David Davies MP claims the headlines in the recent Estyn report on the quality of education in Monmouthshire belie the fact the detailed paragraphs are “quite complementary” about what the local authority has actually achieved.
Although education services for children and young people were judged to be unsatisfactory overall, the report stated that performance in Monmouthshire schools is above average for Wales in all key stages and among the best in Wales for primary schools.
“Some of the criticisms seem to me to be a little unfair,” said Mr Davies.
“For example, there is criticism of Welsh language provision which doesn’t take account of the fact that many pupils come from England and we live in an area where Welsh isn’t as strong culturally as in other parts of the country.
“The report further states that while the percentage of learners remaining in post-16 full-time education is the best in Wales, the numbers of young people not engaged in education, employment or training has reduced over the past four years. Monmouthshire has therefore been criticised because the pace of reduction is slower than Wales as a whole.
“This could simply be because Monmouthshire was already starting from a very high standard and it is always difficult to make improvements when standards are high to begin with.”
Mr Davies said he was also concerned about criticism for the number of days of learning lost to fixed term exclusions i.e. suspending pupils.
“This is a reflection of the discipline policies in our schools, which I fully support,” he said.
“Estyn are right to raise some valid concerns such as making sure the council’s education select committee has access to adequate data. The council has said it takes these concerns very seriously and is going to follow the advice contained in the report.
“As a parent of three children in state schools in Monmouthshire, I fully agree with Estyn that standards in schools are very high overall and I’m surprised the headlines in the report don’t reflect this.”