Welsh medium education

[pomeroy]

IMO not delivering value for money !!

[RichardM]

Re: Welsh medium education

Would you care to expand on your reasons for your opinion?

[ToTaL ITK]

Re: Welsh medium education

we could have a seance

[Dorcus]

Re: Welsh medium education

This is all small talk

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Welsh medium education

IMO not delivering value for money !!

In what way?

I have a theory that having separate Welsh and English medium schools doesn't help the Welsh language. I'd like to see those schools combined.

Imagine a merger of an English and Welsh medium secondary school. All departments merge. Lessons are taught in both languages, depending on the choice of the child, so friends A and B are both going to their GCSE music class - A is in one room while B is next door being taught in Welsh. The environment would be truly bilingual. Those who learn in English are aware of Welsh being used and might feel there's more point to the Welsh language than some do currently. They get to go to school with their friends. Resources get pooled and strengthened by a merger. Welsh speaking staff in English medium schools are able to teach in Welsh. There would be some cost benefits as well. Some people might say that children learning through the medium of Welsh won't be in a Welsh-only environment, but the truth is that there is little Welsh spoken by kids in Welsh schools outside of the classroom, unless there are teachers about.

[Whisperer]

Re: Welsh medium education

Personally I hated learning Welsh at school my parents never spoke it at home even though my mother was from the north….still can’t get my head around the national anthem.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Welsh medium education

Personally I hated learning Welsh at school my parents never spoke it at home even though my mother was from the north….still can’t get my head around the national anthem.

Could both of your parents speak Welsh then? I know of a few couples where both speak Welsh but one is from the north and they struggle to understand each other in Welsh so just use English.

[WJ99mobile]

Re: Welsh medium education

In what way?

I have a theory that having separate Welsh and English medium schools doesn't help the Welsh language. I'd like to see those schools combined.

Imagine a merger of an English and Welsh medium secondary school. All departments merge. Lessons are taught in both languages, depending on the choice of the child, so friends A and B are both going to their GCSE music class - A is in one room while B is next door being taught in Welsh. The environment would be truly bilingual. Those who learn in English are aware of Welsh being used and might feel there's more point to the Welsh language than some do currently. They get to go to school with their friends. Resources get pooled and strengthened by a merger. Welsh speaking staff in English medium schools are able to teach in Welsh. There would be some cost benefits as well. Some people might say that children learning through the medium of Welsh won't be in a Welsh-only environment, but the truth is that there is little Welsh spoken by kids in Welsh schools outside of the classroom, unless there are teachers about.

Wouldn’t work in my personal opinion

Everyone that goes to a Welsh medium school buys in at the very start.

[Whisperer]

Re: Welsh medium education

Could both of your parents speak Welsh then? I know of a few couples where both speak Welsh but one is from the north and they struggle to understand each other in Welsh so just use English.

I never heard my old man speak Welsh or any of my friends parents for that matter. I’m talking 60s - 70s

[goats]

Re: Welsh medium education

In what way?

I have a theory that having separate Welsh and English medium schools doesn't help the Welsh language. I'd like to see those schools combined.

Imagine a merger of an English and Welsh medium secondary school. All departments merge. Lessons are taught in both languages, depending on the choice of the child, so friends A and B are both going to their GCSE music class - A is in one room while B is next door being taught in Welsh. The environment would be truly bilingual. Those who learn in English are aware of Welsh being used and might feel there's more point to the Welsh language than some do currently. They get to go to school with their friends. Resources get pooled and strengthened by a merger. Welsh speaking staff in English medium schools are able to teach in Welsh. There would be some cost benefits as well. Some people might say that children learning through the medium of Welsh won't be in a Welsh-only environment, but the truth is that there is little Welsh spoken by kids in Welsh schools outside of the classroom, unless there are teachers about.

Funny you should say this Eric, cardiff council want to expand a Welsh primary as it’s full and has no space to expand in its current site, they also of course receive more money per pupil if they are learning in Welsh. My kids go to an English primary school nearby, a large site with two buildings, lots of space and it’s possibly not full due to 3 other schools being within half a mile.
We heard a few months ago the plan was to either swap sites or possibly merge giving the Welsh lot the smaller building for key stage 1, thus mixing the schools. Thought that might be quite a good idea but the welshy parents wanted all or nothing. The Welsh school is mainly all white middle class and ours is probably only 40%, it’s one of the most cosmopolitan schools in cardiff and has kids recently arrived from all over including Iraq and the like. I know a few of the Welsh parents and they don’t think they are but their views are bordering on racist which is why they don’t want precious Jonny mixing with kids from such places.
Put the council in a bit of a flux now anyway, all or nothing hasn’t gone down well in our school. You would think with covid and kids well being they would have other focus anyway. We will see hey

