Language of learning changed at four more primary schools

Children at four Carmarthenshire primary schools will be taught in Welsh until they reach age seven, when parents can then decide what language they want their children to continue learning in.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s full council met on January 8, 2020, to agree the change in language provision at Ysgol Y Ddwylan in Newcastle Emlyn, Ysgol Griffith Jones in St Clears, Ysgol Llangynnwr in Carmarthen, and Ysgol Llys Hywel in Whitland – all four schools currently dual language settings.

It follows a lengthy process including extensive consultation and forms part of the authority’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan, which aims to ensure more children can learn and speak Welsh.

There will be no change for current pupils attending the schools, but from September 2020, any children joining the schools’ foundation phase classes at the start of a new term will be educated through the medium of Welsh, as part of a phased change.

When children begin Key Stage 2, around the age of seven, parents will have a choice as to which language of education they want their children to continue learning in.

Language provision at a number of other Carmarthenshire primary schools have changed successfully in recent years as part of the authority’s strategic plans align to the Welsh Government target to increase the number of Welsh speakers in Wales to one million by 2050.

Carmarthenshire County Council sees education playing a key role in helping reach that target.