'Exciting times for education in Newport'

IT IS an exciting time for education in Newport.

The last few weeks have seen some positive announcements showing the onward investment in young people in Newport.

We recently revealed plans for a fourth Welsh-medium primary in the city, increasing the current number of Welsh-medium primary school places across the city by 50 per cent.

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Within the council’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP), which was formally approved by Welsh Government last year, was a commitment to expand primary provision. This was supported by a pledge from Welsh Government for capital funding.

Almost £6 million is now set to be invested in a new Welsh-medium school, and both Pillgwenlly Primary and Tredegar Park Primary will also receive considerable investment as part of the project.

Full details of the proposals are available on the council website, and a public consultation will take place in the near future.

Youngsters who are learning Welsh in Newport have also been showing off their language skills in a series of videos now available on YouTube.

Newport City Council and Mudiad Meithrin, the voluntary organisation specialising in Welsh-medium early years provision, have worked together to produce a playlist of eight videos which show children singing simple Welsh language songs, with subtitles, so everyone can join in the fun with their children.

The work is part of Newport’s Becoming Bilingual/ Bod yn Ddwyieithog project.

Just over a week ago, the Argus also covered the news that funding from Welsh Government is helping us to reduce class sizes in a number of schools.

Plans have been submitted for a new standalone nursery at Maesglas Primary School as part of the scheme, which would allow the existing nursery class area within the main building to be used by reception children, offering better facilities and a larger base.

Creating more space and releasing classrooms will allow the average class size within the school to reduce from 30 to 24.

A new draft curriculum for schools across Wales was also unveiled last week, signalling the biggest change to education in a generation.

Under the plans, traditional subjects will be scrapped and replaced by six areas of learning and experience.

As a former teacher, I feel this represents an exciting prospect for schools and our pupils, but as the education authority we are aware of the challenges a new approach can bring.

We have been working closely with schools piloting the new curriculum and will continue to support schools to make these changes a success.