[Whisperer]

Re: Welsh medium education

Funny you should say this Eric, cardiff council want to expand a Welsh primary as it’s full and has no space to expand in its current site, they also of course receive more money per pupil if they are learning in Welsh. My kids go to an English primary school nearby, a large site with two buildings, lots of space and it’s possibly not full due to 3 other schools being within half a mile.
We heard a few months ago the plan was to either swap sites or possibly merge giving the Welsh lot the smaller building for key stage 1, thus mixing the schools. Thought that might be quite a good idea but the welshy parents wanted all or nothing. The Welsh school is mainly all white middle class and ours is probably only 40%, it’s one of the most cosmopolitan schools in cardiff and has kids recently arrived from all over including Iraq and the like. I know a few of the Welsh parents and they don’t think they are but their views are bordering on racist which is why they don’t want precious Jonny mixing with kids from such places.
Put the council in a bit of a flux now anyway, all or nothing hasn’t gone down well in our school. You would think with covid and kids well being they would have other focus anyway. We will see hey

Yeah even the twee English middle class are learning the Welsh language - it’s so in vogue.

[Toggs]

Re: Welsh medium education

Funny you should say this Eric, cardiff council want to expand a Welsh primary as it’s full and has no space to expand in its current site, they also of course receive more money per pupil if they are learning in Welsh. My kids go to an English primary school nearby, a large site with two buildings, lots of space and it’s possibly not full due to 3 other schools being within half a mile.
We heard a few months ago the plan was to either swap sites or possibly merge giving the Welsh lot the smaller building for key stage 1, thus mixing the schools. Thought that might be quite a good idea but the welshy parents wanted all or nothing. The Welsh school is mainly all white middle class and ours is probably only 40%, it’s one of the most cosmopolitan schools in cardiff and has kids recently arrived from all over including Iraq and the like. I know a few of the Welsh parents and they don’t think they are but their views are bordering on racist which is why they don’t want precious Jonny mixing with kids from such places.
Put the council in a bit of a flux now anyway, all or nothing hasn’t gone down well in our school. You would think with covid and kids well being they would have other focus anyway. We will see hey

All schools are funded in the same way, a bloc grant depending on the number of places available and a set amount per pupil. A full school actually gets less per pupil than one with unfilled places Other grants top this up, a one class entry Welsh medium school, for example, would get just under £5000 for Welsh language resources out of a total grant of £150000, a school with falling numbers gets a share of a pot of over £1,000,000, grants are also made to schools for asylum seekers, pupils with special needs and those living in deprivation, the school you describe would be better funded than it’s neighbouring welsh school. I appreciate that our children’s education is always going to be an emotive topic, more so when issues like class, ethnicity and language are in the mix, but let’s stick to the facts, I not sure using phrases like ‘the welshy parents’, ‘the welsh lot’ and ‘bordering on racist’ really helps a sensible discussion, let’s keep it civil.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Re: Welsh medium education

Yeah even the twee English middle class are learning the Welsh language - it’s so in vogue.

It's 'faux' Welsh. Probably the only language you'll hear around Riverside - sorry Pontcanna, most weekends. It's a major leg-up in getting a career in the Assembly, Local Council, or any of the 100's of quangos that have been created here in Wales over the past 20yrs.
The Missus's 1st language was Welsh, and she would prefer our grandson was at a main stream English speaking school

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Welsh medium education

Could both of your parents speak Welsh then? I know of a few couples where both speak Welsh but one is from the north and they struggle to understand each other in Welsh so just use English.

The accent is very weird isn't it.

[goats]

Re: Welsh medium education

All schools are funded in the same way, a bloc grant depending on the number of places available and a set amount per pupil. A full school actually gets less per pupil than one with unfilled places Other grants top this up, a one class entry Welsh medium school, for example, would get just under £5000 for Welsh language resources out of a total grant of £150000, a school with falling numbers gets a share of a pot of over £1,000,000, grants are also made to schools for asylum seekers, pupils with special needs and those living in deprivation, the school you describe would be better funded than it’s neighbouring welsh school. I appreciate that our children’s education is always going to be an emotive topic, more so when issues like class, ethnicity and language are in the mix, but let’s stick to the facts, I not sure using phrases like ‘the welshy parents’, ‘the welsh lot’ and ‘bordering on racist’ really helps a sensible discussion, let’s keep it civil.

Sure but my next door neighbour whose kids go to the Welsh school told me a lot of the parents don’t want their kids mixing with “foreign” kids in educational settings as they believe it holds them back or whatever excuse they can come up with, some of which I cannot repeat. 95% of the parents don’t speak Welsh anyway, so their not welshies really. And a very good mate of mine told me the council get more funding for Welsh speaking places, he’s very high up in the education dept.