The Reopening of Schools

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 23 February 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:40, 23 February 2021

Well, Llywydd, I thank Russell George for those points, which are all points that I think are absolutely right ones to raise in this context. The instruction of the Welsh Government to schools is that they must take a flexible approach to uniforms in these extraordinary periods. No child should be sent home from school in Wales because they're unable to obtain a uniform in the extraordinary circumstances of recent weeks, and I'm sure that schools will exercise good sense in the way that they approach this matter.

We're in discussions with the retail sector to see if there's anything we can do to help meet emergency needs when children don't have shoes, in the way that the Member explained, and I know that schools themselves will look to assist where there are genuine difficulties of that sort. The system just needs to react to the circumstances in the way that shows some flexibility and simple good sense in order to make sure that families do not find themselves facing additional difficulties on the journey back into education.