Welsh in Education Strategic Plan

A strong commitment to immersion education is key to this strategy. The national aim to mandate the Welsh language from the age of 3 and English from the age of 7 is crucial in supporting this approach. During the first 5 years of the Plan.

• We will be working with partners to increase Welsh medium provision and targeting areas where there is no provision at present.
• We will provide support and guidance through our Early Years team and will continue to share materials with parents/carers/guardians in relation to the value of bilingualism so that they have a better understanding and can make informed decisions at all transitional stages.
• We will continue to increase the percentage transferring from the nursery groups to the Welsh-medium Foundation Phase.

In order to increase the number of Welsh-medium places available the current provision will be reconfigured by developing more childcare/pre-school provision through the medium of Welsh.

• We will continue to work with early years providers including Mudiad Meithrin and provision before the child turns 3, to strengthen and expand Welsh-medium childcare provision.
• We will continue to strengthen our work with Flying Start and with the Welsh Learning Carmarthenshire team. Strategic planning has already begun through working with these agencies to ensure a simple, educated understanding of Welsh medium provision through the sharing of leaflets and posters etc.
• We will utilise these partnerships to signpost individuals to Welsh literature and publications and to share information on opportunities for adult learning.
• Working with our Welsh for Adults team, Dysgu Sir Gâr and the National Centre for Learning, allows us to reach out into the community not only through information sharing but also through community working.
• We will work with the Admissions Team to ensure that clear, comprehensive and up to date information is included in the Information for Parents booklet which is available to parents of children of all ages. This information is also easily accessible on the County Council website.
• Officers who deal with enquiries will be given in-house training annually to ensure that they are best placed to answer any questions. Also, a good understanding is vital in order that they can discuss the implications of Welsh medium options. This can also be the important point at which detailed questions may be asked. It is therefore important for the admissions team to be in contact with the Welsh in Education Manager when needs be.
• Whilst reviewing the online school admission process, we will consider the users' journey. This needs to be very visible and easy to use so that parents and carers can consider and better understand Welsh medium education from the onset. With our vision to move all schools along the Language Continuum the need for correct up to date information regarding individual schools’ provision will become highlighted through the admissions team initially.
• We will also promote the Welsh Government’s suite of web content about Welsh-medium education which aims to provide guidance on how to create a positive narrative around the Welsh Language.
• We will increase the use of social media to ensure that parents and carers can make informed decisions on choosing a school for their children.

Athrawon Datblygu’r Gymraeg have created film clips about Welsh medium Education with extracts from pupils within Welsh medium education from a mixture of linguistic backgrounds as well as from parents. These clips give an insight into real families who have questioned Welsh medium education from the onset but who are very eloquent in conveying how their lack of understanding of bilingualism was simply that. These are very powerful and helpful clips as they convey many issues that arise with parents and carers who may have some reservations about Welsh medium Education. Information from Welsh Government regarding the clips on the WG website will be shared along with the use of the suite of web content which also provides guidance on how to create a positive narrative around bilingualism.

Marketing campaigns will be undertaken such as referring to Welsh social media channels for children which include resources for parents and children such as songs, film clips and information.

• Cymraeg for Kids
• YouTube Cymraeg

In order to increase the number of Welsh Medium places available we will:

• Develop more childcare/pre-school provision through the medium of Welsh
• Support current dual stream and transitional schools to become Welsh medium schools
• Invest in establishing new Welsh medium/dual stream schools using space available.
• Consider the age range of specific schools and potentially creating a space for providing Welsh medium very early years’ provision
• Continue to monitor the demand in urban areas
• The re-designation of all schools will be very advantageous in the improvement of the numbers in pre-school and childcare provisions.

It is our aim that all pre-school and childcare provision is delivered bilingually within the 10-year plan.

