Council propose to make all-age school entirely Welsh medium

A council is proposing to move an all-age school along the language continuum so it eventually becomes a Welsh-medium school.

Powys County Council is proposing to move Ysgol Bro Caereinion in Llanfair Caereinion along the language continuum from a dual-stream school to a Welsh-medium school on a phased basis.

The council say this would enable all learners to develop their language skills and become fluent in Welsh and English, ensuring that they become fully bilingual, and able to confidently use both languages in the future.

Consultation

It would also ensure that pupils in this part of Powys could access designated Welsh-medium secondary provision. This type of provision is already available to pupils in other parts of Wales but is currently unavailable in Powys.

The council carried out a seven-week consultation between October and December 2023 and the findings of the consultation report will be considered by Cabinet on Tuesday, March 19.

The recommendation being considered by Cabinet is that the council should proceed with the proposal to change Ysgol Bro Caereinion’s language category by publishing a Statutory Notice.

However, following concerns raised during the consultation about the proposed implementation in the secondary phase, it is being recommended that an amendment is made to the date that the secondary transition will start – from September 2025 to September 2026.

The transition in the primary phase is still being recommended to being in September 2025.

Free transport offer

To further address the concerns about impact on pupils currently accessing English-medium primary provision in the area, it is being recommended to Cabinet that, as a temporary measure, to offer free home to school transport to pupils currently in years 4 and below at Ysgol Bro Caereinion and Ysgol Rhiw Bechan to their nearest English-medium secondary provider when they transfer from primary to secondary.

Additional support would be provided to pupils not yet in the Welsh stream in the form of immersive Welsh language support ‘Trochi’, to enable pupils currently in the English stream in the school’s primary phase to transfer to Welsh-medium provision.

This type of provision has previously been delivered successfully in the county and in other authorities to enable pupils to transfer from English-medium education to Welsh-medium education.

Recommendation

Cllr Pete Roberts, Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys, said: “We would like to thank all those who took part in the consultation exercise for this proposal.

“After considering all the consultation responses, the recommendation that will be put forward to Cabinet is to continue with the proposal by publishing the statutory notice formally proposing the change.

“We have considered the consultations findings and have amended the proposal to address some of the concerns that have been raised.

“This proposal would see the council provide well planned provision for increasing the opportunities for a growing number of children and young people to become fully bilingual, fluent in both Welsh and English and therefore contributing to the Welsh Government’s aspiration to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

“This proposal meets the aims of the Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys and implement the commitments in our Welsh in Education Strategic Plan, which will enable us to make good progress against our target of increasing the number of pupils being taught through the medium of Welsh.”