Lost School Time

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:51 pm on 14 July 2021.

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Photo of John Griffiths John Griffiths Labour 2:51, 14 July 2021

Thank you for that, Minister. I think, as we heard earlier, there's obviously widespread concern regarding the amount of school time lost because of the pandemic. Obviously, that's widely shared across Wales—parents, teachers and the whole school teams, as well as, I think, Senedd Members and Welsh Government. It is very alarming that all that time has been lost, and I think we did see a patchy performance in schools in terms of learning at home and, indeed, more school time lost in some schools than others. Part of that, obviously, is due to the pattern of the pandemic, but there may be other factors as well.

I'm just wondering, Minister, given that experience, given that we could see further waves in the autumn and beyond, what lessons have been learnt so that if we do have to have a return to learning at home to some extent, will that be much more consistent and top quality right across Wales. And looking at the longer term—and I know Welsh Government is looking at the length of the summer holidays—what is the latest Government thinking on those long summer holidays, particularly given that I think quite a number of schools in Wales at the moment will have summer holidays of some 7.5 weeks, if teacher training and INSET days are added to the summer holidays themselves?