Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:30 pm on 14 July 2021.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 2:30, 14 July 2021

I thank Laura Anne Jones for that question. In terms of change, what we have done throughout, at every stage, is to make sure in our guidance to schools—as in our guidance to all other parts of Welsh life, if you like—that our guidance reflects our current and best understanding of the changing nature of the pandemic, and it has changed at different stages throughout. And in order to meet the expectation correctly from schools to have a set of planning assumptions for September, as she said, I wrote to headteachers last week, in the way that she described.

One of the challenges that schools have faced is the large cohorts that have been asked to self-isolate as a consequence of cases or clusters in schools. And I think all parts of the education system recognise that that is not a desirable outcome. What we want to have in place, and what will be in place from the new school term, is that the test, trace, protect system will be leading on identification of contacts and providing advice and so on, and schools will have the assurance of being able to rely on specific advice that the TTP system provides. I've obviously heard from teachers that there are challenges around identifying, when they are leading on that, who the individual contacts are. And so, from September, that will be led by the TTP system.

She talks about making sure that the arrangements from September prioritise learners' progression. That has been our priority throughout. And I want to pay a tribute, in these last questions before the summer recess, to our teaching and educational staff for the incredible efforts they have made over the last 15, 16 months to ensure, in extraordinarily difficult circumstances, that our learners' progression and learning can continue. And the very purpose of the renew and reform plan, which I spoke about in the Chamber some weeks ago, and the funding that goes with that, is to continue to support schools to do that throughout the next academic year.