Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Bithell introduced the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) which had been written in accordance to Welsh Government (WG) guidance and which had to be submitted to WG by 20^th December, 2016.  The Plan was in its final draft stage before being issued for an eight week consultation with a prescribed list of stakeholders.

              The WG launched a draft national strategy to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050.  WG acknowledges that in order to meet its ambitious target and secure the use of the language in the longer term, children and young people in Wales must be given the change to improve and extend their use of Welsh.  Key to this is improving learners’ outcomes in Welsh and increasing the number of children accessing their education through the medium of Welsh where children will become totally bilingual.

            Councillor Bithell made reference to the recommendation for local authorities following the recent Estyn thematic review as outlined within the report.  He also outlined the action plan within the WESP which detailed how it would achieve the seven key outcomes determine by WG.

            The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) outlined the vision statement, principles and commitment of the local authority in supporting the Welsh language and Welsh medium education, as detailed within the report.  He also advised that based on the consultation responses received and any feedback from WG, the Plan would be amended.  Once final approval had been receive from WG, the Plan would be operation from 1^st April, 2017.

            Councillor Shotton reported that the Plan would be considered by the Education & Youth Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 15^th December, 2016.  He also commented on the successful increased provision in Welsh medium education at Ysgol Glannau Dyfrdwy.

            Councillor Christine Jones commended the work of Cylch Meithrin, Garden City which through Mudiad Meithrin and Flying Start Programmes provided free quality Welsh medium childcare provision to parents in the area.

            Councillor Kevin Jones said that WG had set a very ambitious target in achieving such a high number of Welsh speakers but raised concerns that in order to achieve this additional resources would be required which were not being passported from WG to local authorities. 

            Councillor Bithell advised that allocated commuted funding could be set aside for the purchase of land.  As part of the revised WESP for 2017-2020 the Council would undertake a consultation with all of its English medium primary and secondary schools to raise awareness of the language categorisation model and to test whether there was capacity for schools to consider changing their language status.  The outcome of this consultation would then inform any future plans for changes to the Flintshire schools’ profile of language categorisation. 

            RESOLVED:

(a)       That the changes in the guidance on Welsh in Education Strategic Plans be acknowledged;

(b)       That the Flintshire’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan be approved; and

(c)        That the recommendations from the Estyn Thematic Review in Welsh in Education Strategic Plans be noted.