Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 20 September 2022.
Well, Llywydd, unfortunately the Member mixes up two completely different issues. I am, of course, aware of the inspection report into Christ the Word. I was able to discuss this with the new leader of Denbighshire council and with the cabinet member responsible for education. It is, as the Member, I imagine, is aware, a complicated situation because it is a voluntary aided school. It is the diocesan authorities that are responsible for the hiring of staff at the school, and there is a job of work to be done there, as the inspection report sets out, to make sure that standards of teaching and learning at the school are brought up to what would be regarded as acceptable elsewhere.
There is a great deal of support being offered by the consortium and by the local authority, and evidence will now be needed—and it's the responsibility of the governing body to provide the action plan—that shows how the recommendations of the Estyn report will be put into practice. There is a need for evidence that the advice that is being provided is being properly followed up. I was encouraged to learn that the new cabinet member for education, Councillor Gill German, is meeting the school authorities in the next week or so, and that the head of service for education at Denbighshire is meeting the Bishop of Wrexham this week. So, I think we can be confident that a great deal of attention is coming together by the relevant authorities to make sure that the improvements that are clearly necessary at the school are put into place.
The more general points that the Member made about examination results are simply mistaken in fact and have no relevance to the actions that will be taken by the authorities in the case of the individual school.