5. What is the Welsh Government doing to help schools find more innovative ways of delivering education amidst the constraints of suppressing the pandemic? OQ56106

Thank you, Jenny. Throughout the pandemic, we have made available a wide range of resources on Hwb, and these continue to be developed to support schools. We continue to capture positive practice and approaches from schools, publishing them on our 'Sharing our experiences' pages, and we look to take every opportunity to support innovation. 

Excellent. I know that prior to the return of all pupils in the autumn term, Estyn published a document collating the good practice that had been developed by many schools, and I know that some schools in Cardiff embraced the outdoor learning experiences as part of the well-being recovery programme. But I was shocked to learn recently of the hostile reaction of members of the public to one school taking a class in a bubble to the local recreation ground, which was a pretty shocking event given the lack of understanding of what children need.

Now that we have to revert to remote learning, we have some schools who have got really well-formulated blended learning plans, including proper online lessons with differentiated groups of pupils, depending on the levels of learning they're at, but others—. One teacher was told that it wasn't possible to do online lessons because there was a safeguarding issue. I'm aware that we have all this wonderful information on the Hwb, which is the envy of teachers in England, but nevertheless there's bound to be patchy practice, given that some schools have really very considerable responsibilities for safeguarding and deprivation amongst many of their pupils. I just wondered what we can now do to ensure that the consortia and Estyn are really sharing the best practice and giving the most support to those with the most challenges, referring back to what Llyr Gruffydd was saying earlier.

Can I make it absolutely clear that whilst a risk assessment should be undertaken and support and training given to staff, there is nothing in Welsh Government guidance that prevents schools from delivering live lessons? Indeed, those live lessons are happening every day in Wales. They're happening securely and they're happening well, and more and more schools are embracing that element of distance learning as part of their repertoire and as a part of their offer. So, there is nothing to stop that from happening, and there is very clear support and guidance available to both school leaders and practitioners to enable that to happen. You're absolutely right. I have conversations on a weekly basis with colleagues in local education authorities so that we can work together to identify those schools for whom there are concerns or a struggle, and to be able to ensure that they are supported by the regional consortia with their professional development to address these issues. I also understand that live lessons do provide certain challenges for parents, as does the entire distance learning scenario, so there are resources again available on Hwb for parents to understand how to use Hwb, how to log in, how to get free access to Adobe software, free access to Microsoft Office software, and it's important to recognise that that support material is available not just in English and Welsh, but is published also in a variety of community languages, to ensure that all parents can have the opportunity to access that support.

Minister, may I take this opportunity to invite you to congratulate Headlands special school in Penarth, which has recently received a recognition of excellence award from the High Sheriff of South Glamorgan because of the innovative way it has responded to the pandemic, particularly in distance and blended learning? One of the key things has been active outreach, whether this be telephone calls, Zoom or Teams, so that parents and children that are perhaps having particular difficulty in accessing this type of education get that sort of specialist support that teachers naturally give in the classroom to those pupils who need that little bit of extra encouragement and assistance, and that's one of the key skills we need to ensure is used properly.

David, I would absolutely want to offer my congratulations and my sincere thanks to Headlands, who are exemplary in how they have responded so proactively and with great skill and innovation to supporting their learners and their families at this time. They, and others, are there and, I know, are very keen to be able to share their good practice, their knowledge and their skills, so that other schools can respond in similar ways. We're asking so much of our education system at the moment, and while we can share that good practice, it saves individual practitioners reinventing the wheel, and that peer-to-peer support is often seen as the most valuable. It's non-threatening, it doesn't question people's abilities, and therefore that peer-to-peer support often is the most appropriate way of driving change and driving improvement forward.