Numbers and % of nursery children/three-year olds who receive their education through the medium of Welsh

During the lifetime of this Plan, to meet Carmarthenshire's aspiration and the Welsh Government's target, we will change the linguistic nature of a number of schools. Our aspiration is to meet the target of a 14+% increase in the number of Year 1 learners following Welsh-medium education. In terms of deciding which schools will formally change their provision and linguistic nature, we will consider factors such as the willingness of parents and the community to support the change, ensuring that we have an adequate workforce with the necessary skills, that the school's governing body is supportive and that the headteacher and senior leadership are partisan to this and willing to help drive forward the development involved.

In order to do so it will be necessary to-

• Support our Transitional schools to move into Welsh-medium schools.
• Support some of our current dual stream and transitional schools to become Welsh medium schools.
• Support some of our English-medium schools to be two-stream or two-language schools.
• Assist our secondary/special schools to increase Welsh-medium provision taking into account linguistic designation.

Current Position of Primary schools

To support schools in increasing the number of Welsh-medium places available we will:

• Develop more childcare/pre-school provision through the medium of Welsh.
• Support our current dual stream and transitional schools to become Welsh medium schools in the short term.
• The County Council’s Sustainable Learning Communities (School Modernisation) will aim to ensure increases in Welsh medium places.
• Support English medium schools to develop Welsh Foundation Phase provision.
• Extend the age range of specific schools and create space for providing Welsh medium early years’ provision.
• Continually monitor with partners the demand in our urban areas and promote and expand provision as required.
• We will provide support and guidance to schools via our Athrawon Datblygu’r Gymraeg team in how to respond to parental enquiries.
• We will share materials with parents/carers/guardians in relation to the value of bilingualism in order for them to have a better understanding and be able to make informed decisions at all transitional stages.
• We will increase transition between the nursery groups and Welsh medium Foundation Phase.
• We will ensure that parents, through our 'Information to Parents' booklet, know which schools offer Foundation Phase and Key Stages 2-5 Welsh medium provision. The information about the linguistic nature of each school, in accordance with the Welsh Government’s new school designations December 2020, will also be available on the County Council’s website.
• We will be setting out applications for grant funding from the Welsh Ministers in respect of meeting and superseding our set targets to increase the number of Year 1 children taught through the medium of Welsh during the lifespan of the plan primarily for Language training.

In addition to a formal change in provision and category, it is expected that all schools will move and develop within their category in line with the aims in their School Development Plans.

Developing our Language Centres

The aim of Carmarthenshire Language Centres' development project is to build on previous experience and positive feedback received to date in this area of service delivery, and to go along with the provision in the St Clears and Llandeilo area we will need to ensure the functionality of the language centres to enable immersion education for learners across the whole county. The language centre will have several purposes including being a key support in developing pedagogy for the introduction of Welsh as one continuum.

The project has 5 main objectives:

1. Ensure that all pupils who are latecomers to Carmarthenshire become bilingual by providing immersion education – at primary and secondary level.
2. Offer language refresher (improving/polishing language) to Latecomers and native learners at essential transition points such as the end of the Foundation Phase and at the Key Stage 2/3 interface, and that funding for travel is available.
3. To deliver catch up programmes for pupils in Year 6/7 where language skills need to be improved to ensure a smooth transition into Welsh medium secondary education.
4. Provide professional development to improve the skills of teachers and support school staff to enable them to teach bilingually in and outside the classroom. Also, to improve the Welsh language skills of staff, particularly those on the language continuum journey. This will build upon the Llanelli area's innovative pilot project where staff from primary and secondary English-medium schools have taken part in a two-pronged approach to Welsh language support.
5. Ensure positive experiences of language learning for parents and guardians to enable them to support their children in learning Welsh at school and to assist in consolidating their learning at home.

The above strategies will enable us to be in a position whereby continued change in mindset across the county will be encouraged. Training is paramount and we will endeavour to work with all outside agencies and primarily with Welsh Government to ensure long term funding.

We will ensure that parents and carers have a good understanding of Welsh medium education through good communication links and continuous information sharing through school websites and social media.

We aim to integrate parents and carers into daily school life through offering Language learning side by side courses which are based on the Cymraeg i’r Teulu (CiT) services, where parents and carers are taught songs, rhymes and day to day classroom vocabulary and sentences as well as Cymraeg yn y Cartref course. The aim here is that parents/carers instigate simple conversations in the home as well as being able to sing along with their children. Parents are also encouraged to maintain their learning by joining Welsh for Adult mainstream courses.

