Plaid Cymru council ‘denied child access to Welsh language education’

Martin Shipton

A mother has complained to the Welsh Language Commissioner that a Plaid Cymru-controlled council has denied her 13 year-old daughter fair access to Welsh language education.

In her complaint to Commissioner Efa Gruffudd Jones, Bethan Davies, who lives with her daughter in Anglesey, told Nation.Cymru: “I was born and raised on Ynys Môn. I am a product of the 1970s/80s education system on the island.

Although my father was a first language Welsh speaker, it is my second language. I moved away for 30 years due to the lack of work on Anglesey but returned in 2019 to look after my mother. I continue to learn Welsh but I have struggled to reintegrate into the work community because my Welsh is poor.

“I say this only to emphasise that I fully understand and support Welsh language education and understand how important it is for our young people.

“My complaint concerns how my daughter – now age 13 – has been significantly let down by Anglesey council three times in respect of her Welsh language education.”

Covid

Ms Davies has made three related complaints. In relation to the first, she said: “When we returned here my daughter, then aged eight, went to a local primary school. Her Welsh language education was badly hit by Covid because lockdowns began when she’d been in school here for just a term. Therefore to help improve her Welsh prior to secondary school I asked if she could attend one of the immersive Welsh language terms on Anglesey.

“I received the following response from her school: ‘We can put an application in for [her] to attend the Welsh unit in the Summer term which is held in Ysgol Cybi. Which high school will [she] be attending? Please note that places are very limited and priority is usually given to those children in year 6 who are going to Bodedern high school.’

“This was an exceptionally disappointing response. [She] was going to Ysgol Uwchradd Caergybi, not Bodedern, for practical logistical reasons. Given that it is almost impossible to get a job with the council – the largest employer on the island – without Welsh, this immediately puts my child at a disadvantage despite being keen to learn so that she can stay in her community when she reaches working age.

“I verbally followed this up with her school but was told she wouldn’t get a place on the immersive course. It was particularly galling therefore to read an article which relates a story of Ukrainian refugees going through the same immersive course I had requested at the same time I’d made my request. Clearly these places were not so ‘very limited’ if the council was able to use three spaces for what was clearly just a publicity stunt. It was deeply unfair and a kick in the teeth for a local family who really needed this opportunity.”

Parents’ evening

Outlining her second complaint, Ms Davies said: “In the two years since [my daughter] began secondary school at Holyhead High School, not one of her Welsh teachers has attended any of the parents’ evenings I have been to. This has meant I have never been able to discuss her progression with them.

“In her Year 8 exam (2023-24 academic year) she got 17% in her Welsh exam. I was appalled – she is a bright child and got over 90% in Spanish, so does not have an issue with languages. She told me that the highest mark in her class was 36% and that their Welsh teacher had not taught the class anything for the previous few weeks. In fact her exact words were: ‘He just told us to do stuff on our chrome books but we had no Welsh to do so we just played games and he sat on his phone. When I asked him what I was supposed to do he wouldn’t tell me.’

“I made a complaint to the school and asked for work or support for her to catch up over the summer break. I did not receive any contact from the Welsh department nor any work for her to do.”

Home educate

In relation to her third complaint, Ms Davies said: “I have now withdrawn [my daughter] from mainstream education to home educate her for a number of reasons. The failure of Welsh language education is just one of those reasons.

“Although I have resourced all her other lessons, I have struggled to find anyone who offers Welsh language classes to home educated children. I visited the Welsh Government website re home education and found out that the one aspect of education that the local authority is required to assist with for home educated children is signposting to Welsh language education. For that reason I wrote to Anglesey council on August 10 to ask for this signposting.

“Despite a swift response from the central contact team saying they’d passed my enquiry on to the education team – which allowed them to mark my enquiry as closed within two days on their central system – I have heard absolutely nothing further from the council.

“[My daughter] has now finished the first three weeks of the school term doing her Welsh language education on Duolingo, which is unacceptable.

“To be honest, in a country where the Welsh language is so important and where we are trying desperately hard to keep our culture and let it flourish, the response from Anglesey council to a local family genuinely keen to engage and stay in their community is not just disappointing, it is actually damaging.”

Complaints

A spokesperson for Anglesey council said: “We take all complaints seriously. We are unable to respond to complaints about individual schools. The Education Act 2002 requires that the governing bodies of all maintained schools in Wales establish procedures for dealing with complaints from parents, pupils, staff, governors and members of the local community.

“The parent, who has made a complaint to the Welsh Language Commissioner, has not made a formal complaint to the council. However, after reading the letter sent by the parent to the commissioner, we can confirm that we are currently discussing complaint 1 and complaint 2 with the schools to gather more information.

“We can confirm that Anglesey council policy is that all pupils who meet the required criteria can access our language centres, regardless of their intended school destination in Year 7.

“Regarding the third complaint, information regarding Elective Home Education was sent to the parent on August 12 . We have received confirmation from the school regarding the de-registration of a pupil from a place of education. Consequently, we will be prioritising contacting the family to offer them further support. We will be contacting the parent to update her about the above matters.”

Ms Davies says she did not receive information about home education from the council.

A letter to Ms Davies from an official of the Welsh Language Commissioner’s office pointed out that matters relating to education are not included in the commissioner’s remit, but that a response would be sought from the council.