7. How will the Welsh Government expand opportunities for outdoor education during this Senedd term? OQ56598

Outdoor education has an important role to play in enriching teaching and learning, and this is reflected in the curriculum for Wales. We are at the moment providing £2 million to the residential outdoor education sector to support them between June and September 2021 to respond to COVID restrictions. 

Thank you, Minister, for that answer. Learning in the outdoors can bring so many benefits to learners of all ages and abilities. However, perhaps the greatest benefits can be seen amongst those learners who have struggled to settle into mainstream educational settings. This is particularly true of an outdoor educational setting in my constituency, Cynon Valley Organic Adventures, based in Abercynon. Minister, would you accept an invitation to visit this setting with me to meet some of the learners who have defied the odds to thrive there and to discuss in greater detail how important alternative learning pathways such as this can be in ensuring that all young people in Wales are able to meet their full potential?

I absolutely agree with the Member about how important learning outdoors can be and the opportunities that that brings for our children and young people. And as it happens, I was recollecting with somebody this morning that this is the kind of day that when I was a school kid, it would have been spent outside for most of the day, learning in the outdoors, and actually that brought back some rather fond memories. But this is an important part of the new curriculum, as I said in my first answer, and I think there are real opportunities for us here, and I absolutely understand how important educational visits are to centres like the Cynon Valley Organic Adventures. As it happens, they had previously been in touch with me and I couldn't in fact take the opportunity at that point to visit them, but now that you've offered the opportunity of arranging that, I would be delighted to do that and look forward to doing that. 

Finally, question 8, Heledd Fychan.