Welsh

Welcome to the Welsh Department



Key Stage 3

New Year 7 Curriculum

As part of the new Year 7 curriculum, students will develop their communication skills through a range of learning experiences. Collaboration across the Languages, Literacy and Communication Area of Learning aims to ensure that students will reinforce their understanding of key linguistic concepts and their sense of identity. We aim to ensure that pupils are confident in using their Welsh language skills, foster positive attitudes towards the language. Pupils will be provided with regular opportunities to develop their abilities as ambitious, capable and creative learners and will be encouraged to use the language inside and outside the classroom. The course will help them to develop as ethical, informed citizens, exploring issues such as bilingualism. They will develop their abilities to articulate their feelings on a range of topics.


First Language Welsh

Learners build on the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired at Key Stage 2. This progress is achieved through an integrated programme of oracy, reading and writing. Learners are presented with experiences and opportunities that interrelate the requirements of the Skills and Range sections of the programmes of study. Oral activities ensure that learners’ abilities as listeners, viewers and speakers are developed and extended.

The experiences presented to them include opportunities to take part in drama and role-play activities. They read widely for pleasure and interest, developing an articulate and informed personal opinion about their reading. They respond to the content and style of texts, discussing a varied selection of literary, information and media texts. Learners write in a range of forms and styles. They adapt their language to suit purpose and audience using an appropriate level of formality. They work with increasing accuracy and become reflective and evaluative in relation to their own and others’ achievements.

Second Language Welsh

At Key Stage 3, learners build on the skills, knowledge and understanding acquired at Key Stage 2. This progress is achieved through an integrated programme of oracy, reading and writing. Learners are presented with experiences and opportunities that interrelate the requirements of the Skills and Range sections of the programmes of study. Oral activities ensure that learners’ abilities as listeners, viewers and speakers are developed and extended, and they speak with increasing fluency. The experiences presented to them include opportunities to take part in drama and role-play activities. They read a wide range of texts, including authentic material, for pleasure and interest. They are able to present personal opinions about their reading material, responding appropriately to content and style. Learners write in a range of forms and styles, adapting their writing to suit purpose and audience and using increasingly accurate sentence patterns. They work with increasing accuracy and they become reflective and evaluative in relation to their own and others’ achievements.

Key Stage 4

First Language Welsh

Learners develop to become effective and confident oral communicators. They read fluently for pleasure and to extract for meaning. They adapt their language to suit purpose, audience and form. Their work becomes increasingly accurate, and they become reflective and evaluative in relation to their own and others’ achievements.

Second Language Welsh

Learners develop to become effective and confident oral communicators. They are reading more demanding and stimulating texts, including authentic material, which promote interest and enthusiasm. They write in a range of forms, adapting their writing to suit purpose and audience. They show increasing accuracy in their work, and they become reflective and evaluative in relation to their own and others’ achievements.

To read more about the course, please click here.

Key Stage 5

The AS and A Level in Welsh Second Language encourages learners to:

  • Study Welsh with interest, enjoyment and enthusiasm

  • Communicate correctly and fluently both orally and in writing within a wide range of situations and contexts

  • Write creatively and factually for a range of purposes

  • Analyse familiar and unfamiliar texts independently

  • Listen and respond to the opinions of others when expressing a point of view express an independent opinion, based on knowledge and understanding of literary and factual texts

  • Respond in Welsh with clarity, in a relevant, confident and structured manner

  • Play an appropriate role in a bilingual society at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

In addition, the course encourages candidates to make a connection between various aspects of the subject and provide a suitable foundation which will enable candidates to pursue further studies of the language in future.

To read more information on the course, please click here.