MS, Cabinet Secretary for
Education: Today I am announcing over £44million of grants that
are being awarded for projects to secure once for Wales support
to schools as they implement the Curriculum for Wales. This is a
huge investment in high-quality, nationally consistent support
for all our schools. I am making sure that teaching professionals
across Wales can access the expertise, advice and professional
learning they need.
It includes:
- Maths and Numeracy: all parts of Wales will have access
to expertise to provide joined up maths education between
both primary and secondary school; giving all schools access
to professional learning and resources and support to help
schools boost confidence of parents, carers and staff.
- Literacy: More consistent support to improve literacy through
reading for pleasure; reading comprehension and fluency. There
will be specific focus on developing Welsh language early reading
and oracy offered nationally and available to all teachers.
- Science: Boosting science teaching through professional
development, resources and specialised mentoring and coaching,
including support to build the confidence of non-specialists
accessible to all teachers of science in Wales.
- Music: Continuing the National Music Service for the next 3
years, maintaining our record investment in music education.
- Creative learning: Professional learning to schools to
develop children's creativity and continuing to improve access to
cultural venues and activities, which has already reached the
vast majority of schools in Wales
- International Languages: continuing to provide
mentoring opportunities and access for all schools to
support and materials in both primary and secondary schools to
develop and expand learning in different languages.
- Curriculum design: Giving all schools access to in depth
practical support and case studies based on what's working best
in schools
- Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE):
Further nationally consistent support and expertise for RSE
through national advisors to support every local authority,
providing expert advice and development accessible to every
school, equipping them to tackle the very harmful influences our
children and young people are grappling with.
Work will begin immediately and schools can expect to see support
coming online in the coming months. Most of these projects will
span 3 years, ensuring we build capacity over the longer term.
As part of this, I am also announcing a new call for further
grant proposals, inviting applications of up to £11.9 million to
ensure a consistent national approach throughout Wales for
support in:
- Developing maths in primary schools
- Literacy to improve attainment in speech, language and
reading, including validation of phonics approaches and
assessment tools to identify children's needs accessible to all
schools
- Building children's computing and digital skills
We are ramping up our efforts to improve standards and to ensure
all children have access to powerful learning experiences,
underpinned by an excellent curriculum, whatever their
background.
This also ensures that the new national professional learning and
leadership body will be well placed to take responsibility for my
key priorities of literacy, numeracy and well-being and I expect
oversight of these to transfer in the coming year.
A link to the grant awards
can be found here.
