Five schools in Wales are set to change from English to Welsh medium for young children as part of a plan to boost the language. An agreement was made at a Ceredigion Council cabinet meeting to begin a consultation process looking at changes to the medium of language used in the foundation phase at four primary schools in the Aberystwyth area and another in New Quay.
All five schools – Comins Coch, Llwyn yr Eos, Padarn Sant, Plascrug, and New Quay – are currently described as being “English-medium with significant use of Welsh”. However after Ceredigion council agreed to approve the next stages of the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan that could change in the near future.
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The plan includes seven outcomes to strengthen the Welsh language – one of which is a desire to create more opportunities for children of all ages to receive a predominantly Welsh-medium education. A full consultation process will begin shortly with documents relating to changing the language medium of the five schools expected to be published in the autumn.
“By presenting and implementing the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan we want to give children the best start in life and enable people of all ages to learn, which is one of the council’s corporate objectives over the next five years,” said Wyn Thomas, cabinet member for schools, lifelong learning, and skills at Ceredigion council. "The proposal also wants to support Ceredigion council’s desire to strengthen the position of the Welsh language through its language strategy and to support the Welsh Government’s aim to create a million Welsh speakers by 2050. Therefore the aim is to educate pupils to be fully bilingual by the time they leave primary school and enable them to participate fully in the bilingual community which they are a part of.”
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