We have a new Cabinet Secretary in post with responsibility for education, and today, Lynne Neagle will set out her priorities in a statement to the Senedd.

She will have a lot to cover: a widening attainment gap between Wales’s richest and poorest children; poor attendance rates; a teaching workforce crisis; an increase in verbal and physical violence in schools; problems with the rollout of reforms to Additional Learning Needs provision and the curriculum; and the dire financial situation of our schools as well as our further and higher education institutions.

Something needs to change, and fast. After all, our children and young people deserve an education that provides them with the tools they need for their future. And our workforce and institutions that provide that education need to be supported to deliver.

In recent months, we’ve seen headline after headline criticising the state of education in Wales.