Over £220,000 to extend Welsh Language Charter across North Wales

During a visit to the National Eisteddfod in Meifod, the First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones will today [Monday 3 August] announce over £220,000 to extend a Welsh Language Charter across North Wales during 2015-16.

The Welsh Language Charter, which was piloted in Gwynedd, has been developed within primary schools to provide a framework to promote and increase the use of Welsh by children in a social context. As part of the Charter, each individual school completes a baseline exercise to determine current language use, and then develop an action plan to work towards a bronze, silver or gold award. It encourages participation from every member of the school community, pupils, parents, school governors and the wider community.

Building on the successful pilot in Gwynedd, which has seen an increased use of Welsh socially amongst young people, the Charter will now be extended across Conwy, Dinbych, Fflint a Wrecsam over the next year.  The extension, which will be operated by Gwynedd Council, will help inform the development of the Charter into a National programme.

First Minister said:

“Increasing the use of the Welsh Language socially is at the heart of our vision within Bwrw Mlaen.  It is particularly important that children and young people have the opportunity to use the language naturally in all aspects of life.

“The Welsh Language Charter, which was piloted in Gwynedd, does just that and has been a big success in increasing the use of Welsh outside the classroom.  I am therefore delighted to be able to announce funding of over £220,000 to extend the charter across North Wales over the next year. I look forward to seeing its progress and assessing how we can further roll-out the Charter across Wales.”

Arwyn Thomas, Education Director at Gwynedd Council said:

“Cyngor Gwynedd is extremely pleased of the Gwynedd Welsh language Charter and its key contribution towards ensuring the Welsh language thrives as a social, natural language amongst our primary school children. One of the programme’s strengths is the way in which the children themselves took ownership of the Charter’s  principles. The credit for this belongs to our primary schools, the children’s comittment, headteachers, entire school staff, governors and parents alike.

“Cyngor Gwynedd is looking forward to working closely with local authorities across North Wales in order to promote the social use of the Welsh language amongst the children in our region. It will also be a way in which we can all learn from each other’s experiences. “

Whilst at the Maes, the First Minister also officially launched the ‘BydTermCymru’, a portal for the Welsh Government’s Translation Service and external contractors.  The refreshed portal contains an updated list of commonly used terms and features a range of new features.