Cyflwynwyd yr ymateb hwn i ymchwiliad y Pwyllgor Plant, Pobl Ifanc ac Addysg i weithredu diwygiadau addysg

This response was submitted to the Children, Young People and Education Committee inquiry into Implementation of education reforms

IER 56

Ymateb gan: Parents Voices in Wales CIC

Response from: Parents Voices in Wales CIC

Dear Minister

We hope you are well and are delighted to welcome you in your new role as Educational Minister.

We firstly want to thank you for providing further £20m funding for ALN learners to improve their environments and experiences as our most vulnerable children in education.

The reason we write to you today is to kindly request if Welsh Government could also raise the profile of the missing middle learners in the mainstream settings across Wales. There appears to be a bias for a needs led approach for learners in specialist settings and a more dilute approach for the 1 in 5 learners with differences in the mainstream settings.

We know the majority of learners experiencing EBSA, mental health challenges and exclusion will be mainstream learners often not identified as ALN as their profiles do not meet the threshold of severity to warrant assessment/diagnosis. These learners have huge potential as they will have an average to high IQ but without quality universal support/additional learning needs provisions they slip through the net.

We realise the ALN Reform and Whole School Approach is a journey for schools and that culture change takes time but would it be feasible to highlight that ALN pupils are not just in specialist provisions and reflect this in our future funding. Schools are not recruiting or replacing Teaching Assistants and it is the mainstream neurodivergent learners who will be most impacted. Parents have received letters from schools about the low budgets and it is causing distress to families whose children cannot access these wonderful specialist provisions.

Many third sector along with ourselves and the WLGA Wales Neurodivergence Team are working hard to upskill education to meet the needs of neurodivergent and ALN learners but if there is anything Welsh Government can do to promote the awareness about the 1 in 5 learners with learning differences in mainstream, who also require adjustments, relational and inclusive approaches we would be most grateful.

We are hearing so often about mainstream isolations and exclusions of children with for example ADHD and/or Trauma because schools are shackled to policies that conflict with the ALN Reform and Whole School Approach that we marginalise those who need the adjustments and relational approaches the most.

We would be delighted to support education going forward in sharing our lived experiences on best practice and politely request that Welsh Government consider a community of practice for education in Wales (akin to the NEST Community of Practice) so we may reduce promote a whole system working, reduce disparities and increase awareness to prevent poor outcomes for those who have the potential to do well.

We are moving in the right direction of course and we welcome your plenary comments to Hefin David last week and appreciate your commitment to learners and families.

With kindest regards

Parents Voices in Wales CIC