Education
Promoting free, public learning.
Education is at the heart of strong communities, and enables social and emotional well-being, equality, inclusion and responsibility. Schools need more freedom to frame the curriculum around the needs and interests of the young people in the school. There should be an emphasis on pupil-centred learning, which caters for different learning styles, interests and needs.
We would:
Ensure children are able to attend a good local school with admissions policies decided locally and applying to all schools.Work to ensure that money allocated for schools is actually passed on by local authorities, increasing the proportion from the current 75% to 90%.Move gradually to get class sizes in Wales down to an average of 20 pupils.Defend existing smaller schools and create new ones where appropriate. Large secondary schools in particular are alienating.In cities primary schools should cater for 100 to 350 pupils and secondary schools for 600 to 1000. In rural areas Primary schools of 30 should be viable in small communities. However, several small schools may need to share resources such as a head teacher, special needs experts and subject experts. Utilise the full potential of school buildings for community use. Evening classes, clubs and libraries open year round to make school buildings a central resource to the wider community.Provide free school meals for all – with locally sourced or fair-trade and (where possible) organic food, and with a vegetarian option. This will encourage healthy eating, combat obesity, improve concentration and end the stigma associated with free school meals. Let teachers teach – give schools and teachers more freedom over the curriculum they teach. Introduce children to renewable technologies at school by ensuring that most schools get the bulk of their energy from on-site renewable sources.Where parents choose to educate their children at home this would be supported by Local Authorities, which would work to ensure that all young people have a broad and diverse education of a high quality.Ensure every school has a student council with real say in how the school is run, including input into anti-bullying strategy. Phase in the abolition of student tuition fees in higher education for Welsh domiciled students.
