A school in Neath Port Talbot are runners up in a challenge run by the All Wales Convention, the organisation responsible for gauging the feelings of the people in Wales in respect of more devolved powers from Westminster.
Glan Afan Comprehensive School in Port Talbot will be presented with certificates on Friday October 16th in recognition of their achievement. Making the presentation will be All Wales Convention Executive Committee Member, Sally Hyman, whose earlier visit to the school had inspired the school’s participation in the initiative.
The challenge set by the Convention was to get involved in the devolution debate and to tell Sir Emyr Jones Parry, Chair of the All Wales Convention, what future the school, its pupils, friends and community, want for the National Assembly for Wales. The framework was open for pupils to interpret creatively and imaginatively. The judges were Sir Emyr and Executive Committee member, Efa Gruffudd Jones, chief executive of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, Wales’ largest youth movement.
The school’s entry can be viewed on the Convention’s website, www.allwalesconvention.org and the views expressed are being taken into account as the Convention formulates its formal report for the National Assembly for Wales, due out in November.
Sally Hyman, a member of the All Wales Convention’s Executive Committee commented:
“I would like to congratulate Glan Afan on an excellent entry and for taking the trouble to canvass the opinions of their pupils, teachers and wider school community on the devolution debate. They produced a project that was measured, comprehensive and well argued, underpinning the hard work and effort put into it. It’s incredibly heartening for me to see young people take an active role in politics and be able to research a complex topic in such mature and logical manner. Politics, after all, affects all our lives and it’s great to know that these pupils believe so passionately in it and in the future of our country.”
Mrs S Handley, head of Glan Afan Comprehensive School added:
“I’ve very pleased that my students have done so well in this competition. I’d like to pay tribute to their hard work and dedication in completing a well-researched project and for involving so many people from the wider school community in their survey. Whilst the project certainly raised pupils’ awareness of devolution and politics in Wales in general, it also provided them with the opportunity to hone their public speaking and IT skills, as they chose to present their project to the school through a power point presentation during one of our morning assemblies. Quite an achievement!”
Luke Jenkins, a representative of Glan Afan’s School Council, which assumed responsibility for the project, said:
“Taking part in the competition was a lot of work but was really good fun. We conducted a survey of the views of pupils, teachers, staff and local people about the National Assembly. It was interesting to find out what people thought. Our survey concluded that 59% of 578 people questioned were in favour of more powers all at once in the 20 devolved areas. It will be interesting to see what the All Wales Convention’s report will say, when it’s published in November.”
