Locals say Cardiff Council lacks vision to promote Welsh language in areas like Grangetown and Butetown.
Parents in South Cardiff have vowed to continue their campaign for a Welsh medium secondary school in the area even after Cardiff Council ruled out the plan.
Locals and campaign groups in Butetown and Grangetown said the Council’s stand shows its hypocrisy and apparent lack of vision in promoting Welsh medium education.
“We believe the Welsh language belongs to all of us and is part of our identity,” said Carl Morris, a member of Campaign for Welsh Medium Secondary School in South Cardiff. “Council’s stand shows the hypocrisy and lack of vision. We want to send a message that we will continue with our campaign. This is why we are organising a protest on November 21.”
Morris said the campaign is reaching out to parents through social media and newsletters and an online petition has garnered hundreds of signatures.
The nearest Welsh medium secondary school is four miles from Grangetown and Butetown. Parents worry the absence of a secondary school in South Cardiff will break the continuity of Welsh education and ultimately force students to switch to English.
“There are only three Welsh medium high schools, and they are in North and East of Cardiff. If you are fortunate to get a place, that makes travel a challenge for families, especially families with single parents and low income,” Morris said.
Geraint Rees, 42, has a five-year-old daughter studying in the local Welsh medium primary school. He believes that southern Cardiff is a diverse and low-income area, which may be the reason for its neglect.
“The other secondary schools are quite far, and it hurts the children here,” Rees said.
Welsh medium education is often connected to children from privileged and middle-class backgrounds. Dr Sion Jones, a lecturer at Cardiff University’s School of Social Sciences, showed in 2017 that Welsh-medium schools have fewer students from poorer households.
“Welsh-medium schools in south-east Wales on average have lower proportions of students from the poorest households because they have on average lower percentages of students on free school meals compared to English-medium schools in south-east Wales,” he said.
The Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP), released by the Cardiff Council in 2022 for the development of Welsh language in the next ten years said there would be efforts to “stimulate desire and to increase take up of Welsh-medium places in areas with low demand”.
Morris argued the Council is not following its own goals. “We are looking at a trend where children will fall out of Welsh medium education because of lack of convenience.”
In a written response to InterCardiff’s questions, a Cardiff Council spokesperson blamed the falling birthrates and said there are not enough pupils to sustain a fourth Welsh medium school in the city.
“Recent birth rates and projections do not currently point to there being sufficient pupils to sustain a fourth Welsh medium secondary school and intakes to Welsh-medium secondary schools are projected to reduce in 2025/26 and 2026/27, compared to the 2024/25 intake year. Crucially, there are sufficient places available in Cardiff’s Welsh-medium secondary schools to support any pupils who want to learn through Welsh,” the spokesperson said.
Locals disagree with Council’s view. Steffan Edwards, 48, said there was a time when Welsh primary school here was just a portacabin, but today hundreds of students from all ethnicities attend this school.
“The council is failing to realise that they are breaking up a nascent community of Welsh speakers here. This is the poorest area of the city, and they [Council] are asking the most from this area. If this community splits up, they will never come back,” Edwards said.