Powys children start seven-week Welsh language ‘intense immersion course’

Children who have moved to Welsh language schools are being put through a seven-week crash course at a language centre in Powys.

It is the first time that Powys County Council has offered an “intense immersion course” known as ‘Meistri Maldwyn’.

The aim of the face-to-face course is to quickly give the children the bilingual skills they will need to succeed at a Welsh school.

Powys Council said that the immersion course “is the first step in developing Welsh-medium education immersion provision in Powys and will be an important provision as the council looks to build a bilingual future for Powys and its young people”.

Eleven pupils from five different schools across the Powys are attending the course at Ysgol Dafydd Llwyd in Newtown.

Cllr Phyl Davies, Cabinet Member for Education and Property, said: “I’m delighted that we are offering this intense immersion course for the first time in Powys to those learners that have decided to switch to Welsh-medium education.

“Improving access to Welsh-medium provision across all key stages of education is one of the strategic aims in our Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys 2020-2030.

“The evidence from the rest of Wales is that bilingual/Welsh-medium provision offers the best opportunity for learners to become fully bilingual, whilst also creating a dynamic outward-looking cultural environment.

“We want to improve access to Welsh-medium provision across all the key stages of education and increase the opportunities for children and young people in Powys, and those who move into the county, to become fully bilingual.”