This, in conjunction with the new school designation policy, will allow us to accelerate Welsh medium provision in Carmarthenshire. Immersion principles within all Foundation Phase settings will make the language journey much more feasible.

We are already working with schools and going through the consultation process to
begin the journey of language immersion within all schools regardless of category or designation.

Numbers and % of 5 year olds receiving their education through the medium of Welsh

We will work with our schools to place them in an appropriately challenging linguistic designation, as guided by the new national arrangements. This will be operative from 2022. From 2026, intra-phase transition from currently defined key stages will begin to take fuller effect i.e.:

• Transition between Cylchoedd Meithrin and the primary schools; this transfer is essential to ensure that progression from one to the other is 100%.
• Primary: Pre-school to Foundation Phase; Foundation Phase to KS2
• Secondary: KS3 to KS4; KS4 to KS5 (11-16 schools; 11-18 schools and the FE sector)

Transition matters will be guided by a combination of:

• the local WESP guideline as described herein in Outcome 3
• an appropriate placement consistent with the learner’s aptitude and ability, which will be:
  • Suitably challenging for the purposes of linguistic progression
  • Applied on a linguistic no detriment basis.

Working with the new linguistic designations, parents will be advised of a broad
framework of transition. This will be conditioned by suitable transfer of pupils between schools in the new transition framework, so that statutory linguistic transition is achieved.

The transition process will be supported by:

• Early immersion (FPh)
• Later immersion (KS2), as deemed necessary
• Gloywi (Yr. 7), as deemed necessary
• Hwyrddyfodiaid / Latecomers – immersion support on entry to Carmarthenshire, as provided by our language centres

To achieve our vision that all pupils continue to improve their language skills when transferring from one stage of their statutory education to another, we will continue to:

• Promote the benefits of bilingualism - Clear communication to all stakeholders about the expectation that learners who have followed the Welsh first language programme in primary school will continue this programme when transferring to the secondary phase. This will be shared with parents as part of the council's arrangements as an integral part of the school admissions process.
• Ensure linguistic progression from early years sector to KS2 and to the secondary sector.
• Increase the subject provision of Welsh medium and bilingual education in the
  secondary sector in accordance with the new school designations.
• Adhere to the clear progression protocol to increase the number of pupils who continue to study through the medium of Welsh at each key stage and ensure that this is communicated clearly to all stakeholders.
• Strengthen Welsh-medium secondary provision in specific areas of the county.(see outcome 4).
• We will ensure that all pupils are able to speak, read and write the language fluently by the end of Key Stage 2 to their expected levels.
• It will also promote our expectation that all pupils who have attended primary schools defined as bilingual will study at least 3 (initially) curricular areas through the medium of Welsh at Key Stage 3 to embed and further develop their linguistic competency. This will be achieved by targeting training and support for staff who teach KS3 in the schools in question.
• Schools will need to work in partnership to promote linguistic progression through transition projects and good communication between the primary and secondary sector. This will not be left until years 6 and 7 but will happen further down the primary school to ensure good understanding of Welsh medium education from the onset. Any reservations can then be addressed before the transition stages.
• We will look at the methods of monitoring linguistic progression and ensure that all stakeholders have a good understanding of our protocol. Where there is linguistic choice, we will continue to maintain our vision by ensuring a better understanding of the importance of maintaining a bilingual education throughout.
• We will continue to listen to and react to parental comments such as ‘We cannot help with homework’, especially in KS3 and KS4, by creating guidelines, or in this case a pamphlet, which gives clear answers. Film clips of parents describing their children’s journey through Welsh medium education are very valuable and we will create more film clips to help parents grasp a better understanding of bilingual education. These will not only encompass the merits of bilingualism, but also help address any doubts and misconceptions which arise when addressing difficulties pupils may encounter in certain subject areas. It is important to ensure that Welsh and bilingual medium education does not become an automatic causal default and that the whole background picture is always taken into consideration.
• Regarding progression between nursery and the Foundation Phase, the transition is not so much of a concern as we will be setting challenging targets for all schools in the levels of Welsh/bilingual medium education taught in all schools. With a national mind set change this will be of benefit to us moving forward.
• However, we will ensure that primary and secondary schools can work much more closely in partnership in order to promote linguistic progression to parents and carers. Again, the multifaceted work done on promoting bilingual awareness both locally and national, comes into play here.

