Spotlight on schools’ success at award ceremony

Schools from across Bridgend County Borough were spotlighted alongside settings from other local authorities during a recent Siarter Iaith award ceremony hosted by Central South Consortium, celebrating their success in promoting the Welsh language and culture.

Held at The Vale Resort Hotel on 11 March 2025, the event presented 27 schools from the county borough with Siarter Iaith awards for their efforts in following the Siarter Iaith or Siarter Iaith Cymraeg Campus – Welsh Government frameworks designed to inspire children and young people to use Welsh in all aspects of their lives.  The Siarter Iaith charter has been developed to guide Welsh-medium schools and the Siarter Iaith Cymraeg Campus framework is aimed at steering English-medium schools.

The Siarter Iaith initiative was launched in 2017 as part of Welsh Government’s aim to achieve one million Welsh speakers by 2050.  Since then, many Welsh and English-medium schools across the region have been embracing the challenge of achieving the bronze, silver, gold and post-gold awards (second time gold awards) for their work in relation to the programme.

Schools have championed the Welsh language and culture through a variety of innovative projects that are relevant and meaningful to their school setting.  The scheme encourages pupils and staff to understand that Welsh is a vibrant, living language, to be used inside and outside of the classroom.

Bridgend County Borough schools fared especially well at the ceremony, with a total of 33 awards presented to them, including 20 bronze, nine silver, as well as three gold awards received by Maesteg School, Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Ogwr, Cynffig Comprehensive School, and one post-gold award claimed by Afon y Felin Primary School.

Delighted Head of School at Afon-y-Felin Primary School, Denise Jones, said: “The children of the Criw Cymraeg were thrilled to receive the Siarter Iaith Cymraeg Campus Gold Award for the second time yesterday.

“We were the first school to be presented with a second gold and this makes it even more special to us. All the staff and children at Afon-y-Felin Primary School are proud to be a part of the Welsh Government’s aim to have Cymraeg spoken more every day.

“Cymraeg at Afon-y-Felin is fun with lots of games and songs, with a passionate Criw Cymraeg leading us all.  They encourage a ‘have a go’ attitude using whatever amount of Cymraeg you may have.”

Bethan Davies, Welsh Development Associate Adviser at the Central South Consortium, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome so many Bridgend schools to the Central South Consortium Siarter Iaith / Siarter Iaith Cymraeg Campus award ceremony. We celebrated their dedication and hard work in promoting the Welsh language and culture. Cymraeg is truly flourishing in schools across the local authority, and we look forward to awarding even more schools in the future!”

Cllr Martyn Jones, Cabinet Member for Education and Youth Services, said: “This is fantastic news!  What a wonderful way to celebrate the efforts and achievements of staff and pupils in promoting Wales, together with its rich heritage and language!

“Schools across the county borough and wider, are developing pride in the future generations; they are being encouraged to be proud of their Welsh identity.  Will we reach one million speakers by 2050?  I’m sure that we will!  Well done to all those who have supported this goal so far!”