Any non-welsh speakers sending dc to welsh speaking school?

[dontstopmenow]

I am having a bit of a trauma over whether to send my ds to welsh speaking primary school or an english speaking one. I would love him to go to the Welsh speaking school really.

I don't speak welsh and only learnt it in school (many moons ago).

Could anyone let me know how they cope and if children and parents manage okay?

Thank you!

I don't, I am Welsh speaking and so have obviously send my DC to a Welsh medium school. I also work in an Ysgol Feithrin.

However lots of the DC's classmates come from homes where no Welsh is spoken at all, and they seem to manage fine. The teachers are very supportive.

If you have some knowledge of Welsh, however basic, then it will obviously help.

With regard to homework, if you have friends who are fluent Welsh speakers you can always ask them for help. I often get texts asking "DD has homework which says xyz, what does that mean?".

I am Welsh speaking (so not really what you're looking for!) but know that most welsh schools have a large number of pupils who don't come from 1st language welsh homes and homes where Welsh isn't spoken at all, but do many things to overcome the issue of involving/communicating to parents. e.g. welsh homework this week, english next week, teachers can all speak english (obviously) so parents evening/discussions not a problem and all communication (letters home are bilingual).

In terms of reasons to send your child to welsh schools - I went to one and was in the welsh stream in secondary school; everyone in my class got A grade GCSE French, probably because being bilingual already meant that taking on a third language was more 'natural' as we were already pre-programmed to think in another language IYSWIM

Welsh is now a growing language - My DH is english and taking Welsh classes to keep up with DS, and it's just so lovely hearing my DS switch from Welsh to English and back again with ease.

Thank you all, I do think we will go for it. Just a big decision to make.
Will try and find a welsh class that we can go to over the summery holiday - get a bit of a head start!

After all, if it all goes terribly wrong - we could switch I guess.

Hoping for the best then!