To be having second thoughts about Welsh school?

[SheLovesaCrisp]

My Son is 3.5 and will be starting pre-reception in April.

The school we chose for him is an all welsh school (most are in our area). He currently goes to a welsh creche, but english is also spoken occasionally.

The school he is going to is completely welsh.

I only speak a little welsh, my partner is fluent. I am starting to wonder if this was a good decision. We speak english at home, apart from a few commands like

wash your hands
lets clean up
whats the matter

That kind of thing.

Has anyone sent their little one to an all welsh school when it isn't their first language?

He does understand and know a little welsh. He refers to a lot of things in their welsh names, especially colours.

My partner said he is going in from a young age so will be fine.

well, if you live in Wales then speaking Welsh opens up job opportunities.

As long as you never want to leave Wales. You could also argue that the policy of requiring Welsh from job applicants is dramatically narrowing the pool of talent for any job.

On a practical level - what's the alternative? If most of the schools are welsh-speaking, could you even choose English medium?

They said the gift of bilingualism is the best gift we can give our children. I wish I’d had the possibility to give it to mine! It’s incredibly good for the brain apparently. It also helps them to pick up a third language or more languages if the chance/ need arises.

Even in the perhaps unlikely event he never actually uses Welsh in future life, it will help him to pick up Spanish, Arabic , Mandarin (just naming three widely spoken languages- but I mean any language!) should he need or want to.

I would go for the best that that suits him and you. Honestly at that stage the pastoral care is often more important and if he is used to hearing Welsh at home and in the community it won't be long before he picks it up.

However, as someone who taught technical subjects in a Welsh university I would agree re: technical language as per a previous post. BUT that is years away and is the same for overseas students. It isn't insurmountable if and when your DC gets to that stage.

The benefits outweigh the disadvantages in my opinion, and I would focus on whether the school is right for your family overall.

Not exactly the same but my children go to an Irish medium school and neither dh and I have anything more than a few words of Irish. It has been great for them. They are teens now and one in particular has a real love of languages from it. He wants to continue studying languages in university and is hoping to work for the EU in an Irish language job eventually. I really doubt he would have found this passion for languages if he hadn't have spent the past 12 years learning through Irish. It's absolutely been the best decision for our family.

Great feedback, thank you.

I feel a bit calmer now. I will definitely get back on duolingo though. I learnt a lot last year and can speak some conversational welsh.

It is a lovely school, most of his friends from nursery are going there and it is just around the corner.

We live in an area where all primary education is Welsh language only. Neither of us are Welsh speakers (we’re learning). My DD is 6, DS nearly 4 - we moved here when he was a baby. DD has picked Welsh up quickly and she also reads English really well for her age. We read a lot and it helps she’s always been a bookworm. So we have lots of bilingual stories/games which she’s already outgrown but I’m using to teach myself! Basically it’s working fine for us and I think being bilingual in any other language is a huge advantage. Some friends with older kids say their English literacy can suffer but at the moment I have no concerns on that score. Main problem is my own dunce status in Welsh, but all school communication is in English and Welsh.

My DSC are educated in Welsh and none of their 4 parents speak Welsh, the bilingual element has been great for them eldest was going to do 4 languages at GCSE but decided to stick with 3!
Only time it's been a struggle was lockdown but google translate was my best friend

One of the positives especially at secondary is class sizes, the biggest class either of them has is 20

I went to a Gaelic medium school - I am bilingual, Gaelic was my father's first language and my mother was a learner (never really got past A2 on the CEFR scale, but she tried!). We mostly spoke English at home.

As an adult, I also speak French fluently, Spanish and Italian to B2 level and some German, Russian, Korean and Japanese. I am naturally good at languages and pick them up easily, even just at tourist level.

While I don't use Gaelic in my professional life (I work in IT!), I strongly believe that it helped me become a better learner, much apart from the links it has given me to my heritage and culture.

I went to Welsh-medium schools. Degree in a STEM subject from a Russell Group University.
A-levels at school were taught using English terminology.

DSIL was a Welsh learner at the same Welsh-medium secondary school and grew up in an English-speaking household. She has a PhD in a STEM subject and you would never know that she didn't speak Welsh until she was 11.

Fair enough - I did not catch up on that.
In that case, go for it if its what you and or OH feel and see how your DC takes it up

My sister started in an all welsh school in reception coming from a completely English speaking family and she absolutely thrived! I started in year 4 and still was fine so I think little one will be fine and the fact your partner is fluent means he will be able to help etc with anything you or little one don't understand :)

Your husband is right. We live in South East Wales and 99% of pupils at Welsh medium schools come from English speaking homes.

