Welsh-medium education could be introduced at a south Powys primary school if a recommendation to Cabinet is approved, the county council has said.
Powys County Council is proposing to move Ysgol y Cribarth in Abercraf along the language continuum by establishing a Welsh-medium stream at the school.
The school is currently an English-medium school providing education for pupils aged 4 to 11.
Since September 2021, Ysgol y Cribarth has operated a Welsh-medium Foundation Phase class on a pilot basis as part of a scheme that has been supported by the council.
The proposed change would see a Welsh-medium stream introduced at Ysgol y Cribarth from September 2023, operating alongside the school’s English-medium stream.
The proposal will help the council deliver one of the aims in its Strategy for Transforming Education, which is to improve access to Welsh-medium provision across all key stages. The strategy was updated in July 2022.
The council carried out a seven-week consultation between December 2022 and February 2023 and the findings of the consultation report will be considered by Cabinet on Tuesday, March 7.
Cabinet will also be asked to continue with the process to move Ysgol y Cribarth along the language continuum by establishing a Welsh-medium stream at the school.
If given the go-ahead, the council will publish a statutory notice formally proposing the change. It would then be required to consider another report to conclude the process.
Cllr Pete Roberts, Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys, said: “I would like to thank all those who took part in the consultation exercise for this proposal. After considering all the consultation responses, the recommendation that I will be putting forward to Cabinet is to continue with the proposal by publishing the statutory notice formally proposing the change.
“This change would ensure that all pupils in the area would have the opportunity to choose this provision, which would give them the opportunity to become fluent in Welsh and English and therefore contributing to the Welsh Government’s aspiration to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050.
“It would also support the council’s aims and aspirations as outlined in the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) for 2022-32 and the Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys.”
