BRIDGEND MP Jamie Wallis is calling on Welsh Government to spend some of the extra money allocated to Wales for catch-up teaching on those children due to sit their GCSE and A Level exams next year.
The UK Conservative Government has allocated £1 billion for tutoring in England with Wales getting what is known as the Barnett Consequential which is a formula to ensure that the devolved nations get a fair share of spending.
Welsh Conservative MP, Jamie Wallis is calling for the extra money coming down the line from the UK Government to be spent on catch-up education for children in Wales.
He said: “While I appreciate that many children may need extra tuition in order to catch up, I would urge Welsh Government to specifically target pupils in Year 10 who will do GCSE’s next year and Year 12 who will do A levels next year. They also need to focus on pupils in the top year of primary school who are due to go up to their comprehensive schools in September.
“Their futures are going to be adversely affected by the Coronavirus crisis in any case but extra help and tuition now to help them catch up with what they have missed can help alleviate some of the worst consequences.
“But it is crucial that this money is made available to schools as soon as possible so they can organise extra lessons or one to one tuition if necessary over the summer holidays. We have heard only this week that pupils in Wales have had less work set for them by their schools than those in England so they already have a handicap to overcome.”
