Ysgol Brynhyfryd – Piloting the Welsh Language Self-evaluation Resource

Adnodd: Self-Evaluating the Welsh Language

In 2020, Associates from the National Academy for Educational Leadership published a commission report which explored the question:

‘What is the role of educational leadership in realising the vision of a Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language?’.

This commission resulted in a series of recommendations to be considered at a national level. One was to ensure a clear, national framework for the development of the Welsh language within the education sector with consideration for the Welsh language within the Curriculum for Wales. Following this, the Self-Evaluation Resource was established in collaboration with Welsh Government, Regional Consortia, Estyn, Local Authorities and the National Academy for Educational Leadership. The resource is intended to encourage headteachers  to consider the development of the Welsh language in their school and map out their provision for moving the Welsh language forward strategically and practically. It can be used by schools alongside the National Resource: Evaluation and Improvement (NR:EI). The resource is divided into three areas that align with the areas of the national resource;  leadership, learning, teaching and curriculum and well-being, equity and inclusion.

Seven schools were involved in piloting this Self-Evaluation Resource and  each school has chosen an area of focus in terms of the Welsh language and  actively answered the questions as part of their school improvement process.

The role of the National Academy for Educational Leadership was  to support the headteachers in the process of interpreting the questions whilst offering practical support and discussing what possible resources could be helpful in piloting the resource. A series of further questions were shared which ask the pilot schools to consider the value of the resource and to identify any strengths and drawbacks.

Following the pilot each school will have drafted a strategy aimed at promoting and developing the Welsh language. The National Academy for Educational Leadership and the schools have produced case studies to share good practice with other schools across Wales.

Ysgol Brynhyfryd

Ysgol Brynhyfryd is a bilingual mixed comprehensive school for pupils between the ages of 11 and 18 and is run by the Denbighshire Education Authority. The bilingual ethos of the school reflects the community it serves.

Ysgol Brynhyfryd aims to offer education of the highest possible standard which seeks to meet the needs of individual pupils in a supportive and happy bilingual environment. All pupils are encouraged to develop self-esteem together with a positive and responsible attitude to life in general. The school has strong work values ​​and its aim is to motivate all its pupils to always do their very best.

Contextual information

• There are 1143 pupils in the school
• 946 in Years 7-11 and 197 in Years 12-13
• 608 girls, 538 boys
• Free School Meals (FSM) (includes transitional protection)
• 8.3% – January 2021
• 10.1% – January 2022
• 12.2% – January 2023
• 13.5% – October 2023
• ALN – 4.6%
• Welsh / English (One site / Two streams)
• 39.8% – Welsh stream
• 59.4% – English Stream

Focus area for the pilot

The Self-Evaluation Resource is divided into three parts with a series of pointers for the Headteacher and senior leaders to consider when starting their self-improvement process. It was decided to focus on these questions as a focus area for the pilot:

• To what extent do leaders support staff to utilise resources effectively?
• What needs to be done to support the school to move across the linguistic continuum of categorisation in accordance with Welsh medium provision?
• How well does the school recognise the development needs of the workforce in order to improve teaching and learning and in order to move the workforce forward in order to provide more of the curriculum through the medium of Welsh?
• How well does the school recognise the development needs of the workforce in order to improve teaching and learning and in order to move the workforce forward in order to provide more of the curriculum through the medium of Welsh?
• How well does the school recognise the development needs of the workforce in order to improve teaching and learning and in order to move the workforce forward in order to provide more of the curriculum through the medium of Welsh?
• To what extent do recruitment arrangements promote the development of the Welsh language?
• To what extent does the school use staff expertise to teach and fill gaps / develop subject expertise?

Strength through Necessity:

• Science – 2 members of staff transfer to teach in Welsh.
• Humanities – 1 member of staff transferring to teach in Welsh.
• Welsh Language Primary-Secondary Transition Scheme
• 2 x Teachers
• The Open University’s PGCE scheme
• 1 x Teacher

• To what extent does the school deliberately plan for staff development in accordance with the professional standard regarding the development of Welsh language skills?

More development is needed here and there is a natural limitation to what we can do to grow the Welsh language due to the staff’s ability in the Welsh language. The current data is as follows:

• 30% of the school’s non-Welsh speaking staff are keen to learn Welsh.
• 24% of staff are keen to improve the standard of their Welsh.

Next steps

• Draw up a more detailed picture of staff’s linguistic patterns.
• Drawing up milestones for the development of linguistic acquisition
• Identify the programs/support available for this.
• Drawing up a recruitment strategy that places linguistic considerations at the centre
• Recruitment Package and discussions with ITE Partnerships
• Discussions with cluster schools.
• Build on the appointment of an Immersion, Bilingualism and Welsh Culture Coordinator