The present and future plans under the 21st Century Schools and Education Programme fully reflect the targets set out in the WESP

Carmarthenshire will hope to exceed the 2031/32 target for Year 1 pupils of 10%, reaching the upper end of the 14+ percentage point increase range within the 10-year plan.

This will be achieved through the impact of moving all schools along the language continuum.

Numbers and % of children who continue to improve their Welsh language skills when transferring from one period of their statutory education to another

To achieve the above developments, we will move all schools along the language continuum by:

• Working with schools to develop the curriculum, affording opportunities for more learners to have access to Welsh medium and bilingual teaching.
• Adopting a strategic approach to the subject offer
• Increasing the volume of learners pursuing Welsh medium and bilingual options and, ultimately, more progressing to take qualifications at 16 years of age

This will ensure that more learners will study for, and complete, assessed qualifications at statutory school leaving age and beyond, whilst also being assessed internally by schools at key points in their learning journey (such as ages 5,7,11 and 14).

The strategy to realise this outcome, can be pursued via the following framework:

• Curriculum Development: a strategic approach to increasing the proportion of Welsh medium subject delivery offered by all our schools.
• Secondary School Model (see table above): increasing the number of subjects available through the medium of Welsh, resulting in an increasing percentage of the curriculum offer available through Welsh, whilst also increasing the proportion of learners who opt for Welsh medium or bilingual subject tuition.
• Primary School Model: increasing the quanta of Welsh medium delivery can be similarly modelled.
• Expand our use of E-sgol towards the future, including how we can develop our Welsh-medium post-16 curricular offer in our 2B schools.
• Extend PAG thinking, and the operating principles, to include schools and other providers, which would involve maintaining a similar number of subjects across our schools. If this is realised, significant growth is anticipated in the County's Welsh-medium post-16 provision.

A Strategic Approach to increasing the Welsh-medium Subject Offer

Increasing the number of subjects available through the medium of Welsh can be achieved:

• In a practical manner, the subjects can be increased due to opportunities which exist within the present staffing cohort, such as a teacher already being able to deliver subject content through the medium of Welsh.
• In a planned approach, by:
  • Mapping out how many more staff can be encouraged to teach through the medium of Welsh by supporting them with bespoke professional development. Note: Every member of staff will be afforded opportunities to develop their bilingualism, if required, and it is our duty under this policy to offer that support)
  • Making staff appointments which assist with moving the school along the language continuum
  • In a strategic manner, with deference to how different subject areas can support schools at different stages of their linguistic journey.

Towards the medium term and beyond, we aim to offer positive input whilst developing Welsh as one continuum, including options in the medium term to dual register pupils at GCSE level in the relevant schools. Additionally, we wish to:

• develop and promote the contribution older students in 11-18 schools can make as role models and mentors
• extend the proficiency of the Youth Support Service, especially based in schools in order to promote informal use of Welsh and develop promotional material which shows the value placed on bilingualism by employers.

In addition, we will:

