Agenda item

To consider a report by County Councillor Phyl Davies, Portfolio Holder for Education and Property.

Cabinet was asked to give approval to carry out consultation on the authority’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) for 2022-2032.  The Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (Wales) Regulations 2019 required local authorities to set a ten year target outlining the expected increase in Year 1 children taught through the medium of Welsh in the local authority’s area during the lifespan of the Plan. Powys was expected to achieve an increase of 10-14+% in the percentage of Year 1 children taught through the medium of Welsh by 2030/31. This would require an increase from 22.2% of Year 1 pupils taught through the medium of Welsh in 2019/20 to between 32% and 36% pupils taught through the medium of Welsh in 2030/31. The WESP had been developed in order to contribute towards achieving this target and was based on 7 Outcomes which reflect a learner’s education journey.

The consultation would commence before the end of September 2021 and continue for a period of 8 weeks. A post-consultation version of the WESP would be considered by the Cabinet in January 2022 before being submitted to Welsh Government by the end of January 2022.

Cabinet was advised that the consultation would seek to establish why there was a 20% drop off in the number of pupils in Welsh medium primary education going into Welsh medium secondary education.

County Councillor Elwyn Vaughan who had chaired the Welsh education partnership meetings, commended the commitment to ensuring there was access to Welsh-medium early years and primary provision in all parts of the county, to supporting dual-stream/English-medium primary schools to move along the language continuum so that they can provide Welsh-medium immersion education until the age of seven or eleven and establishing Welsh-medium secondary provision in at least 3 localities in Powys.

County Councillor Pete Roberts, the Chair of the Learning and Skills Committee advised that the Committee regarded the plan as appropriate for consultation. The Committee felt that there were a number of areas that could be improved upon which would come out in the consultation. The Committee would like to see the inclusion of some “stretch” targets in the later years of the programme in the final document which would help the authority achieve beyond Welsh Government targets. The Committee also wanted to see more evidence in the document supporting the change of location on the proposed Welsh Medium Secondary School in North Powys.

Cabinet welcomed the document which would form a key part of the schools transformation project. The Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and the Welsh Language noted that ensuring the Welsh language remained an integral part of life in Powys was a priority for the Cabinet. She also noted the important role played by organisations such as the Urdd, Mudiad Meithrin and the YFC in supporting the language. Support for early years was also very important. Cabinet noted that delivering the WESP would take significant resources to ensure equality of access in Welsh and English medium education. The Portfolio Holder for Education and Property thanked colleagues for their comments and their support for the WESP which would be a very critical part of the future of education in Powys.

                        RESOLVED to approve the commencement of consultation on the Council’s draft Welsh in Education Strategic Plan for 2022-2032.