Agenda item

[NOTE: Councillor D. Price had earlier declared an interest in this item.]

The Committee were presented with the first draft of the new 10 year WESP prior to formal public consultation (Autumn Term 2021)

The Executive Board member for Education advised that the aim is to reach 1m welsh speakers by 2050 to enable our tourism, sports and arts industries to thrive.  The new plan will be introduced in September, 2022.

Welsh Government have made it clear that it is mandatory that Welsh is mandatory from 3 years old and English from 7 years old.

The Head of Curriculum & Wellbeing presented the Committee with a powerpoint presentation on how to promote parity of esteem between vocational and academic routes in Welsh education, expand the Welsh Language early years provision, expand the Pupil Immersion Programme and introduce a pilot project which will incentivise young Welsh speakers to return from universities to help teach Welsh in schools with bilingualism, multilingualism and plurilingualism.

Building Wesp around Carmarthenshire following 7 points to strengthen its purpose:

·         More nursery children (aged 3) following their teaching of Welsh-medium education

·         More reception children (aged 5) following their teaching through the medium of Welsh

·         More children improving language skills when transferring from one stage of their statutory education to another (progression progress)

·         More learners to study for qualifications in Welsh as a subject and subjects through the medium of Welsh

·         More opportunities for leaners to use Welsh in different contexts in schools

·         Increase provision for learners with ALN, in line with the new ALN Act

·         Increase the number of teachers able to teach Welsh and through the medium of Welsh

It was noted that 2 x Headteacher meetings had been held and feedback has been good working together in developing Wesp with the objective that all children are bilingual by the age of 11 and, with Welsh Immersion methodology in Foundation Phase, that children become adeptly bilingual by the age of 7.

Questions and observations raised:-

·         Asked if jobs are safe?  The Head of Curriculum and Wellbeing confirmed that redundancies are not to be associated with this agenda and staff will be supported to develop professionally by engaging in a comprehensive and flexible training programme.

·         Asked to expand on the Headteacher meetings; the Head of Curriculum and Wellbeing advised that in the English Medium session there was discussion around the step by step approach to taking on stakeholder comments; discussed staff capacity, training and programmes for governors planned for the Autumn and consultation with communities of the schools and discussions on how to support Headteachers for more training.  Welsh medium School Headteachers talked about: having a pilot in Carmarthenshire to promote the recruitment of more teachers; Welsh medium vocational paths; multilingualism; setting the bar high to have 3 languages in place for learners.  There is willingness amongst the Headteachers of both Welsh and English Stream but some had expressed reservations on how to put it into action but, overall, officers felt they had benefitted from detailed and appropriate discussions with them as Wesp develops further into the autumn, with more opportunities to engage with Heads and Governors.

·         Observation made that as part of the journey it’s important to teach parents and their children so that they understand the process and they are part of the journey with us and the need to do a lot of work with the parents.  The Chair advised that there is a communication plan in place when developing this Wesp and are engaging with non-statutory organisations.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.