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Frank wrote:I think there is a relevant discussion here. There have been two articles in The Graun about language use in Welsh Schools started by this article. It seems a school in Carmarthenshire is switching from being bilingual to Welsh-only.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jun/20/storm-welsh-only-schools-minority-language#comment-100687178
There followed this article, a kind of right of reply, in defence of Welsh. I personally think parents should have the choice of Welsh medium or English medium but I've grave concerns about English speaking pupils attending Welsh medium schools. And also a sense and it is only that, that language preservation is a higher priority than academic attainment.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jun/22/sad-english-parents-afraid-children-taught-welsh?CMP=share_btn_tw
This has been fairly poorly represented in the media. The particular school is Llangennech is not moving to being 'Welsh-only', it's being changed from a dual stream (English-medium & Welsh-medium stream to Welsh-medium) due to the increasing demand in the local area for Welsh-medium education. Whilst pupils are for the most part taught in Welsh in a Welsh-medium school, they still learn to read, write and speak in English. And given we live in the UK it's laughable to think (as some of the comments on those articles contend) that pupils would leave education being unable to speak English, it's almost all they hear outside of school via the media, TV, music etc.
Following the change it means Llangennech will have two local primary schools - Llangennech Primary School (Welsh medium) and Bryn Primary School (English medium). So parents have a choice.
Out of interest, why do you have grave concerns about English speaking pupils attending Welsh medium schools? Aren't children capable of picking up more than one language?