I think this is an exercise in how not to write a motion, because it's so full of grandiose statements and hyperbole, but nothing about the complexity of the current situation that schools are facing, and also, I think, pre-empting the work of our colleagues on the children and young people's committee. So, as a set of proposals, it covers at least four different subjects—it's hard to know where to start. Nevertheless, Suzy Davies and Delyth Jewell have both made some important points, which need to be considered by the children and young people's committee, but I really think the motion itself doesn't do justice to either party, because the amendments don't really clear it up. I think that we clearly have to give priority to the mental well-being of young people in the new curriculum, because we know that many young people have suffered profoundly as a result of the lockdown, and we need to really ensure that this doesn't happen going forward. 

I visited the school where I'm a governor—the secondary school where I'm a governor—in my constituency today, and I was really impressed by the arrangements made at St Teilo's for the well-being of students and for staff. I thought the plans were exemplary, and each of the teachers move classroom rather than the pupils, as is normal in secondary school, but that enables each class within each year group to be in separate bubbles. So, each year group has its own separate section of the building with its own outdoor play area, and each classroom has the windows open so that there's proper ventilation. Year 7 has no difficulty in following any of this, because this is pretty much a continuation of what happens in primary school. Year 8—there was some very dedicated learning and excellent teaching going on, and what happens in year 8 is that there is an achievement officer who sits in the corridor outside these eight classrooms, and she is available to supervise any of the reasons why a pupil is leaving the classroom during a lesson, and is also available to talk to pupils about things that may be worrying them and which could be getting in the way of their learning. I spoke to a 13-year-old who said she liked the new arrangements, as it made it easier for her to meet up with her friends during the mid-morning and lunch break, as they're not all being dispersed into different sections of what is quite a large school.

I was particularly struck by the amended learning arrangements for young people who are finding it very difficult to follow the full secondary curriculum, and many of the pupils I went to see who are having a much more intense ratio of teachers to pupils said they much preferred this system of teaching rather than being in a classroom of 20 to 30 pupils. Clearly, it's much more expensive if you have more adults to the ratio of pupils—that is much more expensive. But I was also very impressed by the way in which the headteacher was approaching the well-being of his staff as well, and particular arrangements have been put in place for those members of staff who were finding living through this pandemic a very worrying experience. It's difficult to predict who's going to be badly affected by this, but they were very sensitive arrangements—changing of people's timetables, amending of people's hours—to ensure that those people didn't simply go off on sick and then you've got to bring in supply teachers, which increases the risk. One of the other things that's really important for all schools to ensure is happening is that any pupil who has been identified as needing a test is simply not allowed back into school until they've had a test and it's proved to be negative. And where it's been proved to be positive—and it's only happened in a very few cases—the headteacher has already done the risk assessment arrangements behind that individual child so that they know exactly what action needs to be taken as a result of that positive test.

So, I think that this school is running a very safe ship. I like the wording of the relevant amendment—I think it's amendment 8 of the Conservatives' amendments—but I think it would be wrong to assume that all schools are managing this very strange situation in as good a way as St Teilo's is doing, and I wonder what role Estyn and the consortiums are playing to ensure that all schools have really robust risk assessment and teaching and learning plans to ensure that all our pupils are learning as well as possible in these very strange circumstances that we're all living under.

Lastly, I just want to say—