We firmly believe that a good education is the surest route out of poverty and, in turn that, the long-term prosperity of the city relies on us supporting our children and young people to reach their potential. That is why we are committed to making every school in Cardiff a good school, where every child can receive a great education.
We will continue our investment programme into new and existing school buildings, continue to drive up educational attainment, and deliver our commitment to put the views of children and young people at the heart of our policy agenda through becoming the first British city to be awarded Child Friendly City status.
In doing so, we will place a particular focus on supporting our most vulnerable children, from supporting them and their families in their early years and through school, to the world of work and higher education.
We will:
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Secure UNICEF Child Friendly City status by the end of 2022.
- Support all schools in Cardiff to become Rights Respecting Schools by 2025.
- Establish a young persons’ citizens panel to ensure that the voice of children and young people is heard in Council decision-making.
- Set a new vision and strategy for education in Cardiff by refreshing the Cardiff 2030 strategy.
- Support all schools to be ready to deliver the new curriculum for Wales.
- Close the attainment gap for our most vulnerable learners, with a particular focus on children in care, those educated other than at school and children from the most deprived communities.
- Support schools to improve pupil attendance following the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on tackling persistent absenteeism.
- Ensure that all primary schools are prepared and able to provide Free School Meals to all children.
- Open new campuses for Willows, Cathays, Cantonian, Fitzalan, and Cardiff High Schools through ‘Band B’ of the 21st Century Schools programme.
- Open up to eight new primary schools and two new secondary schools by 2030, funded through the Local Development Plan.
- Provide additional funding to support maintenance in schools not covered by Bands A-C.
- Invest in digital infrastructure, equipment and new learning technologies for schools – aiming for a pupil to ICT devices ratio of 1:1.
- Promote the benefits of bilingualism, expanding uptake of Welsh-medium education in line with Cymraeg 2050.
- Develop a Community Focused Schools programme so that the excellent facilities available within schools are made available to the wider community.
- Expand and enhance the Cardiff Commitment, recruit new employers, and provide new ways for school pupils to engage with the fast-changing world of work.
- Further embed the Starting Well Partnership, a child-centred, whole-school and multi-agency approach to supporting emotional wellbeing and mental health.
- Implement the recommendations of the Cardiff Race Equality Task Force, including:
- Supporting the diversification of the teaching workforce through a teaching assistant ‘Step into Teaching’ programme.
- Increasing representation of ethnic minority residents in school leadership through a School Governors entry programme.
- Strengthening the local approach to bullying and prejudice-related incidents at school.
- Extending the work of Schools of Sanctuary to a broader network of schools and supporting the participation of refugee and asylum-seeking communities.
- Implement a Whole School Approach to preventing gender-based violence and abuse in education and other youth settings.
- Scale up the ‘Passport to the City’ programme to ensure young people from all backgrounds can enjoy the world-class amenities Cardiff has to offer.
- Strengthen the availability of support during holidays, including by repeating the Summer of Smiles programme and growing the School Holiday Enrichment Programme.