Agenda item
To consider the
report of the Education Corporate Services Officer (attached).
Minutes:
Submitted - the report of the Education Corporate Services Manager
inviting the committee to consider the content of the annual review report and
offer observations.
Further to the content of the report and to the Welsh
Language Commissioner's presentation (item 5 above), the Head of Education
noted:
·
That he agreed in full that the provision in schools
in relation to category 2A had been a weakness in the past, but since the
advent of the Secondary Sector Language Strategy in Gwynedd, the Authority now
had a clear indication of the situation in every school. This information was vital in order to draw
up a purposeful plan for all the different linguistic situations in each school
in order to strengthen not only the social use element but also to influence
the language curriculum.
·
He could not overemphasise the extent to which the Department
took pride in the fact that it could provide the entire range of services to
the most vulnerable learners through the medium of Welsh (outcome 6) and that
this was a credit to the staff and to the Council's vision and the investment
made in this field.
·
That the Minister for Education had congratulated
Gwynedd on the way the Council had established a different education system in
Dolgellau, which meant that the Welshness of the primary schools permeated
Ysgol Bro Idris. He also noted that he
wished to congratulate the Headteacher and staff and governors on their work in
promoting, insisting and ensuring that the Welsh language holds its ground at
the school.
·
That the Headteacher of Ysgol Uwchradd Tywyn also had
a strong vision. As with Bro Idris, Tywyn
again was an uphill struggle in terms of having a positive influence in
relation to the Welsh language, but the way in which the school had adopted the
plan for the Secondary Sector Language Strategy had received national attention
and provided a way forward for any other institution.
·
That significant green shoots of change had also been
witnessed at Ysgol Friars, with the number sitting Welsh First Language on the
increase.
·
That the percentage of children coming into the
foundation phase from non-Welsh-speaking homes was on the increase. A decline in children's social skills was
also a factor, with children starting the foundation phase without
communication skills in any language, and the fact that almost all of them were
assessed through the medium of Welsh at the end of year 2 was testament to the
success of the foundation phase in Gwynedd.
·
That it was believed that major steps forward were
also being taken in the secondary sector as a result of the fact that Gwynedd
had the first Secondary Sector Language Strategy in terms of promoting the
Welsh language in Wales.
·
That the success of the Primary Schools Welsh Language
Charter had now spread throughout Wales as a result of Gwynedd primary schools'
vision in adopting it in 2011.
·
That Estyn was now, for the first time, measuring to
what extent schools gauged children's informal use of Welsh, and that this
stemmed directly from a meeting held in Carmarthen in 2013 where a copy of the
Gwynedd Welsh Language Charter was presented to the then Chief Inspector of
Schools.
·
That he agreed with the Commissioner about the need to
challenge a school's context in terms of bilingualism and that there was some
way to go too in being able to face up to and report on the reality in our
schools, but the fact that this was being acknowledged was an important step
forward.
Members were given an opportunity to ask
questions and offer observations. During
the discussion the following matters were raised:
·
The fact that excellent work was taking place at Ysgol
Bro Idris and also at Ysgol Uwchradd Tywyn was reiterated.
·
It was noted that because of the perception that Ysgol
Friars is an English school, children travelled there from areas such as
Porthmadog, and more information was requested about the pilot scheme to develop
the language skills of the workforce.
·
It was noted, despite a number of children sitting
Welsh first language GCSE, that much fewer followed other subjects through the
medium of Welsh, and it was asked whether data was available on how well this group
of children speak Welsh.
In response to some of the above
observations and questions, the following was noted:
·
That the pilot scheme to develop the language skills
of the workforce at Ysgol Friars was funded through a grant awarded to the
region and which was then allocated.
This grant funding has been used over a period of time to employ a
language tutor to work with some of the school's teachers, in order to develop
their skills and confidence to use the Welsh language in class, and developing
an element of Welsh within their educational resources too. Acquiring those skills would not be an
overnight process and no specific target was set for that. However, the Department collaborated closely
with the school and influenced where possible.
·
That this was a very exciting time in Gwynedd within
the context of the Welsh language, with the Welsh Language Charter having long
been established, and the Secondary Sector Language Strategy having a greater
influence on a cohort of children, both formally and informally, within the
context of informal Welsh than ever before.
·
That the Service also planned for the new curriculum
as a consequence of Professor Donaldson's work, which would become increasingly
important in the life of our schools.
·
That a piece of work was commissioned to look at the
post-16 provision in Gwynedd, focusing specifically on the sixth form element
in Arfon, in order to discover whether there was a case for changing the
current system. The Welsh-medium
provision lay at the core of the brief for this work and the perception that
post-16 education through the medium of Welsh was a hindrance to young people
had to be done away with.
·
As so much was happening in this field at present, it
was decided to establish a Project Board around the Welsh language, and it was
noted that the Department would be pleased to provide the committee with
summary and timely reports on the work as a means of showing what the
Department was doing in the field of Welsh in its entirety.
·
That it was slightly premature to present data on the
use of more informal language by those pupils sitting GCSEs, but it was hoped
to see in due course that there was a link between those following a number of
subjects through the medium of Welsh and the use they made of Welsh. This was one reason why specific attention
had to be given to the medium across the curriculum as this is what would
provide learners with the skills and confidence to be able to use Welsh in a
range of different situations, rather than Welsh solely as a subject.
The Chair suggested, as there were still
quite a few questions and discussions, that the committee should scrutinise the
report further. She thanked the Head of
Education for suggesting that regular reports come back to the committee and
suggested that a representative of the committee should sit on the Project
Board around the Welsh language to scrutinise the plan because it was so
comprehensive, and also to meet the need to support the Head of Education with
the plan.
RESOLVED to
propose the Chair, Vice-chair and Councillor Alwyn Gruffydd for consideration
by the Department to act as members of the Project Board in order to scrutinise
the plan further.
Supporting documents:
- Annual Review Report of the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP), item 6. PDF 57 KB
- Appendix 1 - Annual Review Report on the Implementation of the Gwynedd WESP for the Year 2018-2019, item 6. PDF 112 KB