I, too, would like to extend my thanks to all involved: the Minister, the Chair, all our committee members, the clerks and all who have contributed so thoughtfully and passionately in providing evidence to our committee. 

The Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Bill marks the first construction of a distinct Welsh curriculum. The curriculum that I was, admittedly, at first, very dubious about and very sceptical of. However, sitting on the education committee and listening to evidence, I now feel reassured in my concerns, although a couple still remain. But on the general principles of the curriculum and assessment Bill, I am genuinely excited for our children and young people in Wales to have the opportunity to engage in a curriculum that, I now believe, will, in the most part, far better prepare them for the real world. 

There will be relatively less prescription of what schools must teach, with no programmes of study, and I welcome this flexibility, but there, at the same time, needs to be a level of consistency across schools, which I outlined and debated on in committee, ensuring that there are levels that must be attained and taught across schools, so, as Lynne Neagle said earlier, there is fairness and equality in education across our schools. The last thing that we want to do is highlight the already apparent inequalities that do exist right now. And, as Lynne Neagle said, it is absolutely necessary that we monitor those standards and the content of what is being taught, particularly during the bedding-in period, when we get to that point, and that is an essential part of it. 

In addition to the four purposes and six areas of learning and experience, the Bill establishes three cross-curricular skills, namely literacy, numeracy and digital competence. I welcome that children will now be undertaking projects like starting their own business, which will teach them maths, English and other subjects in the round and constructively, with people seeing how to use the basic principles of these subjects in the real world. 

It also makes relationships and sexuality education, and religion, values and ethics, mandatory elements in addition to Welsh and English. Concerns have been raised on both of these issues. My son attends a Church in Wales school, which was through choice, as I strongly believe that the values that come out of that school, which happens to be a school that I attended, are so, so good and he learns—. He's such a rounded little boy and he's come back with such an understanding and respect for all religions, and I'm so proud of him for that and I'm proud of the school for delivering that sort of education to him. Therefore, I believe that the current curriculum, in terms of religious education, is delivering right now in my opinion and my experience. I do see all the arguments today, and I'm not going to go over them because they'll be talked about a lot today by people who are much more in the know than me actually. But I am concerned that the Bill notes that there is no right to withdraw from RVE. It's something that I'm still uncomfortable with, in my constant battle in my head between the rights of the parent and the rights of the child, and which one should come out on top, really. It's not black and white, but it is so important that we get that right and get everyone on board with it.

Relationships and sexuality education is intended to be taught across the curriculum to support physical, mental and emotional health and well-being. This was my biggest issue with it, when faced with this curriculum at first. I was at first very sceptical and uncomfortable with the idea of my 10-year-old son being taught RSE at that sort of level. But having taken the evidence and listened to people throughout the committee process of scrutinising this, I am now comfortable with what my son would potentially be taught. It is directed on what age you are. And it is so important that our children also learn about what's right and what's wrong in terms of relationships and things like that, and the massive impact that that will have on child abuse and things, going forward. I really do think it is absolutely the best part of the Bill actually—I think it's really, really important. So, I've completely turned around on that and I do think that if other people took the time to listen to people who contributed to our committee, they too would change their mind and realise that it is age appropriate and appropriate to be taught those things. I listened to the Member over here about being taught about the menstrual cycle. I was never taught about it. So, I had to find out, and that sort of thing should be taught in schools and not be a surprise like I had. It's a very scary and worrying time, and that sort of thing should be incorporated. I know that parents have a responsibility, but not all parents do that—not because they're irresponsible; my parents aren't irresponsible, but it wasn't the done thing to talk about it. It's those sort of barriers that we need to break down and this is a way of doing that.

On the preparation, I did want to talk about some other things. Firstly on the preparation of the new Bill in light of the disruption caused by this pandemic, there needs to be some consideration of the practical call from Suzy that it needs to either be delayed or staggered to give our teachers and schools more time to prepare, recognising the disruption that COVID-19 has caused. A recent survey we conducted found that 76 per cent of schools responded that the pandemic was having a negative effect on their preparation for the new curriculum, with planned work for the summer cancelled. Moreover, the recent OECD education review found that a large number of stakeholders interviewed, including experts in curriculum teaching practices, suggested that there was a need for more time and more targeted professional learning in order for teachers in Wales to be ready for implementation—