Educational improvements are fundamental to ensuring that our young people have the skills that they need to reach their full potential.

Children have only one formal education, and we cannot waste that opportunity.

Failing to provide them with the top-quality education will have profoundly detrimental effects to both the child and society as a whole.

Last week, I spoke in the Welsh Government’s debate on the recent Estyn report into schools in Wales which made for some disappointing reading.

I want to begin by highlighting that there are some positives in this report, notably the care and support that our schools offer to both primary and secondary pupils as well as good safeguarding and wellbeing.

However, there are far too many inconsistencies across schools in Wales including both attendance and curriculum development.

The quality of teaching was also far too varied with the quality of assessments not being up to standard.

Assessment and good quality feedback is crucial for learning and failing to ensure our children and young people receive this will only hold them back.

Robust and consistent school improvement is crucial in driving up standards and if strong self-assessment and performance isn’t put in place then standards in Wales will not improve.

The fact that Wales sits at the bottom of the PISA rankings in the United Kingdom shows that something clearly isn’t working and that our educational system continues to struggle.

Sadly, recruitment in our schools has declined sharply especially in key subject areas like maths and science.

To make matters worse teacher retention continues to be a problem.

This means that too many teachers are teaching outside of their speciality.

Sadly, the poor standard of education is just one of the reasons that too many people are leaving Wales, attempting to ensure their children get the best possible education.

We simply cannot afford for our children to fall further behind their peers in the rest of the United Kingdom. To do so would do them an incredible disservice and a failure of responsibility.

We want to see further investment in our education, delivering more teachers and creating an environment which enables the recruitment and retention of teachers here in Wales.

Unlike the Labour Government, the Welsh Conservatives have a plan to tackle our education system here in Wales because we know and value the importance of giving our students and young people the best opportunity in life.