Welsh takes centre stage within the BETP

The Business and Education Together Partnership (BETP) has had two wonderful mornings helping pupils in Ysgol Cymraeg Rhyd-y-Grug to understand the value of their Welsh language skills in the workplace. On Wednesday the 17^th, we held our first ever Welsh-medium careers fair in Ysgol Cymraeg Rhyd-y-Grug featuring employers from Screen Alliance Wales, Bute Energy, Dwr Cymru, Barclays, Aspire Apprenticeships and The College, Merthyr Tydfil. Year 6 pupils spoke to employers from a wide variety of sectors to learn more about the different roles available and how their Welsh skills could benefit them in the workplace.

Following this, employers acted as mentors to the pupils enabling them to complete a ‘Job Role Profile’ focusing on a career path of their choice. Mrs S Hedges, a Year 6 teacher at the school, said the morning allowed pupils the opportunity to “understand how the Welsh language opens doors for our young people”. This sentiment was echoed by Nathan Jones from Dwr Cymru who added, “It’s so important to protect and nurture the Welsh Language in our workplace so that we can use our native language with all our customers who want and need this service”. This was a hugely important morning for the BETP in raising the profile of Welsh pathways and the variety of roles available to Welsh language speakers. A huge thank you to all the employers for making the morning such a success, diolch yn fawr!

Then, on Friday the 22nd, pupils from the Y Dreigiau (The Dragons) in Ysgol Cymraeg Rhyd-y-Grug also visited Merthyr town centre to encourage local businesses to use more Welsh. This is also an important aspect of the Siarter Iaith Gold award which the school is working towards. Pupils, from throughout Years 2 to 6, visited Specsavers, The Market Café, the new Town Hub and HSBC to hand out easy-to-use Welsh phrases. They also got involved with helping staff to converse with customers in Welsh, promoting Welsh language skills in Merthyr Tydfil. Businesses were delighted to have pupils on board and praised their enthusiasm and professionalism. A big thanks to the businesses involved for making our pupils feel so welcome!