New video to showcase Bridgend County Borough’s thriving Welsh-medium education provision

A new video is set to be launched to showcase Bridgend County Borough’s Welsh-medium education journey which includes parent and baby groups, schools, and lots of extra-curricular opportunities.

The official launch of the video will take place at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd on Thursday 26 October and forms a key part of the council’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP).

The council is committed to supporting Welsh Government to achieve its ‘Cymraeg 2050’ target of reaching one million Welsh speakers and is working closely with a range of partners to ensure an increase to the number of learners receiving a Welsh-medium education.

The county borough’s Welsh-medium secondary school, Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd, recently achieved the rare accomplishment of receiving no formal recommendations following an outstanding inspection by Estyn.

The school became the first ever Welsh-medium secondary school to receive a report of this level and was praised for creating a strong ‘Welsh’ culture throughout the school and for its consistent levels of high-quality teaching right across the school.

There are also four high achieving Welsh-medium primary schools in the county borough, they are: Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Ogwr (Brackla), Ysgol Y Ferch O’r Sgêr (North Cornelly), Ysgol Cynwyd Sant (Maesteg) and Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Calon y Cymoedd (Bettws).

Exciting plans are underway to increase the number of places available at Welsh-medium schools.

Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Ogwr will relocate to a brand-new nearby building to increase their capacity to 525 places, Ysgol Y Ferch O’r Sgêr will receive a new purpose-built building on their current site which will double their capacity and a new Welsh-medium seedling school is planned for Porthcawl prior to the future opening of a full Welsh-medium primary school.

For children from birth to school-age, there are many Welsh-medium play and learning experiences available in partnership with Mudiad Meithrin and Flying Start. Sessions are open to all parents/carers regardless of their Welsh language ability. These sessions include baby yoga, baby massage, stories and songs as well as stay and play activities as part of Ti a Fi sessions.

I am really proud of the amount of Welsh-medium education opportunities that are available for all ages in Bridgend County Borough.

It’s also really pleasing that plans are underway for the biggest expansion of Welsh-medium education in the history of Bridgend County Borough. This reiterates our commitment to delivering on our Welsh in Education Strategic Plan and supporting Welsh Government with its Cymraeg 2050’ target.

Cllr Jon-Paul Blundell, Cabinet Member for Education