Education
A long road back for education

EVEN before schools find out what the new normal will be, the pressure is already on the education system to deliver significantly more.
Some talk about a ‘lost generation’ needing to ’catch-up’ amid concerns those comments stigmatise children. However, the reality is that children have missed months of face-to-face teaching, and that has inescapable consequences.
DISADVANTAGED SLIP FURTHER BEHIND
Wales’s learners have been part of the pandemic’s ‘collateral damage.’
Although, for now, there are more questions than answers, solutions to repair that ‘damage’ will need to be carefully considered and delivered during the Welsh Parliament’s sixth term.
Even before the pandemic, Wales already faced an uphill struggle to secure good educational outcomes for all its learners.
The most disadvantaged learners have extra challenges which can prevent them from achieving their full potential.
Even though the previous Welsh Government invested £585 million since 2012 through the Pupil Development Grant (PDG), the attainment gap it was seeking to close, didn’t narrow.
It also typically widens as learners get older.
There’s a stark difference between children eligible for free school meals and their peers at Key Stage 4, the two years where learners usually take GCSEs and other examinations.
Children and young people themselves are well placed to give their verdict.
A 2021 Children’s Commissioner survey of 20,000 children found that 35% didn’t feel confident about their learning, compared to 25% in May 2020.
63% of 12–18-year-olds were worried about falling behind.
There are countless reports setting out adults’ views about how missing more than half a year of ‘face-to-face’ schooling has affected learners.
One of the major concerns is the variation between what schools have delivered to pupils.
There’s a long list of potential impacts:
· ‘Lost learning’ meaning pupils could underperform academically and have their long-term prospects affected.
· A loss of confidence in the examination and assessment system.
· Long-term reductions in school attendance, a factor known to be key to educational outcomes.
· Difficult transitions between school years and from primary to secondary.
· Challenges in re-engaging learners and addressing low motivation.
· An unhelpful ‘catch up’ narrative about lost learning placing unnecessary psychological pressure on children and young people; and
· A negative effect on learners’ ability and confidence to communicate in Welsh where they haven’t been able to do so at home.
WIDER EFFECTS
As well as these obvious educational issues, there are wider predicted effects.
Current learners could earn less, with one estimate of up to £40,000 in a lifetime.
The harm to children’s physical health and a higher prevalence of mental health issues, including anxiety and depression, are also serious concerns.
The pandemic’s wider economic impact is also likely to increase the number of children living in low-income families.
Again, it’s the most disadvantaged learners who are predicted to bear the brunt in the longer term.
For example, in March 2021, the Child Poverty Action Group found that 35% of low-income families responding to its UK wide survey were still without essential resources for learning, with laptops and devices most commonly missing.
The Fifth Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education (CYPE) Committee heard that there is “plenty of evidence” that” there are striking differences between families in terms of their ability to support young people in their learning: the resources they have around them, the enthusiasm, the engagement, the commitment”.
REBUILDING TRUST
There must be work to rebuild relationships that have been under significant strain during the past 12 months.
Those between teaching unions and the decision-makers within the education system; between parents/carers and schools; and perhaps, most importantly, re-establishing the relationship between learners and their teachers.
Some of the immediate solutions which are already on the table or up for discussion are: more money, including the ‘Recruit, Recover and Raise Standards funding’; more teachers and learning assistants on the ground; changing term times; and setting up summer schools, holiday clubs and home tuition.
However, the longer-term problems are far harder to solve.
One estimate puts the cost of Wales’s journey back from COVID-19 at £1.4 bn to meet the challenges to the education system alone.
The opportunity exists for major reform and an examination of the whole approach to and aim of education.
Children and young people’s return to the classroom has been heralded as a big chance to put their well-being at the heart of education. As well as having a positive impact on well-being, put, mentally healthy children are much more likely to learn.
Following pressure from the Fifth Senedd’s CYPE Committee and its stakeholders, Wales has already made a significant shift towards establishing a ‘Whole School Approach to Mental Health’. The challenge during the Sixth Senedd will be to deliver it.
PERMANENT CHANGE
The potential sting in the tail is that, at the same time, the education system is getting children back to school, it also contends with major legislative reform.
This is in the form of wholesale changes to both the school curriculum and support for learners with Additional Learning Needs.
Some may argue that there’s been no better time to have such significant changes.
If the education system can successfully implement these three major reforms, arguably Wales will complete significant leg work and be on a firmer footing to meet the challenges presented by Covid-19.
At this stage there may be many more questions than answers for the education system.
The world into which learners will move has changed forever.
Not only has the pandemic interrupted their schooling, but the future journeys they were expected to make into the workplace or further and higher education could be unrecognisable.
The skills and aptitudes needed in the ‘new normal’ are only now beginning to be identified and are likely to be different from those needed before the pandemic began.
Education
Redhill Knights secure place in national chess finals

