Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Scrutiny Investigation.

(i)  To approve the Gwynedd Category 3 Secondary Schools Scrutiny Investigation Report.

(ii)  To receive an update from the Cabinet Member on the implementation [GMF(1] per recommendation at the meeting on 21 March 2024.

(iii) To accept that what was undertaken by the investigation answered the requirement in terms of the notice of motion presented by Councillor Rhys Tudur to the Full Council on 4 May 2023.

The Cabinet Member for Education, the Head of Education Department, the Assistant Head: Corporate Services, the Assistant Head: Secondary and the Head of Gwynedd's Immersion Education System were welcomed to the meeting.

The Chair of the Investigation, Councillor Paul Rowlinson, presented the final report of the Gwynedd Category 3 Secondary Schools Scrutiny Investigation and members of the scrutiny committee were asked to consider the content, make observations and ask any relevant questions, proposing any amendments and approving the report.

The Chair of the Investigation suggested that the section on GwE should not be discussed in detail, as it was understood that GwE disagreed with some of the issues identified, but it was emphasised that Recommendation 17 only requested further discussion between the Education Authority and GwE.

The Chair of the Investigation thanked the Investigation Team, and especially the Lead Officer, for their work, and thanked the staff, pupils and governors of the three schools for giving of their time to present the evidence.

The Chair thanked the members of the Investigation for their work.  The members were then invited to ask questions, offer observations, or propose amendments to the report.

Special thanks were given to the pupils of the schools for their willingness to speak extremely openly with the members of the Investigation. 

It was emphasised that there was a need to give more support to organisations that helped children and young people to speak Welsh socially, such as the Young Farmers and the Urdd, and to present them in a positive way in the schools.  It was noted that Cyngor Gwynedd had lost its youth clubs and that it was necessary to find out what social opportunities were available to encourage the use of the Welsh language.

It was suggested that the figures in Appendix 5 seemed incredibly good, and it was asked where the data was obtained from.  In response, it was explained that the data was submitted to the Authority by the schools.  In response to a further question on the same matter, it was confirmed that the members of the Investigation had not challenged the figures in any detail, and that they had accepted the data submitted by the schools.

Concern was expressed that the three schools selected did not give a picture of the situation in all Gwynedd schools, as all three of them were mostly in indigenous Welsh communities, and it was suggested that there were other schools in Gwynedd that would have reflected a very different scenario.

Concern was expressed at parents' ability to refuse Welsh-medium education for their children, thereby depriving their children of the opportunity to have a good career and live in the area in the future.  It was also noted that it became evident during the Investigation that the schools were under great pressure to offer English-medium provision, as parents threatened to move their children to Ysgol Friars or Ysgol Tywyn (which were category 3T schools) otherwise.  It was believed that it was necessary to look in more detail  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6