Skip to main content

Very Important Day!

After two terms in South Wales, my two sons are starting back at their local school, Ysgol y Garnedd, in Bangor.

There are three hundred children at the school, with half coming from non-Welsh speaking homes. Given the importance of a bilingual education within a Welsh environment, I am hopeful that both my sons will benefit greatly from being at the school and will be speaking both languages confidently in the next few years.

Given the fact that Ysgol y Garnedd is no more than 200 yards from where we live, there is a superb after school club and there is overwhelming evidence of the benefit of a balanced bilingual education, my sons could not be in a better position for the beginning of their learning journey here in North Wales.

However, it was with some surprise that I read that, allegedly, the country’s first bilingual state primary school was opening on the same day in Battersea, South London (The Times, 5th September, page 4). Of course, unlike the Wix Primary School, the two languages being taught at my sons’ school are Welsh and English and not French and English.

After the highly publicised and commendable efforts of Glyn Wise on Big Brother in demonstrating the strength and vitality of the Welsh language, it is a shame that the Times still seems unaware that children across Wales are being taught daily through the medium of one of Europe’s oldest languages.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE CRACHACH

Unlike me, do you consider yourself part of 'the establishment' here in Wales?  As thousands gather for the Eisteddfod in Mold this morning, they will, according to some social commentators, not be participating in the greatest cultural festivals of Europe. Instead, they will merely be bit-part players in one of the annual gatherings of the great and good of Wales.  Unkindly, this set of the movers and shakers in Welsh society is known as 'the crachach' , and constitute a social class all of their own, dominating the educational, cultural and media sectors of Wales and allegedly looking down upon any outsider with new ideas, reinforcing mediocrity and failing to see beyond the limits of their own narrow experience.  They are said to live in a comfort zone that awaits the expected invitation to the next glass of chilled chardonnay and canapés, forgetting that due to their lack of leadership and drive, Wales remains firmly rooted to the bottom of the UK prosperity league ...
30 comments
Read more

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASSES

One of my favourite academic books of the last two decades must be the “Rise of the Creative Classes” by Professor Richard Florida.  This was one of the first detailed studies of the growing group of individuals who use their creativity and mental labour to earn a living and not only included those in arts and entertainment, but also people working in science and technology as well as knowledge-based professions such as healthcare, law, business, and finance.  Fast forward to 2022 and Professor Florida has written an updated report on the creative classes although he and his team now identify a different type of individual who is taking full advantage of the growth in digital platforms, social media, and online marketplaces.  Such ‘creators’ are defined as those who use digital technology to make and publish unique creative content, whether in the form of video, film, art, music, design, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.  They ...
Read more

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MONITOR WALES 2022

How entrepreneurial is Wales? That is the question that the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) attempts to answer in its latest report which investigates those involved in early-stage entrepreneurship i.e. starting and managing a new business.  This year’s results show that the rate of total early-stage entrepreneurship (TEA) in Wales in 2021 was 10.3% as compared to 11.5% for the UK. This is significantly higher than the previous year (6.5%) and means that around 192,000 adults aged between 18 and 64 are involved in entrepreneurial activity in Wales.  Nearly three quarters are in the very early stages of starting a business and the rest involved in managing a new business aged between 4 and 42 months old.  This is an important finding as not only is the overall rate of entrepreneurial activity in Wales increasing but this is largely accounted for by those starting a business. In this respect, it is critical that the right support mechanisms are in place to ensu...
Read more