Torfaen County Borough Council Welsh in Education Strategic Plan 2017 – 2020 Torfaen WESP 2017-2020 1 Torfaen Borough Council Welsh in Education Strategic Plan 2014-2017 Introduction This Welsh in Education Strategic Plan is presented by Torfaen County Borough Council in conjunction with the local authorities of Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire and Newport and the Education Achievement for South East Wales (EAS). These five local authorities and the EAS will work together in partnership to plan and deliver Welsh-medium education across the area. This plan details how Torfaen County Borough Council and the South East Wales Consortium will aim to achieve the Welsh Government’s outcomes and targets outlined in the National Welsh Medium Education Strategy at a local and regional level. Section 1 Vision Torfaen as a member of the South East Wales Consortia will participate in the development of Welsh standards in education to equip a bilingual Wales with a skilled bilingual workforce, supporting the Welsh Government’s vision for Welsh in Education. We will work together as a region to equip schools and education providers across age ranges and linguistic sectors with the capacity and sustainability to increase standards in Welsh and promote the use of the Welsh language within families, communities and workplaces. One Welsh medium seedling school was established in September 2010, Ysgol Panteg, with 36 pupils. This schools is now successfully established with 320 pupils attending. Ysgol Panteg has a new 420 place school building which opened in February 2017. In light of discussions with Welsh Government we will be submitting proposals to Welsh Government for capital grant funding to support the development of further Welsh Medium primary provision in the Borough. The grant funding will support capital investments that facilitate growth in Welsh medium education and use of the Welsh language. The proposal outlines Torfaen’s vision for creating the demand for Welsh Medium provision by establishing a new Mudiad Meithrin provision at a current English Medium primary school in the south of the borough, and a Ti a Fi group within the local community. Additionally, we will keep under active review opportunities to expand Welsh medium provision, subject to demand requirements and funding availability. The proposal also details a bid for an increase in Welsh Medium primary provision in the North of the borough. This will be initially for a 210 placement on a 315 footprint. Subject to the approval of these proposals we will then be in a position to amend our WESP accordingly. Torfaen WESP 2017-2020 2 We will continue to monitor to maintain and improve the high rate of transfer from Welsh medium primary schools to Welsh medium secondary school provision. The Council is eager to ensure that planning for Welsh medium school places is rigorous and based on the most recent data available. The Council is exploring the possibility of providing parents with parental preference surveys of school demand when they register births. This will result in continual surveying of preferences and should enable us to identifying changing trends earlier. A full survey of parental demand for Welsh medium education, as required by the WESP regulation, took place in November 2016. The 2016 survey was sent to approximately 3000 parents/carers of pre-school aged children in Torfaen. The survey period ran from Monday 17th October 2016 to Monday 28th November 2016. In all 320 surveys were returned representing a return rate of 10.66% (based on a circulation of 3000). This is disappointing but perhaps not unexpected given the nature of the survey, and the fact that it is held on a regular basis, where cohorts of parents/carers may have been surveyed previously. Because the level of response was low, the statistical evidence is not sufficient to make a case for additional provision, particularly in terms of Welsh Medium education. However, based on current projections and annual forecasts undertaken to measure demand for school places, the council is satisfied that there are sufficient places across English Medium, Welsh Medium and Faith based sectors to meet demand. The LA will continue to monitor demand for Welsh Medium education and where necessary report back in order to ensure the council meets its statutory obligation to provide Welsh Medium School places where they are desired. As part of the childcare offer in Torfaen (within Flying Start), there is a dedicated page for parents promoting bilingual education. Torfaen Family Information Service website also has a dedicated page promoting Welsh medium education. Torfaen Flying Start have been working with Liz Evans Braun from Mudiad Meithrin, who is being funded by Welsh Government to promote welsh language with parents through informal sessions. Liz has been working with Kate Pike, Flying Start Enhancement Co-ordinator to provide · Song and story time in Family Fun Time Sessions and Incredible Years Baby · Baby yoga taster sessions at the end of the Living life to the full group for mums suffering with post-natal depression. Baby yoga taster session to the walking group with the view to running it as a group in January. · Attending the ‘Baby shower ‘ antenatal event. All groups have welsh signing and rhymes in Welsh. The baby yoga gives words to actions. These sessions are new for the Autumn Term and some are in the proposal stage. Torfaen WESP 2017-2020 3 The Council will aim to stimulate and provide local, accessible, sustainable, community-focused provision to meet the growing demand for Welsh-medium education through Welsh-medium educational parental demand surveys. The surveys will be conducted every two years via online questionnaire to parents through 3 cohorts: 0-1yrs; 1-2yrs; 2-3yrs with a summary of the findings reported to the Executive Member for Education and the local forum. The findings of the survey will be regularly measured to ensure the council’s planning is effective in meeting demand and aspirations of parents requiring Welsh medium education in future. The three Welsh medium primary schools and Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw work collaboratively in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Also, a priority for the collaborative work is to continue the strong linguistic provision between each key stage of education by exploring the idea of an immersion protocol. Currently, the schools are researching whether to provide immersion at individual schools or at a central immersion centre based in one of the Welsh medium primary schools. The Torfaen Welsh Education Forum has developed this WESP which is now issued in draft format for a 2 week consultation. It went through the 8 week consultation period in December 2016. The consultees are listed in Annex 2 and the timescales for the consultation leading to submission to Welsh Government is included at Annex 3. The Wellbeing of Future Generations Act is about improving the social, environment, economic and cultural wellbeing of Wales. It makes sustainable development the central organising principle in Welsh public life. The Act has 7 wellbeing goals, one of which is ‘A Wales of vibrant cultures and thriving Welsh language.’ This means that there is already a duty on the Council to achieve that goal in the long term, as one of the steps to create the Wales we want to see in 2050. The Torfaen Welsh Language Strategy 2017- 2022 and objectives will be considered in forming Torfaen County Borough Council Wellbeing Objectives for March 2017 and the Public Service Board’s Plan, March 2018. The WESP can have a role to play in achieving the goals emerging from the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act and at the same time support the implementation of the Welsh Language Standards. This is achieved by a governance model based on a partnership approach by the Members of the Torfaen Welsh Education Forum, which is Chaired by the Chief Education Officer. The membership includes: Primary representation from Welsh-medium schools Secondary School representation from Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw Menter Iaith Torfaen WESP 2017-2020 4 Urdd Gobaith Cymru Coleg Gwent Early Years Mudiad Meithrin Rhieni dros addysg Gymraeg (RhAG) Education Achievement Service Councillor representative The Torfaen Welsh Education Forum has agreed terms of reference which declares the function of the Forum. This is through collaboration between, schools, and other partner organisations with an interest in Welsh education in Torfaen as prescribed in the Welsh Government ‘Welsh Medium Education Strategy’ and Torfaen’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan. In particular, the Forum shall: Monitor the implementation of the WESP Monitor the provision of Welsh-medium education and act as a consultative group for future developments, as well as the development of the WESP Provide an annual report to the Welsh Government describing progress in terms of implementing the WESP’s targets against the approved timetable The sections that follow demonstrate a full partnership approach to compiling the WESP, this document is in draft format and has be developed as consultees comment and feedback during the next 8 weeks. The Torfaen Welsh Education Forum in collaboration with the Executive member for Education will sign off the Final Draft before submission to Welsh Government by the 20th December 2016. Torfaen WESP 2017-2020 5 Objectives: Expand our Welsh language provision in education to meet current and forecasted demand. Explore the possibility of creating demand for Welsh Medium