Mike Hedges AM welcomes the 20th Anniversary of Devolution by reflecting on its Impact on Education in Wales.

Mike Hedges AM welcomes the 20^th Anniversary of Devolution by reflecting on its Impact on Education in Wales.

Speaking in his Swansea East Constituency, Mike Hedges AM said… ‘20 years is a long time and when we think back to schools in the 1990s, we think of a school estate of crumbling buildings with a large number of classes of over 30 children. Since devolution there has been over £1.4 Billion invested in education and within my area of Swansea, we have had new secondary schools such Ysgol Bryntawe, new primary schools such as Burlais and Ysgol Lon Las, new facilities for programmes such as Flying Start, and the introduction of Free School Breakfasts.

The Welsh Labour Government is committed to giving children the best possible start in life; initiatives such as Flying start, the Breakfast clubs and the Foundation Phase all aim to focus on getting things right from the very start. Embedding children’s rights in to every area of our work ensures we never lose sight of the importance of children in our communities.

I look forward to seeing continued improvement in the lives of our children as we move forward to the next decades of devolved government.’

·         Free school breakfasts

·         The Foundation Phase, changing the way our children learn.

·         21^st Century Schools - the biggest investment in new school buildings since the 1960s. The first wave of funding provided though the Programme will see investment of more than £1.4 billion over the five year period ending 2019.  This will support the rebuild and refurbishment of over 150 schools and colleges across Wales. More than 100 schools have already been built or refurbished and a further 63 schemes are under construction or approved to proceed. A second phase of the programme will begin in 2019 bringing total investment to over £3.8bn.

·         Investing to reduce infant class sizes.

·         30 hours a week of government - funded early education and childcare for working parents of three and four year olds, for up to 48 weeks of the year.

• Introduced the Welsh Baccalaureate which gives broader experiences than traditional learning programmes, to suit the diverse needs of students.

·         Wales is consulting on new guidance for Relationships and Sexuality Education - It will better support schools in engaging with a range of important topic, including healthy relationships, domestic violence and LGBT issues.

·         Flying Start - provides services to children under the age of four in some of Wales’ most deprived postcode areas.

·         Children’s commissioner, first in the UK

·         Made the UNCRC law in Wales. This law is called the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011.

·         Introduced a Bill to remove the defence of reasonable punishment

·         Allocating an additional £12m to ensure that more young people will be in receipt of free school meals.

·         The most generous package of support for students anywhere in the UK.  Listening to the voices of students and the NUS.

Schools to get free sanitary products.