themselves with little support.

And that's why, as Jayne referred to, the Minister for Health and Social Services and I convened the joint ministerial task and finish group in September 2017. Experts from across the field of education and health have been gathered together to advise us on the work that we need to do to deliver a whole-school approach to emotional and mental well-being. Ensuring not just teachers but everyone who works in our schools are able to contribute positively to young people's well-being.

When I gave evidence to the committee in June, I indicated that I am committed to producing a framework that will support schools in developing and implementing consistent whole-school approaches, and it will provide guidance to schools on assessing their own well-being needs and strengths, and support them in developing a plan of action to address issues identified following assessment, backed by robust monitoring and evaluation arrangements. We will support schools in this work with a range of resources to help them promote mental well-being. 

I'm pleased to say that we're not starting with a blank sheet of paper. We have already, as we've heard from Members around this room, really good foundations on which we can build. For instance, as Jayne said, I know from my visit to Pill Primary School in Newport last year, more schools—more and more—are recognising nurture groups as a proven means to help young people at both primary and secondary phases. It helps them to develop trust and communication skills and improves their self-esteem. And they can be really effective when young people have experienced sudden severe trauma, when they are on the verge of becoming school refusers, and also as a support to parents and carers to build bridges with schools and education and to help engage them in their children's learning, when often they themselves have not necessarily had a positive experience of education when they were small.

Our schools' counselling services support over 11,500 young people annually, but I recognise there is still too much variation in waiting times for those services, and that's why the Minister for health and I have recently agreed additional funding to address some of the variation in provision, addressing long waiting lists and promoting collaborative arrangements across local authorities and health boards to improve provision. This funding forms part of a wider investment of £2.5 million this year to improve not just counselling provision, but also to train our school staff in their own and their students' emotional well-being, and to provide and to test both universal and targeted interventions in school.

On World Suicide Prevention Day, I was also very pleased to launch our new suicide and self-harm guidance, developed specifically to support teachers and professionals who regularly come into contact with young people. That guidance focuses on early intervention and the safe management of self-harm and suicidal thoughts when they arise. It provides a quick and accessible source of advice and good practice for practitioners. If Members have not yet had a chance to read those resources, I really would urge you to do so. I'm grateful for the professionals that have helped produce them. 

Our CAMHS school in-reach pilots are also showing real benefits since their launch, and I'm very pleased to announce that we have agreed extra funding to extend the pilots until December 2020 to coincide with the final evaluation report of that programme, and this has been backed by additional funding. The pilots demonstrate that developing those crucial relationships—and Jayne spoke about this a lot—across organisational boundaries is the key to delivering success. School staff report benefits in having a contact with whom they can discuss issues directly, and crucially in a timely fashion. This benefits not only young people but also teachers who feel better supported to address their children and young people's needs.

But I know—I very much know—that we can do so much more. I want to build on this momentum by further developing activity to support teachers so that they have a greater understanding of child development, especially during those crucial adolescent years, which can be really difficult for everybody, and the knowledge to learn and engage with emerging issues around emotional and mental well-being for learners. And, working with our universities, we will develop learning resources for student teachers and ensure that similar support is available to existing teachers.

It's also crucial to me that we continue to consult with young people themselves about what further support we should be providing to them. And that's why we have convened a youth stakeholder group, drawn from diverse geographical and social backgrounds, including mental health service users themselves. I have to say, I have been hugely impressed with their commitment to this process, their knowledge and their boundless enthusiasm. Together with the Welsh Youth Parliament, which has, as we've heard, agreed that emotional and mental health support should be one of their main issues, I'm sure that they, alongside Lynne Neagle, will continue to hold Welsh Government to account for our work in this area.

Like everyone here left in this Chamber this evening, I want every young person in Wales to flourish. I want them to learn and I want them to succeed, particularly in terms of the development of a whole-school approach to support those with emotional health and well-being issues. It's not an either/or, acting Presiding Officer, it's of equal importance, intrinsically linked to their ability to succeed in education. And I want, once again, to thank Jayne and colleagues for their contributions this evening. Diolch yn fawr.

That brings today's proceedings to a close.

The meeting ended at 18:52.