• Work with employers and higher education to promote bilingualism as a key skill for further education and the world of work.
• Promote improved skills for the lifelong use of the Welsh language (research into and develop a Professional Welsh module for post-16 students e.g., through Welsh Bac)
• We intend developing a strategy of recruiting more young people to study A Level/AS Level Welsh, especially boys. Changes in the exam papers need to be fully addressed to aid change. This is a national challenge, with a 24% fall in the number of A-level first language students in Wales between 2008/9 and 2020/21, and a 60% fall in Welsh Second Language numbers over the same period. As a result, it will be necessary to work alongside WJEC and subject teachers within and outside the County to deliver. Tracking the views of students and prospective students will be very important in understanding the reasons for the fall and how to go about reversing the situation.
• We also want to work cooperatively to develop a higher course in Professional Welsh. This course to be offered as an A/AS level course via free-standing modular elements that students can aim for, irrespective of whether they are studying Welsh to A Level e.g., Welsh in the workplace and translation.
• Post 16 certificate/accreditation in Welsh for Scientists - this can entail investigating further possibilities within the Welsh Bac by encouraging students who are not on academic Welsh routes to hone their skills e.g., towards proficiency regarding our skills framework.
• We will support the Welsh Government campaign to encourage young people to consider Welsh at A Level by referring students to the You Tube channel www.youtube.com/cymraeg as well as through the Welsh language social media channels.

By the end of the plan, we will have increased the numbers of learners who study for assessed qualifications in Welsh as a subject and be able to offer all subjects through the medium of Welsh within our Welsh medium and bilingual schools.

We will also strive to ensure linguistic choice within our English schools, which supports progress with pupils’ bilingualism (see table above).

The table includes an increase in the numbers and % studying subjects through the medium of Welsh in year 11. It must be remembered that outcome 4 also relates to pupils in years 10,12,13. So actual numbers will be higher.

The numbers and % of learners that study for Welsh qualification (as a subject) and subjects through the medium of Welsh.

• We will support schools and work with partners to map and develop further opportunities to use Welsh in different contexts in the school. We will focus on our 34 English schools / English schools with significant use of Welsh
• Extend the Secondary Schools Language Charter to all secondary schools with the aim of 9 schools achieving the bronze award by 2027 and 5 schools achieving Silver/Gold within the same period.
• We will work with Further Education colleges to ensure Welsh language provision across all learning areas, including apprenticeships.
• We will continue to work with employers and higher education to promote bilingualism as a key skill for further education and the world of work.
• Further develop opportunities to use Welsh in informal activities (e.g., volunteering, Duke of Edinburgh, Youth Clubs).
• We will fully consider the contribution of sixth forms, further education colleges and apprenticeship providers to the success of the Strategic Plan, where relevant
• Promote improved skills for the lifelong use of the Welsh language.
• Working with Youth Support Service, the Urdd, Mentrau Iaith and YFC, we will map out the current opportunities available for school age children to use their Welsh Language skills outside the classroom.
• We will support the activities of Menter Iaith y Sir and ensure that urban/community activities are all bilingual and that the Council supports this and assists businesses/groups to ensure this.
• The WESP is intertwined into the Carmarthenshire Promotion Strategy. The long-term vision of the Promotion Strategy is to aim to make Welsh the main language of the county.

In April 2016, Carmarthenshire County Council's Language Standards came into force. After a period of consultation and preparations, 174 Standards were introduced by the Welsh Language Commissioner under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, which would now be regulated by the Commissioner. The Council's Language Scheme was therefore replaced, and the Standards were accepted as a new framework for Welsh-medium provision in the following five areas of work: 1) delivering Welsh language services, 2) formulating policy in a way that promotes the Welsh language, 3) operating through the medium of Welsh, 4) keeping records about the Welsh language and finally 5) promoting the Welsh language.

The promotion strategy is a valuable resource to help us plan together, work together and target resources to achieve the following 5 objectives:

1. Increase the numbers acquiring basic and further skills in Welsh through the education system and through language transmission in the home.
2. Increase the confidence of Welsh speakers and therefore the use of Welsh in every sphere of life and encourage and support the county’s organisations to make Welsh an increasingly natural medium for their services.
3. Take purposeful action to positively affect population movements and try to get our young people to settle or re-settle in the county so that the increase in the number of Welsh speakers gained through the education system is not lost. Also, make significant efforts to assimilate newcomers and ensure that new planning developments do not have a detrimental effect on the viability of the Welsh language.
4. Target specific geographic areas within the county, either because they offer the potential to develop or because they cause linguistic concern to increase the numbers in those areas who can and do use Welsh.
5. Marketing and Promoting the language. Raise the status of Welsh including the benefits of bilingualism and the benefits of bilingual education. And by raising awareness of these benefits, attracting more residents of the county to acquire the language
   Integrated Community Strategy for Carmarthenshire 2016-2021.

