Secondary school information for parents in Wales

Alun: I think because I got my education through the Welsh language, there weren’t really many options on the table – I knew that I’d got so much from it that that’s what I wanted for my children. However, there was a question over the fact that my husband doesn’t speak Welsh so there was a little challenge there. And because we were going through the adoption process we always knew that their needs would have to come first. If Welsh language education wasn’t gonna be right for them we had to factor that in. However, what we found is that it’s been the perfect thing for them and they’ve thrived on it.

Gurdev: We started thinking about Welsh Medium Education before our children, just before my son was born. And it would just create better opportunities, being able to speak Welsh, English and Punjabi – it would help them in the future.

Sarah: When I came to Cardiff from Kent, I couldn’t believe that there was a language that existed that I knew nothing about. Everything was bi-lingual, so I knew that when I had a child I’d definitely put them into Welsh Medium Education and it was just an absolute no brainer.

Sioned: I think the thing that will worry non-Welsh speaking parents when they come into the Welsh school is that they’re gonna be the only one, that they’re gonna be in a total minority – and that’s just not the case. Most of the parents in my school class don’t speak Welsh, but I’ve got parents that are, like, friends on the yard – we’ve got Urdu speakers, we’ve got Polish speakers and they’re all such a brilliant part of the school community – because everyone is really keen to give the gift of, like, a Welsh education to their kids.

Alun: So, before the children had actually started attending the Welsh language school, what we did was we just casually introduced little words like ‘brwsiwch eich dannedd’ for brush your teeth. All the nice little phrases that just became part of our everyday life so then going to Welsh school was a really natural step. And it wasn’t a completely new language for them.

Sarah: My husband speaks a little bit of Welsh. I communicate as well as I can in Welsh, although I’m not as good as him. We do the usual family things, we’ll watch TV in Welsh where we can, there are loads of mainstream programmes on Q. We look at apps specifically in Welsh language.

Sioned: Starting really early is the best thing! It’s the best thing for you as parents, as well, because you can go to little story time clips in libraries – that’s where I started going with my son. You start with nursery rhymes, just nice, basic level things – and I got to meet lots of other parents there as well. Most of them non-Welsh speaking, they were just coming to, like, test the waters of Welsh language education for their children.

Sarah: So we looked for kids clubs, childminders, swimming coaches, any opportunity that we could find that would allow us to have some Welsh medium brought into our everyday family life.

Sioned: My son is going to clubs with the Urdd Welsh youth organisation, they arrange lots of sports clubs, they do the Eisteddfod.

Laura: I think the benefits of Welsh education are your child’s learning two languages, learning two histories, two cultures – it’s giving them a much wider sense of belonging.

Gurdev: I don’t believe that Welsh is just a language for school. For instance I have a business and I take my son there on weekends and he generally speaks to the customers, who are Welsh speakers obviously, and it’s so great to be able to have that and, you know, I’m really proud of him, so…

Sarah: The fact that it’s one of the oldest languages, you know, to exist – to keep that alive, that’s got to be a benefit culturally for your children. And also just being able to understand your heritage, and there can be nothing better than being able to sing the national anthem and understand what you’re singing.

Rhian: The Welsh immersion unit was set up to provide intensive Welsh lessons for children who have had no Welsh previously and have now decided that they would like to attend Welsh medium schools. We accept children from year one to year six, and also we have a secondary class for year 7 and 8 pupils.

Non (translated from Welsh to English): I started in the immersion unit at the end of year 6, when I was 11, I think. I was in an English language school before starting in the immersion unit and hadn’t learnt any Welsh at all.

Rhian: We use a variety of teaching methods. Our priority is that the children are enjoying themselves and are happy, so we play lots of games, we play card games, we play board games, we play games on the interactive whiteboard. We do a lot of role play, we practise scripts and then we perform the scripts regularly. Anything and everything so they’re learning without noticing really. The children who attend the immersion unit are usually children who have been living outside of Wales and therefore never had the opportunity before to attend a Welsh medium school. Sometimes we have children who have been adopted or fostered and their families have decided they’d like them to go to Welsh medium school. Or sometimes we just have parents who have decided that they want children to transfer from English medium schools to Welsh medium schools within their county.

