Commenting on a deal document published by Welsh Government of priorities the Labour/Plaid Cymru MSs will support during the next three years, Laura Doel, director of NAHT Cymru, said:

(On free school meals)

“NAHT Cymru fully supports the ambition of the Welsh Government to eradicate child hunger. Our members know only too well the impact poverty has on our learners from a health and educational perspective. We would like to see the evidence that suggests such a universal provision is the solution to the issue of some children not qualifying for FSM due to an outdated criteria formula, the modelling on how much this is going to cost and any analysis that shows that giving every child a free school meal provides an educational benefit as opposed to fixing the problems in a broken system and putting the extra funding into frontline teaching and learning.”

(On school term/day reform)

“We are keen to engage with the Welsh Government on school year reform and see what can and should be done to improve the education offer for learners. It is widely acknowledged that the autumn term for example is always a difficult one, as learners have been out of school for so long, so we would be keen to discuss the evidence base for any changes in consultation with our members. However, NAHT Cymru is of the firm belief that any changes must be based on an educational benefit for learners, without having a detrimental impact on the school workforce.

“When it comes to exploring the rhythm of the school day, we are concerned about the government’s motivation for doing that given there is no clear evidence to support it. Schools’ core purpose is teaching and learning and while we want to be supportive of our families, schools are not there as childcare providers. We know that keeping children in school for longer does not increase a child’s capacity to learn and the focus should be on providing quality teaching and learning during schools hours. That means investing in the profession and giving them the tools they need, like training and support, to focus on their core business. Any desire by the Welsh Government to broaden the offer to learners in terms of extra curricula activities is one to be applauded, but schools are not the answer.”

(On regional partnership arrangements)

“We are pleased to see that regional partnership working is part of the Labour/Plaid deal but continue to urge for a whole-scale review of the middle tier. Wales’ education system is overburdened with tiers of governance and when school funding continues to be hit by year-on-year cuts, we must look at all areas of education spending to ensure the millions being spend on the middle tier, like the education consortia, is offering at least the same educational value as putting the money into schools to employ additional teachers.”