• Market specific language days e.g., Diwrnod Shwmae? along with drawing attention to outside providers who offer a spectrum of different ideas e.g., Authors, Cynllun Beirdd Plant and the AM Platform.
• Encourage schools to use Cymraeg Bob Dydd / Everyday Welsh. This is a programme that offers opportunities for pupils in English-medium/Bilingual secondary schools to extend their use of Welsh. The Urdd operates the programme and organises activities in order to build pupils' confidence in the Welsh language, increase their use of the language, and encourage them to continue to study Welsh as a subject at AS and A level.
• There are currently 18 (27%) Youth Support Service staff operating at Advanced Level/Proficiency. We will extend the language proficiency of workers within this service, particularly in schools (35% Advanced/Proficiency) to promote the informal use of Welsh
• Continue to develop promotional material that demonstrates the value placed on bilingualism by employers.

• The Language Charter will become embedded in all primary and secondary schools, leading to enhancing the Welsh ethos throughout all schools.
• Secondary schools will have increased the use of incidental Welsh to ensure that Welsh is used outside the classroom.
• With learners' confidence increasing along with their interest in Welsh, more subjects will be offered through the medium of Welsh.
• Better understanding of local and Welsh history and Welsh culture will become apparent through the new curriculum.
• We will have achieved our aim to raise the status of the Welsh language and to make pupils proud to have their own language and therefore identity in the world.

Pupils that will benefit from activities under the Language Charter – Bronze level as a baseline

More opportunities for learners to use Welsh in different contexts in school

We will implement aspects of the WESP in line with Carmarthenshire's ALN Transformation Strategic Plan. Bilingualism is now a general theme across the strategic plan. The following statements are relevant to this outcome-

• As a high proportion of our schools are bilingual, we can meet requests for mainstream education provision in a timely fashion.
• All support services and statutory processes are available bilingually and we provide training and support to ALNCos so that they can meet each learner’s needs.
• All interventions are available bilingually and we commit to ensuring that all resources developed within Carmarthenshire are available in both Welsh and English.
• We will continue to monitor requests for specialist support and work with school leaders, ALNCos and inclusion officers to identify areas to develop and incorporate these developments in our school modernisation plan.
• We will reflect the new way of working and supporting learners with ALN, ensuring that the approach is available bilingually.
• We provide both Welsh and English medium specialist provision via specialist units attached to mainstream schools to ensure the language requirements of complex ALN learners are met.
• All ALN settings are working towards the Language Charter Language Targets with the support of Tîm Athrawon Datblygu'r Gymraeg.

A map and gap activity recently completed on the level of bilingualism across the service was a beneficial exercise. Arising from this-

• We would see the requirement of a range of Welsh language standardised assessments as a priority to effectively establish a baseline.
• We could add that we have developed our own assessments based on Chat teacher-assessments which are being used by the school to support and scaffold Welsh language development for all children.
• Where specific language needs are identified, support is needed in the mother tongue to address the need and support the future development of the additional language.

• In advance of our 10-year plan end date we will be in a position to be able to provide parity of Welsh provision and a truly bilingual service to all pupils in Carmarthenshire.
• We will provide training to ALENCO’s and Alternative Needs officers to ensure a greater understanding of the language.
• We will continue research into the effects on bilingual education for pupils from non-Welsh speaking homes with learning needs.
• We will continue to ensure that bilingual staffing levels enable the county to support the expected growth in Welsh medium education.

Within the first 5 years of this plan we aim to be on target with regard to achieving our objectives. We will continue to work with partners on the future recruitment, development and training of the schools’ workforce in order to be able to deliver this Plan and the Welsh Government’s ‘A million Welsh speakers by 2050’ aspiration.