Alun: So our children came to us, we adopted them when they were four and seven, and after a year in English language education we took the decision to move them to a Welsh language education, meaning that they first went to the immersion unit. Welsh language education had always been a long term goal for our children, that’s what we wanted for them. The advice we were given by social workers during the adoption process was that learning Welsh would be too much for our children. When they came to us and we were actually able to assess that situation for ourselves, we realised that that assessment was wrong and that they could cope with it, and they are coping with it – they’re thriving on it. Four-and-a-half days a week they’re at the immersion unit, half-a-day a week they were in their new Welsh language school, getting to know their friends, getting to know new people.

Rhian: It usually takes about a term for a child to become fluent, it varies obviously – sometimes we’ve seen children come in [and] after six weeks they start speaking Welsh and that’s it! They don’t stop!

Montage of children speaking Welsh

Non (translated): By the end of year 8, I had stopped mentally translating from Welsh to English and was able to communicate in Welsh without even thinking about it.

Rhian: After the children leave the immersion unit, we continue for a term to give them some after care.

Alun: So it’s certainly not a case of the children being dropped into their school and that’s it, there’s really good after care as well.

Non (translated): I’m now part of a much larger community than I was before because everyone in that community can speak Welsh. Welsh speakers have a completely different sense of identity and that new sense of identity has made me feel good.

Alun: The impact is going to be lifelong, it’s changed their lives already and it’s going to continue to do that.

Alun: So our son is going to secondary school this year and I think that our concerns are probably just the same as most other parents: how are they going to fit in? Are they gonna be happy, are they gonna be able to cope with the new workload - there’s gonna be so many more subjects. So that’s what we’re doing at the moment, is preparing him for the new work, saying ‘get that homework done because when you go up in September it’s gonna be a totally new thing, there’s gonna be a lot more work to do’

Laura: It’s a massive step going from junior education then to high school. I know for myself, I lost a lot of confidence and that’s one of my main concerns with Bertie entering high school.

Sioned: My main concern about my son starting secondary school is a lot of his friends are going to be going to a different secondary school so he’s going to lose a chunk of his social circle and how confident is he gonna be building a new social circle and finding his place in this new school, which is gonna be much bigger than his primary school. It’s that just concern on a social level. I think he’ll be okay, you know, he’ll have a lot of support from teachers with his academic work but how is he going to manage with his social skills going into a huge new school.

Sarah: I have those worries that every parent has: will she fit in? Will her personality change – at the moment she’s a really vibrant, happy, spirited child – will that change as she grows into those teenage years where she becomes, I guess, more independent? Will I understand or see the social cues where she’s really struggling? Or, you know, she just may not come to me anymore, and I think if you can keep that engagement and that conversation up with her then there’s always that opportunity to support her when she is ready to be supported and to talk about it.

Alun: So as parents we’ve been to an open evening, it was an open evening just for parents – but we accidentally took the kids along anyway, but that’s what happens! And actually we had a really good family evening together. It was great for us to see the school with our son so that we could chat about what we’d seen. The Sixth Formers gave a presentation on their first impressions of the school when they were that age – and that personal point of view was absolutely wonderful. The school are gonna be taking the kids off to Llangrannog in September, they go on a mass trip as a year to get to know each other. But also to get to know the sixth formers who are gonna be sort of leaders, who are gonna be their role models.

Gurdev: I think it’s very natural for parents to be worried about how their kids are performing, whether they’re underperforming. But I think it’s also very important to keep in touch with the school, to help their transition, to know where their weak spots are, so you can maybe have extra tuition – which you could arrange yourself as a parent, so it helps them with the transition.

Laura: As a parent you do have to understand that they’re not going to excel in everything, that it’s important to encourage them and to support them and to find that niche and what they enjoy learning.

Sioned: I think when it comes to exams, like GCSEs, the anxiety levels go sky high for parents and for children but there’s so much that you can do to help them out. There’s so much online support available - BBC Bitesize - your school will be able to give you so much information about how you can support your child. There’s a lot you can do so don’t ever feel that you’re not able to support your child.