29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
I’m not inclined to set specific targets for this specific pot of funding. The targets we’re looking at are the ones that, I think, have motivated this committee’s inquiry, which is the overall attendance target and we will want to see what is the most…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
I think the evidence for this is clear both internationally and also already in Wales, where it works well, and I know that there are Members here—. The Chair’s constituency, for example, has very good examples of community-focused schools, and I’m sure other…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Well, difference isn't always a bad thing, because it can respond to local circumstances, is the first thing to say, but I take the point about the need for a consistent approach. There are, I think, two or three things we can probably do as a Government. One…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Firstly, we will want to test these messages to see what is most likely to be effective. At the end of the day, that's what we need to make sure we're doing. My assumption, going into that, is that we are likely to find that positive messages about the value…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Well, some of that is being used at the moment, so we expect that data to be available in September as well. So, that will be part of that overall evaluation, Chair.
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yes, the funding position is extremely challenging. The funding settlement this year has been very good, but in future years it's looking challenging across all of public services. What we have been able to say is that the funding support for family…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Anecdotally, if I can qualify it in that way, we know that schools have been using the funding to appoint education support workers quite often, which is around the sorts of interventions we’ve just been talking about—encouraging parents to bring their…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
We’re going to get returns from local authorities for September this year, which will then enable us to do the evaluations. So, when we have that evaluation, obviously, I’d be very happy to share that with the committee, if you were to find that helpful.
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
I think the challenge has changed, hasn’t it? Because the context in which pupils are not attending is different from pre-pandemic. I'll defer to him on whether there was a broad consensus—I'm sure there will have been. The question now, and what’s motivating…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
I would say to them what I’ve just said earlier, which is that they’re used only in the most extreme cases. I would regard them as being unfair if they were the first port of call, but that will be a failure of the system, if that’s what’s happening. There is…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Well, just to say, on the review, I am not doing a specific review of fixed-penalty notices. We will look at fixed-penalty notices in the context of the broader review of the all-Wales attendance framework, but I think it's really important to do it in that…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yes, I saw that evidence. I think there is a range of roles, if you like, for timetabling and solving some of the challenges that we're looking at today. I think they can be, when deployed properly, an effective tool for encouraging some learners to return to…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Ie, sori, dyna oedd yr ail bwynt; gwnes i ddim cyrraedd yr ail bwynt. Ymddiheuriadau. Ie, yn sicr, rŷn ni'n gwneud hynny. Mae'r berthynas sydd gyda ni â'r OECD yn un sydd yn ffrwythlon iawn, yn caniatáu i ni ddwyn ar gymariaethau rhyngwladol a gweld beth sydd…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Mae dau bwynt pwysig iawn yn fanna, rwy'n credu. Y pwynt cyntaf yw, o ran deddfu a chraffu a'r broses o ddylunio polisi, mae temtasiwn ambell waith i edrych ar y pethau yma ar wahân. Ond, ym mywyd yr ysgol, rydych chi'n profi'r pethau yma ar y cyd, onid ydych…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Mae e'n drothwy, os hoffwch chi. Rwy'n credu fy mod i'n iawn i ddweud mai, ar hyn o bryd, gyda ni mae'r trothwy uchaf o ran disgwyliadau presenoldeb cyn bod yr ystod o ymyriadau pellach yna yn dod mewn i weithrediad. Felly, o ran y gwasanaeth llesiant…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yr argraff fras, byddwn i'n dweud, o adroddiad Meilyr Rowlands oedd yn gyffredinol bod yr ystod o ymyriadau polisi yn y man iawn ar y cyfan. Roedd ambell gwestiwn penodol ynglŷn â persistent absence, er enghraifft. Rydyn ni, wrth gwrs, yn edrych ar hynny…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Rŷm ni wedi ymrwymo i wneud hyn, i edrych ar ffordd strategol o fynd i'r afael â dysgu digidol, dysgu—dwi ddim yn gwybod beth yw'r gair Cymraeg am blended learning, ond beth bynnag yw e. Felly, mae amryw o elfennau i hynny. Mae sicrhau'r cwricwlwm newydd a'r…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Efallai y dylwn i fod wedi disgwyl y cwestiwn hwnnw, yn sgil yr ateb rydw i newydd ei gynnig. Roedd un yn cynnig ein bod ni'n gwneud review penodol o'r fixed-penalty notices. Fy marn bersonol i yw bod yn rhaid edrych ar hyn mewn ffordd holistaidd. Felly, dwi…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Well, I think all I've said so far suggests I don't think that is, obviously, the right way of proceeding, and there is a range of ways in which we are supporting schools and parents to bring their children back into school. So, the report that Meilyr…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Well, I think, if you accept that this is a long-term challenge, it seems unlikely to be the case that the implementation of the reforms that started in September of last year is likely to be the key driver, but it's absolutely important to maintain the trust…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yes, that's entirely—. That's what I was just referring to, in fact, so sorry if that wasn't clear. So, we are looking at regulations that will provide strengthened statutory guidance, and local authorities will be able to rely on that.
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
But obviously that will be available, and that provides a detailed breakdown of learners who are home educated, which will be helpful. Obviously, it’s anonymised, clearly. And that will be helpful, I think, for the committee’s future considerations, perhaps…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yes, the work that Data Cymru’s doing for us, which—. I don’t know the publication date for that. I’ll look to Sian. I don’t know if you know, Sian.
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yes, it’s a system-wide approach, certainly. I completely see that. So, in terms of support for those families where the parents have chosen to home educate, we have, I think, in Wales already the most generous package of support that is available to home…
29 Mehefin 2022 , Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Absenoldeb disgyblion—sesiwn dystiolaeth 7
Yes, I absolutely have a concern about it. We've commissioned Data Cymru to analyse the returns that we get each year from local authorities. The detailed breakdown of that is imminent, but the top line of it, if I can put it like that, is that the three most…