To achieve our aspirations for upskilling staff we will:

• Continue to use the language skills audit every two years to identify the Welsh language skill levels of all staff to provide a robust evidence base for the type of further training required to increase the number of staff able to work and learn through the medium of Welsh.
  
• All schools to respond to the school workforce Welsh Language Skills audit, analysing the data that identifies current provision and areas for further development. All schools will need to reflect this in the school's self-evaluation documents and development plans. Schools will be required to use their resources to provide opportunities for staff to access development opportunities.
  
• Further analysis by the Local Authority of the workforce data will inform us of gaps in provision and future training needs/content of training programmes. The Department will need to review and publish the programme of Continuing Professional Development which is available to cater flexibly for identified training needs, in support of the WESP’s implementation.
  
• We will work with partners (Partneriaeth, National Centre for Learning Welsh, Dysgu Cymraeg, Trinity St David’s University Sabbatical Courses) to deliver training programmes with a specific focus on teaching through the medium of Welsh.
  
• We will encourage staff to enrol on the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's sabbatical training scheme.
  
• We will offer staff training to improve reading, writing and speaking in Welsh, and to refine the Welsh skills of those who already have a command of the language. We will use the County Council's Language Skills Framework, as a basis for this work.
  
• In addition, we intend developing the skills and confidence of teachers to teach through the medium of Welsh and upskill support staff to lend assistance to pupils through the medium of Welsh.
  
• Furthermore, we will upskill staff to ensure that appropriate pedagogy is adopted, to ensure that standards will be maintained and raised whilst teaching through the medium of Welsh.
  
• This will include implementing the new Professional Standards for Teachers, increasing the number of teachers who can teach Welsh as a subject and work effectively in bilingual settings, take advantage of alternative routes into teaching, access national workforce planning systems and the Wales-wide approach to small and rural schools.

Staff/leaders Recruitment:

• Recruiting Welsh speaking education staff to work in our schools can be challenging and we will consider a range of ways of dealing with this challenge, including linguistic support to school leaders. This will include the launch of a local campaign in terms of recruiting bilingual staff to lead and work in Carmarthenshire schools.
  
• Challenges persist in recruiting Welsh speaking school leaders and we will instigate and formalise school federations to assist with the situation. We will provide guidance and training and support this new leadership role by offering specific training and facilitating school to school support.
  
• We will also be providing bespoke linguistic and leadership training for school leaders.

Support for School Governors

• The Local Authority will provide support and challenge to Governors and school leaders on appointing suitably qualified staff in order that they can address the requirements of this Plan and continue to improve educational standards.
  
• Continue to support and advise Governors and school leaders on developing the linguistic ability of staff.

General

• We will ensure that the Athrawon Gwella’r Gymraeg Service is maintained as they work tirelessly in delivering all aspects of support for Welsh medium education.
  
• We will work with partners e.g., the Welsh for Adults team, Dysgu Sir Gâr, Partneriaeth, further education colleges, Welsh Government, National Academy for Educational Leadership, on leadership development and ensuring that we have a school workforce with the appropriate bilingual skills.
  
• This work can be supported by Leaders of Learning and Professional Learning Communities to ensure practical support for practitioners teaching increasingly through the medium of Welsh especially with respect to classroom resources. This can then lead into working with publishers of educational materials (e.g.CAA, Peniarth, Telesgop, Theatre in Education and outside agencies) to develop teaching resources, apps etc. and work with WG to secure financial resources to develop this aspect.

• Through strategic planning we will offer training to all staff across both the primary and secondary sector at all linguistic levels. This is paramount in achieving our goals.
  
• We will work hand in hand with Trinity St David’s in the delivery of the Sabbatical courses feeding into and offering linguistic after care.
  
• Welsh for Adults service will continue to deliver language courses at all levels and the Athrawon Gwella’r Gymraeg service will continue to create resources to enhance teaching in both the primary and secondary sector.
  
• We will also provide language awareness training and the benefits of Welsh-medium education/bilingualism for the Council's front-line workers (School Admissions department, Family Information Service, programmes such as Flying Start) and work with the Health Board to provide the same training for Midwives and health visitors.