MS, Cabinet Secretary for
Education: It is a year since the School Improvement
Partnership Programme was established and I wanted to
take this opportunity to recognise the progress we have made in
developing a new approach to school improvement for Wales.
Our aim is to empower school leaders and school staff so that
they have agency over their own development and work in
partnership with other colleagues, schools and the local
authority, to improve the learning and educational outcomes of
our young people.
Together with local authorities, unions, Estyn, schools and
partners from across the sector, we are building a new culture
for school improvement, with school-to-school collaborative
working at its heart.
In November, every local authority in Wales submitted plans to
the Welsh Government outlining their approach to delivering local
school improvement arrangements. We are working closely with
local authorities to support these changes at a local
level.
I am also committed to providing strong national leadership by
setting out a small number of clearly defined and focused
national improvement priorities. I have confirmed these as
attendance, literacy and numeracy, supported by improved
wellbeing.
By 1 April 2025, a new National Professional Learning and
Leadership Support body will be established, to be operationally
ready from the 2025/26 academic year. Focussed on delivering a
small and prioritised range of national professional learning,
this will create a simplified and coherent professional learning
landscape.
A number of national support programmes are being developed to
provide intensive, support for the critical cross-curricular
skills of literacy and numeracy, along with curriculum design,
progression and assessment. This support is being designed with
local authorities, practitioners and other partners.
A newly established Education Improvement Team within Welsh
Government will facilitate regular dialogue with local
authorities and schools - connecting national priorities with
local delivery.
I am aware that there is significant change in the system, and I
want to ensure the totality of change is coherent and robust–
this is the role of the National Coherence Group
CBE, Chair of the National
Coherence Group (NCG), wrote to me in December with their
reflections on the proposed model for school
improvement. I am attaching a copy of
that letter. I welcome their observations and the conclusions
they have reached at this point in the Programme's journey.
As we move forward into the transition phase, the NCG will
continue its role in reviewing the coherence of the new school
arrangements. I will also be establishing a new Ministerial
Headteacher Advisory Group to provide valuable insight and
support for the model going forward and will update on that
shortly.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners,
members of the NCG and the wider sector for their commitment to
working with us. There is still a lot of work to be done as we
transition to the new arrangements during 2025, but the shared
commitment from all partner organisations to the success of the
Programme is recognised and appreciated.
