The doors of Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Castell-nedd and Pontardawe were opened to Menter Iaith once again this summer for Play Schemes, thanks to head teachers Mr Tudur Jones, Mrs Myfanwy Rees and their school governors.

The play schemes ran for 10 days from 26 July – 06 August 2010 under the leadership of Rhys Evans, Catrin Heledd and Rhisian Mai Davies at Neath and Lisa-Marie Evans and Emyr Hopkin at Pontardawe. This year the response was excellent with up to 350 children attending the scheme at Neath and Pontardawe.

During the ten days the children had the opportunity to take part in numerous activities including traditional games and of course the very popular Dodgeball and cyber cafe. The children also had the opportunity to visit our art and craft room, where a few master pieces were created, some good enough to hang on the wall of any art gallery in the world!

Thanks to the vision of our National Assembly, the children were able to swim at Dyfed Road, Neath and Pontardawe Swimming Pools free of charge during the two weeks.

Menter Iaith Castell-nedd Port Talbot would like to thank the children and parents of both schools for their support once again. Thanks also must go to the staff and volunteers for being so professional in their work and for giving the children the best possible care and enjoyment during the summer holidays.

A group of young people came together for lots of fun and games over the Easter holidays thanks to Menter Iaith’s play scheme. The Menter’s summer play schemes have always been very successful, and after numerous requests from parents Menter decided to run a play scheme over Eater in Ysgol Gymraeg Pontardawe. Menter would like to thank the school again for their continued support and to be so kind as to loan the school again as the venue for their play scheme. The young people had a great time playing all sorts of sports, games, swimming, art and much more. Yet again dodge ball was one of the favourite games played. With all the fun being had during the play scheme, and all through the Welsh language, Menter Iaith is already looking forward to their summer play scheme.

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

Young children learn languages easily. They absorb language like a sponge absorbs water. That the Welsh Language Board’s message with this project. Menter Iaith has been working with TWF on this exciting project. We have been visiting baby clinics to give parents information about the advantages of raising children bilingually and Welsh medium education emphasizing the that bilingualism isn’t exclusive to the children of Welsh speaking parents. Book Start will be holding special sessions at the libraries during the National Book Week and we will be visiting those sessions to chat to the parents.

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

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

The doors of Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Castell-nedd and Pontardawe were opened to Menter Iaith once again this summer for Play Schemes, thanks to head teachers Mr Tudur Jones, Mrs Myfanwy Rees and their school governors.

The play schemes ran for six days from 24 July – 2 August 2007 under the leadership of Rhys Evans, Andrew Lewis and Emily Cole at Neath and Lowri James, Rhodri Pugh and Rhodri Phillips at Pontardawe with invaluable assistance from volunteers Catrin Heledd Richards, Rhodri Ross, Steffan Pugh and Rhian and Sian Jones. This year the response was excellent with up to 50 children attending the scheme on a daily basis at Neath and up to 35 at Pontardawe.

During the six days the children had the opportunity to take part in numerous activities including traditional games and of course the very popular Cyber Café. The children also had the opportunity to visit our art and craft room, where a few master pieces were created, some good enough to hang on the wall of any art gallery in the world!

Thanks to the vision of our National Assembly, the children were able to swim at Dyfed Road, Neath and Pontardawe Swimming Pools free of charge on Thursdays during the two weeks.

Menter Iaith Castell-nedd Port Talbot would like to thank the children and parents of both schools for their support once again. Thanks also must go to the staff and volunteers for being so professional in their work and for giving the children the best possible care and enjoyment during the summer holidays.