I thank Jane Dodds for that very important question. As she said, my predecessor published the first ever rural education action plan in 2018, bringing together all the interventions and initiatives in relation to small and rural schools from across the 'Our national mission' strategy into one coherent action plan focused particularly on the circumstances that rural schools face.

In relation to reorganisation that involves rural schools, we also in the same year strengthened the school organisation code, so that when local authorities, who are the drivers of the decisions in this context, consider bringing forward proposals involving the closure of a rural school, they first need to check whether that school is on a list, and if it is, there are further procedural requirements that apply in that context. There'll be a presumption against the closure of a school. That doesn't mean, of course, that the school cannot, as it were, be closed, but it will involve establishing that the case for closure must be very strong, and not taken until viable alternatives have been explored.

I certainly believe that rural schools are able to deliver the curriculum, and I want to be in a position over the course of the next year to ensure that rural schools, like all other schools in Wales, are able to take advantage, for example, of the national network, which will enable schools to work together to develop resources in order to ensure the successful implementation of the curriculum in all parts of Wales.