THE REDHILL KNIGHTS CHESS TEAM from Redhill Preparatory School has secured a spot in the British Primary Teams’ Chess Championship finals after a strong performance at the qualifier in Bristol.
Facing 32 top teams from across the UK, the Redhill Knights A team emerged victorious in a fiercely contested tournament at Bristol Grammar School, earning their place in the national finals at Nottingham University on June 24, 2025.
This achievement adds to their growing success, having won silver medals at the Welsh Primary Schools Chess Championship for two consecutive years.
Headteacher Adrian Thomas said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our children. Chess at Redhill has gone from strength to strength, and we are delighted to see our pupils representing not just the school, but Wales, on such a prestigious stage.”
The Redhill Knights remain the only Welsh primary school team to qualify for the national finals.
The school’s B team also put in an impressive performance, finishing 6th despite being initially ranked 20th. Their remarkable progress highlights the depth of talent within Redhill’s chess programme, nurtured by FIDE Master Alexis Harakis, whose expert coaching has been key to their success.
Redhill Preparatory School expressed gratitude to Coach Harakis and the dedicated parents who continue to support the young chess players.
For those inspired by the Knights’ success, Redhill Preparatory School hosts a chess tournament for primary-aged children three times a year.
The next tournament takes place on Saturday, April 5.
Education
Half of secondary schools must do better on teaching – Estyn

ESTYN warned teaching must improve in half of secondary schools in Wales, with the inspectorate raising serious concerns about the quality of leadership.
Buffy Williams, who chairs the Senedd education committee, quizzed Estyn chiefs about 52% of secondary schools inspected receiving a recommendation to improve teaching.
Giving evidence on March 5, Estyn’s chief inspector Owen Evans said: “We try to focus on what matters and teaching, as you say, is absolutely at the heart of what we expect to see.
“Yes, it is a concern that so many recommendations are given to schools on what is a fairly basic tenet of what we should be doing.”
Claire Morgan, a strategic director at Estyn, said around 20% of primary schools also received a recommendation on teaching in the last academic year.
She warned of inconsistencies across secondaries, with schools failing to build on pockets of best practice due to weaknesses in self-evaluation.
Joel James said Estyn inspected 31 secondaries in 2023/24, with 10% requiring follow-up inspections, two in special measures and two others needing significant improvement.
The Tory asked: “Is that an anomaly in terms of previous years or … a general reflection?”
Ms Morgan said: “It’s been a very challenging time for secondary schools: they’re still grappling with curriculum reform, additional learning needs reform, qualifications reform.”

