Cymraeg

ModernGov Councillors and Meetings

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Agenda item

School Organisation Planning: Cardiff Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) 2022 - 2032

(Papers to follow)

 

Members will receive a briefing on this issue.

Minutes:

Councillors Melbourne, Molik and Bridgeman advised that they had a personal interest in this item as they all have children family members

Councillor Phillips advised that he had a personal interest in this item as he has a family member in receipt of ALN provision

 

The Chair welcomed Councillor Sarah Merry (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Education, Employment & Skills), Melanie Godfrey (Director of Education & Lifelong Learning), Richard Portas (Programme Director, School Organisation Planning (SOP)), and Michele Duddrige-Friedl (Operational Manager, Planning and Provision) to the meeting.

 

Councillor Merry advised that Members are being provided with a briefing at this stage, it will enable Members to feed in and help shape the proposals as they come forward.

 

Members were provided with a presentation which outlined the following:

 

·          

the National Policy Context;

·          

the ambition - the availability of Welsh Medium Education will be a key feature of meeting the target of one million Welsh speakers;

·          

the 2050 targets and aspirations;

·          

the incidence of ALN in Welsh Medium Education;

·          

the key priorities; and

·          

The timeline

 

Members were asked to comment or raise questions on the information received.  Those discussions are summarised as follows:

 

·          

Members discussed the importance of making the Welsh medium offer as attractive as possible in the future; the need to have Welsh role models; and making the plan more current and relevant for the final version in the future.

 

·          

Members queried whether there was a need to create more Welsh immersion centres and where they were currently based.  Officers advised that the current primary unit is located at Ysgol Glan Ceubal. The current secondary unit is located at Ysgol Bro Edern; there was a need to increase places; and secondary aged pupils wanted to be on a site with their peer group.  There needs to be proactive promotion of Welsh immersion as opposed to a reactive one; that would require greater provision. The Plasdwr model will provide greater visibility and offer more steps on the ladder to Welsh medium education.

 

·          

Members referred to the Pupil Level Annual Schools Census (PLASC) 2020 figures in relation to numbers receiving Welsh medium education and sought information as to whether the reduction in figures between primary and secondary uptake was due to the lack of secondary provision or parental choice. Officers advised that there has been significant growth in the availability of primary places because there has been a spike in the population figures which started in 2005.  Those are the numbers now promoting through to secondary school. There needs to be confidence that there are secondary places available.

 

 

Members queried what external environments, for example links with Cardiff University, are available for those pupils going through the Welsh medium curriculum.  Members were advised that it often depends upon the manner in which schools promote it; one school, during lock down, had alumni return and talk about their experiences of going through Welsh medium education and having left school.  Promoting an enhanced range of opportunities is a key priority. There is a lot more to be done highlighting that bilingualism and fluency in Welsh is really valuable in the long term.

 

·          

Members discussed how far support provided to those with ALN reaches for those who need the support and those in Welsh medium education.  Members were advised that if a child chose Welsh medium education it is important that that is an assurance that they are able to succeed bearing in mind their personal needs; they have to be taken into account.  There has to be high quality ALN input, which will need very careful consideration and planning to ensure linguistic parity.

 

·          

Members sought clarification of the current costs of the immersion programme and were advised that they could be circulated in due course to Members.  Costs would depend a lot on where provision is based.

 

·          

Members discussed:

 

·         the need to ensure not only the importance of Welsh in a Welsh medium forum but also the English medium forum, there must be a balance;

·         the need to make the transition from Welsh primary to Welsh secondary as easy as possible, including in terms of transport; and

·         those children moving from Welsh to English medium education should not be penalised, an example of which was a young person who could not take a Welsh GCSE in the English medium school to which he had transferred. 

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the Chairperson writes to the Cabinet Member on behalf of the Committee expressing their comments and observations during the way forward.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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