As you may already be aware, the Welsh Homework Support Line service for primary schools was launched by the Welsh Language Board in November 2005. The Service, which is operated by Menter Môn as part of the Linkline to Welsh service, aims to offer support to parents and children who are receiving a Welsh-medium or bilingual education. The service provides:
· help with Welsh vocabulary or terms
· practical support on general matters to do with helping with homework through the medium of Welsh.

The service operates from Sunday to Friday, between 3pm and 9pm. It can be contacted by telephoning 0871 230 0029 or e-mailing post@homeworkinwelsh.com

We recieved a very warm welcome from Pontardawe Welsh Medium Primary School at their summer fair. Despite the rain many parents and pupils came to support their school. Eifion Price from the folk group Jac Y Do joined us at the school to entertain the children with some folk dancing

Pontardawe and Castell-nedd primary schools opened their doors once again to the Menter Iaith this year in preperation for the summer of 2009’s playschemes. The Menter would like to thank the head teachers Myfanwy Rees, Tudur Jones and also the school governors’ from both schools.

The playschemes were held over a period of ten days 17 July – 31 July 2009 under the leadership of Rhys Evans, Awel Davies, Lowri Davies with voluntary assistance from Jenny Hopkin in Castell-nedd and Nia Angharad, Tom Owens and Catrin Heledd at Pontardawe. We had a very good response with approximately 450 children in total attending the two schemes.

During the ten days the children had the chance to participate in various games and activities. There were all sorts of traditional games, but also a chance to play with the Menter Iaith’s cyber café which has been very popular at many schools within the county so far. The children also had the chance to attend an art and crafts room, creating a few works of art good enough to hang in any gallery in the world!

Thanks to the vision of our National Assembly the children also had the opportunity to use the swimming pools in Pontardawe and Castell-nedd free of charge throughtout the two weeks.

Thanks again to all the children and the parents from both schools for their support. I would like to thank the staff and the volunteers’ very much for being so profesional in their work and for giving the best possible care to every child that attended the playschemes during the summer.

It’s been a very busy month for Menter Iaith with The Welsh Language Board’s Welsh-Kids Soak It Up! campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to promote Welsh language medium education and to show non-Welsh speaking parents that their children are welcome to go to Welsh medium schools. We were targeting families with children three years old and younger because young children’s minds are like sponges, absorbing the Welsh language whilst learning Welsh as an adult is much harder. We had goodies from The Welsh Language Board to give to parents which included a sponge, bib, coloring book and crayons all in an eco friendly reusable cotton bag.
He have been working with TWF, visiting baby clinics in Pontardawe, Neath, Port Talbot, Skewen and Neath Port Talbot Hospital. We also visited Book Start sessions at libraries during the National Book Week. Getting out of the office to meet the babies and parents of the county was a pleasure and many were eager to learn more about Welsh medium education.
We had a very successful day at Boots in Neath. The Welsh Language Board had arranged for a photographer to be present to take pictures of children three years old and younger for free. Many parents came over to get a free photo of their child and to chat to us about Welsh medium education. On the 27th of February we spent the day at the Aberavan Shopping Center giving away our KSIU goodies to parents and talking to them about the advantages of Welsh medium education. We are very grateful to Bethan Williams from Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin, Emma Francis from The Welsh Language Board, Patsy Bracewell o TWF and Rosfa the magician for helping us on the day. Rosfa was entertaining the children, parents and staff during the day! It was a fun filled day and we managed to speak to about 250 parents about Welsh medium education.

Picture Above:
Aberavon Shopping Centre
Awel Davies(Menter Iaith), Patsy Bracewell(TWF), Alun Pugh (Menter Iaith), Emma Francis (Bwrdd yr Iaith), Bethan Williams (Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin)

Picture Below:
Boots, Neath