I MUST apologise to Mrs Briggs for any perceived slight in my recent letter as my intention was to be tongue-in-cheek, not offensive. The Welsh language raises emotions. I become frustrated when in my opinion, people are unable to perceive its importance. 

Could I urge Mrs Briggs to look at the wider picture when she states the teaching of Welsh in Newport has been a “failure” citing census figures as proof. 

What she should do is reserve judgement until figures for the next census come out. She will then be pleasantly surprised as Newport children currently obtaining Welsh education will then register as fluent speakers. 

Achieving fluency is a long-term process. Mrs Briggs feels strongly that money should be diverted from Welsh language education into a general education pot in an attempt to rectify our poor educational standards particularly re-reading for 11 year olds. 

However, two teachers I have spoken to do not feel this is the “magic bullet.” They feel long-standing entrenched factors are involved and just throwing money at the problem is going to make little difference overall. Mrs Briggs has accused me of “dodging” her question of why the Senedd in Cardiff is still conducting its business in English. 

As I have mentioned above, widespread education in Welsh is in its infancy and fluency in the language will take a generation to achieve.

D Sheppard
Parc Seymour
Penhow