She added: “Across all secondary schools, it’s about 10% of them in the statutory category, so that is really concerning for us.”
Ms Morgan raised issues around attendance, particularly among pupils eligible for free school meals, as well as weaknesses on literacy, numeracy and Welsh-language skills.
She said: “When you put all of these issues together, you can identify some serious concerns about the quality of leadership.”
She warned of a lack of high-quality, subject-specific professional learning for teachers.
“The job is very demanding,” she said. “We are seeing children with increased and complex wellbeing needs and often teachers are dealing with those on a daily basis.”
On Tuesday, trade union NAHT Cymru warned of rising abuse from parents towards school staff, including verbal abuse, threats and even physical violence.
Mr Evans, who was himself expelled from school for pulling a prank on teachers, said Estyn would soon be publishing an in-depth thematic report on behavioural issues.
He told the committee: “Where we see that behaviour is less of a problem it’s where they have quite strong policies that have been developed with pupils and parents.”
Mr Evans, a former senior Welsh Government civil servant responsible for schools, warned of a “plethora of priorities” and called for a tighter focus over the long term.
Labour’s Carolyn Thomas asked about the main challenges in primary schools.
Ms Morgan said the key challenges include pupil progression, self-evaluation, improvement planning, consistency of teaching and Welsh skills in English-medium schools.
Pressed on literacy and numeracy by the Conservatives’ Natasha Asghar, Ms Morgan warned of weaknesses in higher-level reading skills across primary and secondary.
Raising concerns about too much variation and low standards in maths teaching, she said: “The only way we’re going to make progress on numeracy is to get mathematics right.”
The witnesses called for a relentless focus on reading and numeracy, with the chief inspector later warning of a recruitment and retention crisis in schools.
Mr Evans said Estyn aims to embed a supportive ethos, with interim inspections every three years as part of a six-year cycle rather than a “big bang” every eight years as before.
The former S4C boss said: “Last year, we introduced the interim visits, so instead of what was every eight years getting the magic call and the boots of Estyn are in your school – we’re trying to take the sting, we’re trying to take the anxiety out of it.”
Education
Senedd votes to end tax relief for private schools

THE WELSH Parliament voted to scrap charitable business rates relief for private schools.
From April, private schools in Wales will no longer be eligible for charitable relief but an exception will be introduced for independent special schools.
Of the 83 independent schools in Wales, 17 receive charitable relief at an annual cost to the public purse of about £1.3m – equivalent to £210 for each of the estimated 6,200 pupils.
Welsh ministers said it would be impossible to “disentangle” the impact from the Labour UK Government’s separate decision to introduce VAT on private school fees.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated the proportion of pupils who may move from private to state-funded schools as a result of the UK changes at 3% to 7%.
Similarly, private schools that are charities in England will also no longer be eligible to receive charitable relief of up to 80% off business rates bills from April 1.
Urging Senedd Members to back the Welsh regulations on March 4, Mark Drakeford said: “The policy aim is to make additional funding available for local services in Wales, by withdrawing a tax reduction for private education that is paid for by public funds.”

Natasha Asghar, the Conservatives’ shadow education secretary, accused the Labour Welsh Government of “another attack” on private schools.
She told the Senedd: “Not content with enforcing VAT on private independent schools, and implementing a hugely damaging national insurance hike, Labour now wants to take away the 80% business rate relief for charity-run private schools.
“Independent schools are being punished by Labour’s triple whammy on higher taxes.”
Ms Asghar raised a report that found 23% of parents were considering moving their children from private to state schools, which would equate to 140,000 pupils in Wales and England.
She said: “After 26 years of Labour mismanagement, we have the worst educational outcomes of anywhere else in the UK and this decision will only add to the already crippling pressures facing our schools.
“Removing charitable status from independent schools may seem like a quick fix, but it risks creating more problems than it actually solves.
“It could lead to fewer options for parents, increased costs for families, and, more importantly, it risks shifting the focus away from the real issue, which is improving education for all children regardless of their background.”

Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan welcomed the regulations, calling for details of how much consequential funding Wales will receive from the VAT changes and when.
Prof Drakeford said the Welsh Government expects only one independent school to be exempt because it provides education to children with additional learning needs.
He did not address the question on consequential funding.
The First Minister-turned-finance secretary told the Senedd: “Of course, I was not surprised to hear the contribution from the Welsh Conservatives.
“They would rather my constituents in Ely and Riverside pay the £1.6m that goes in charitable rate relief to schools whose parents are well able to pay the fees out of their own pockets, that’s what you would prefer … to support the few and the privileged.
“And I absolutely resent … that it is somehow a problem to have more young people receiving state education in Wales.”
The Senedd approved the regulations, 42-16, with the Tory group voting against.
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