The South-East Wales Regional Welsh-medium Education Promotion Champion is the group’s most ambitious project to date and could not have been achieved without the support of the Welsh Government.

 

During 2021 and early 2022, the local authorities who are members of Grŵp Deddf revised and updated their 5-year Welsh Language Strategies and their Welsh in Education Strategic Plans. Many of the actions and targets around increasing the numbers of Welsh speakers in the 5-year plans are obviously linked to Welsh-medium education provision, for both school-aged children and adults, and so there needed to be close links between the two plans to ensure a single process and no duplication.

 

The Grŵp Deddf local authorities are at different stages in Welsh-medium education provision for a number of reasons; current local Welsh-speaking population figures, historic levels of provision and also local and political will (which has to be acknowledged), together with a host of other factors that all help create a different picture across the group’s region.

 

Each local authority and the Mentrau Iaith, together with other members of local Welsh language forums such as the Urdd, Rhieni dros Addysg Gymraeg and Mudiad Meithrin, have worked on a number of long and short-term projects to promote Welsh-medium education matters, which for example have included: