Shwmae! Celebrating Our Welsh Language and Culture at Penllergaer Primary School
Cymraeg i Bawb – Welsh Belongs to Everyone! ❤️💚🤍
Monday 12th October 2026
At Penllergaer Primary School, we are incredibly proud to be Welsh! Our language, culture, heritage and identity are at the heart of our school community, and we believe that every child should have the opportunity to experience, enjoy and celebrate everything that makes Wales so special.
On Monday 12th October, Mrs Burns started the week with a special whole-school assembly in preparation for Shwmae Day on Thursday 15th October 2026.
The assembly was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our Welsh identity, reflect on the importance of our language and encourage every pupil to use more Welsh in their everyday conversations.
Our message was simple:
"Every Welsh word matters. Every conversation counts. Welsh belongs to everyone!"
🏆 Proud to Be a Siarter Iaith Gold School
We are extremely proud to have achieved the Siarter Iaith Gold Award, recognising our commitment to promoting the Welsh language and encouraging its use throughout school life.
However, at Penllergaer, achieving Gold is not the end of our journey!
We recognise that developing a strong Welsh language ethos requires continuous commitment, enthusiasm and creativity. We want Welsh to be a natural, enjoyable and meaningful part of everyday life for all our learners, staff and wider school community.
Our aim is not simply for children to learn Welsh during lessons, but to develop the confidence and motivation to use Welsh spontaneously, both inside and outside the classroom.
Whether pupils are fluent Welsh speakers, developing their language skills or learning their very first Welsh words, everyone has an important part to play.
After all, our school is for everyone – and so is the Welsh language!
❤️ How Do We Promote Welsh at Penllergaer?
Promoting Welsh is not something we do on special occasions alone. It is embedded in the everyday life of our school.
🗣️ Welsh Every Day – Cymraeg Bob Dydd!
We encourage the use of incidental Welsh throughout the school day, from morning greetings and classroom instructions to conversations in corridors, during playtimes and around our school grounds.
Pupils are encouraged to use familiar sentence patterns, ask questions, respond confidently and gradually extend their Welsh vocabulary.
We believe that providing frequent opportunities to hear and speak Welsh helps our children develop confidence, fluency and positive attitudes towards the language.
Celebrating Welsh Traditions and Special Days
Throughout the year, we celebrate important events that help our learners develop an appreciation of Welsh language, history and culture.
These include:
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi – St David's Day: Celebrating our patron saint through music, performances, traditional dress, Welsh activities and learning about our national identity.
Dydd Santes Dwynwen – St Dwynwen's Day: Exploring the Welsh celebration of love, friendship and kindness.
Diwrnod Shwmae – Shwmae Day: Encouraging everyone to start conversations in Welsh and recognise that even the simplest greeting can make a difference.
Eisteddfodau and Urdd Competitions: Providing exciting opportunities for pupils to celebrate Welsh language and culture through singing, recitation, creative arts and sporting activities.
These experiences help our children understand that Welsh is a living language to be enjoyed, shared and celebrated.
🎤 Welsh in Our Assemblies
Welsh has an important place in our whole-school and class assemblies.
From greetings and prayers to songs, celebrations and pupil presentations, we provide regular opportunities for learners to hear and use Welsh in meaningful contexts.
We want pupils to recognise that Welsh belongs in every part of school life, not just during designated Welsh lessons.
⭐ Our Wonderful Criw Cymraeg
Our enthusiastic Criw Cymraeg play a vital role in promoting the Welsh language across Penllergaer.
As pupil leaders and ambassadors for Welsh, they encourage others to speak the language, promote Welsh activities, celebrate achievements and help create a positive Welsh-speaking environment.
Their work reflects something we value enormously at Penllergaer: pupil voice and pupil leadership.
We want our learners to take ownership of their Welsh language journey, share ideas and help shape how Welsh is promoted throughout our school.
🎶 Celebrating Welsh Through Music, Creativity and Experiences
We recognise that children learn best when they are engaged, motivated and enjoying themselves.
Through Welsh songs, games, performances, storytelling, creative activities and opportunities to participate in the Urdd, we aim to make learning Welsh exciting and accessible.
Our continued involvement in Urdd activities is something we are particularly proud of. Over the years, Penllergaer pupils have enjoyed considerable success, and we remain committed to providing opportunities for learners to develop their confidence, talents and pride in their Welsh identity.
Supporting the Welsh Government's Vision – Cymraeg 2050
At Penllergaer Primary School, we are committed to supporting the Welsh Government's Cymraeg 2050: A Million Welsh Speakers strategy.
This ambitious national vision aims to achieve one million Welsh speakers by 2050 and increase the everyday use of the language.
As a school, we recognise that we have an important role to play in helping to achieve this ambition.
We want every child to leave Penllergaer with a positive attitude towards Welsh, a strong sense of belonging and the confidence to continue developing and using their language skills as they progress through education and into adult life.
We contribute to this vision by:
Providing progressive Welsh language teaching that builds pupils' oracy, reading and language skills.
Encouraging spontaneous Welsh conversations throughout the school day.
Developing pupils' confidence and enjoyment when communicating in Welsh.
Creating opportunities to experience Welsh language and culture beyond the classroom.
Empowering Criw Cymraeg to lead and promote Welsh across the school.
Working with families and our wider community to encourage positive attitudes towards Welsh.
We want our learners not only to know Welsh, but to choose to use it.
📚 Welsh Language Progression – Always Improving
As part of our school improvement priorities for 2026–2027, we are continuing to strengthen progression in Welsh language skills across Penllergaer.
Our particular focus is on developing a consistent, progressive approach to Welsh oracy, reading and language acquisition.
This includes strengthening guided Welsh reading, particularly in Years 5 and 6, and developing pupils' confidence through regular opportunities to practise and apply increasingly sophisticated Welsh sentence patterns.
We recognise that high-quality teaching, meaningful opportunities to practise and consistent expectations are essential in helping our pupils make progress.
We want learners to build on their previous knowledge, become increasingly independent and transfer their Welsh language skills confidently into new situations.
🌼 Our Shwmae Day Challenge!
During Monday's assembly, Mrs Burns challenged everyone to make an extra effort to use Welsh throughout the week.
Our challenges included:
⭐ Say "Shwmae!" to someone new.
⭐ Use Welsh greetings throughout the school day.
⭐ Try speaking Welsh during playtime and lunchtime.
⭐ Teach a friend or family member a new Welsh word.
⭐ Encourage others to speak Welsh, even if they are just beginning to learn.
⭐ Celebrate every effort and be proud of speaking Welsh!
Pupils were reminded that making mistakes is part of learning and that everyone deserves encouragement when trying something new.
💚 Our Whole-School Welsh Language Pledge
As part of our Shwmae Day celebrations, we are encouraging our pupils to make a simple but important promise:
We pledge to:
❤️ Be proud of our Welsh language and culture.
💚 Speak Welsh every day.
🤍 Encourage and support others to use Welsh.
❤️ Learn new Welsh words and sentence patterns.
💚 Celebrate our progress and never be afraid to try.
🤍 Help make Penllergaer a school where Welsh can be heard, spoken and enjoyed by everyone.
🐉 Our Welsh Language Journey Continues…
At Penllergaer Primary School, we believe that learning Welsh is about much more than developing language skills.
It is about identity, belonging, confidence, community and creating opportunities for our children to participate fully in the cultural life of Wales.
As a proud Siarter Iaith Gold School, we will continue to celebrate our achievements while looking for new ways to strengthen the Welsh language across our school.
We are immensely proud of our pupils, staff and Criw Cymraeg for their enthusiasm and commitment.
Diolch yn fawr, pawb!
Cymraeg i Bawb – Welsh for Everyone!
Penllergaer Primary School – Our School Is for Everyone. ❤️💚🤍