The school will understand this and everything comes home bilingually so you won't be out of the loop and you'll still be able to support with homework.

You can try and learn Welsh yourself but I've seen all types of parents: those who learn Welsh, those who are fluent and those who don't speak a word of Welsh. The children leave the school on an equal level.

Go for it and be proud at the great opportunity that you are giving your child.

Carry on reading in English. The school reading books that come home are very basic at first of course and you will learn alongside them.
All the books are available on the website and YouTube.

Once the books get harder the child won't need or want your help.

You have everything to gain from putting him into Welsh school. Speaking about her language gives you access to a whole other entire world. I am multilingual and really thank my lucky stars that I was given this opportunity as it has opened my eyes to another mentality and philosophy. It actually gives you a better grasp of English also as it makes you more aware of grammar.

To the precious poster who said look at where the jobs are...no, education is not just about preparing for the world of work, but also for the world of leisure.

Our local Welsh schools are so much better than the English ones and that shows. My children have thrived despite little welsh spoken at home. Very few parents regret their decision to send to Welsh school. But there are a few that switch back to English in early secondary years. and then they are happy with that.

Mine are in welsh education- one in high school one in primary. DH is first language welsh and I’m a learner. DH did all his education in welsh and had no problems with his STEM degree. Kids are thriving. Little one particularly loving all the Urdd opportunities she is getting through the Welsh school. Older one reads in English as well as any of his friends in English school.

It's really common. Many of the children start with little Welsh but they learn it embarrassingly quickly (by adult standards). He'll be almost fluent in a term.

He'll adjust quickly and it will be beneficial long term. His English will be just as good, but he'll have another fluent language and so the ability to access other languages more easily.

Enjoy!

I like this…..

Having two languages is like having two windows on the world

Sending DD to Welsh medium school was the best thing we ever did. The pastoral care tends to be exceptional and early bilingualism is a gift. (I did A level second language welsh with nobody at home speaking Welsh so still understand a lot.)

DH is from Yorkshire. DD now in year 8 and thriving. There were some children in her primary that moved - some early on and others after Covid. But the majority have stayed in WM education.

I wasn’t in a full Welsh speaking school but was in a Welsh class where we did Welsh all afternoon through primary. I did Welsh GCSE in year 9 and I moved to England in my early 20’s and can barely remember a word. I do visit Wales often and love the country and feel that it’s very important to keep the Welsh language going. But I do feel I didn’t benefit from the extra Welsh and it’s never been useful for me or my friends who remained in wales as they’ve all forgotten it too as their families are all English speaking and no-one really speaks Welsh in the town in wales they live in

In early primary, you child might seem behind kids the same age at English schools in reading...BUT a few years later they will zoom ahead. There is no danger of them not being fluent speakers and readers of English when they're older. I sent my daughter to Spanish school despite not speaking a word and couldn't be happier. We get letters home in both languages. I did some Welsh in primary and starting young really does help with learning any language when you're older

My children are in Welsh medium. One parent speaks fluent Welsh, the other knows some words.

It's great. In our area many of the other parents are not Welsh speakers. The school communicates with parents bilingually. Parents' evenings are offered in Welsh or English.

Homework in the infants usually has bilingual instructions so you can understand what they're trying to do. Of course, if they're writing in Welsh them of course it's easier for the Welsh speakers to help, but usually either parent can make themselves useful.

As the children get older, tasks may be set in Welsh only (unless it's English homework - they start studying English in Year 3). This isn't a problem. By then they can read the instructions and tell you what the work is. In any case, the value of homework is in the child being involved, not in the parent doing it for them. When the question and answer are in a language the parent doesn't speak, they can help their child to think about how to respond but the child has to be involved in understanding the question and at least understanding and translating the answer.

I’m not in Wales but had a bf at uni (still a friend) who spoke almost all Welsh at home (his father was a professor of Welsh language) and was educated in Welsh to A-level. At university his conversational English was fine. He sometimes lacked confidence with some academic vocabulary at first, but picked it up very quickly, and also learned a new language (Russian) from scratch very quickly. Much faster than me (and I’m bilingual French)

He is now a senior banker in the City and his kids go to Welsh language school on Saturdays. I know he’d say a Welsh medium education was nothing other than advantageous. And ‘hi’ to his DW if she’s on this thread, I know she reads MN!