Like many of the parents at Ysgol Panteg, I don’t speak Welsh. I wish I could. It wasn’t something I really considered as a child, I can’t actually remember learning any Welsh until secondary school and at that point I couldn’t see the value. I didn’t know any Welsh speakers and the only time I heard it was on S4C. I thought French or German would be more useful…

That started to change when I went to Uni in Aberystwtyth.  Almost everyone I met spoke Welsh and it quickly became clear to me, that in many parts of Wales the language was very much alive. This is where the regret and even a little shame started to creep in that I couldn’t speak Welsh.

It really hit home when I was living overseas, virtually everyone I met spoke at least two languages but it was quite common for friends to fluently speak as many as four or five. One thing was certain, everyone else, spoke their national language.

As an adult I’ve attempted to learn Welsh, Spanish, Arabic and even improve my poor GCSE French.  Despite word recognition progressing with each and even being able to understand a little, my stumbling block is always the pronunciations.

I wonder if I’d been immersed in a second language from a younger age that it might have been a little easier??

I have two children at Ysgol Panteg, Lowri in Blwyddyn 3 and Toby in Derbyn and I’m so proud when I hear them using the Welsh language. I know it’s something that they’ll treasure as adults even if they move to China and rarely use it.

That isn’t to say that my decision to send them to a Welsh Medium school hasn’t presented some challenges. For starters, I can often feel quite helpless when it comes to homework and I mostly have no idea what is going on during school concerts.

Ysgol Panteg understands these challenges and does a great job of helping us English-only parents feel like we have a clue. The communication from the school such as letters to parents, reports and the website are bi-lingual. New starter packs are given to new pupils when they join the school and there are a number of useful resources on the school website from recordings of the songs our little ones are learning to YouTube videos of their reading books being read aloud! Adult Welsh beginner courses are often offered at the school as well as regular coffee mornings (Caffi Cwtsh).

I started attending PTA meetings just over a year ago and recently volunteered for the position of Treasurer on the PTA …. as you can imagine I didn’t have to compete for the role.

The PTA is a great place to meet other parents and get to know the school staff but mostly to give something back to the school. The teachers and staff work extremely hard to provide a great learning environment for our children. The hard work of the PTA can help enhance that environment, whether that is through organising the Christmas Fair, supporting extra music lessons or providing hospitality on Sports Day. Ysgol Panteg is fortunate to have had an excellent PTA over the past seven years and we are keen to continue that.

If you haven’t been to a meeting yet, try to join us next month, we have two! The agenda will be the same at both meetings but we are hoping that more parents will be able to attend if there is a little more flexibility on times.

Wednesday 14^th November @ 8pm at the Ashbridge pub

Thursday 15^th November @ 3:30pm in the staff room at Ysgol Panteg.

If you can’t make either meeting but you are keen to get involved then please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Jasmine xx

Serafina and Marnie

My name is Serafina Grafton Beaves and I’m the vice chair (a bit of a mouthful sorry) I’ll answer to Sarah, Seraf and hey love…. I have one daughter, Marnie Mistry, who is in Blwyddyn 3 and loving school. She is half Indian, half Welsh and you may see her dad Anil around pick up times.

We moved  here  nearly 4 years ago from London where I’d been working as a handbag designer for the likes of Marks and Spencer and Debenhams, mainly leather. Travel used to be a big part of my work. I would often travel to India and China and also work from home the rest of the time. In January I was made redundant and now am a full time mum. I rent out a few rooms including one on Air BnB.

We meet all sorts of fascinating people but I’m somewhat chained to the washing machine and ironing board now. Before getting into bags I was a hat maker for about 15 years and studied under the great Stephen Jones.

We have a black lab called Brixton and an astoundingly lazy British cream cat called Biggie Smalls. We love camping, adore travelling and we are really blessed to have been to some amazing places such as Borneo and The Northern Lights in Norway.

I’d like to think I’m Welsh as I was born in St Asaph, North Wales to British parents and attended an all Welsh school for several years. As  with most of my language skills, I sound fluent but it’s all show and I really only have a smattering of the language. I still love to try and speak Welsh with Marnie and Tanya  and have volunteered to do some reading with year 2 and 3 on a Friday. I love the kids and can’t wait.

I’m really proud to be a part of the PTA. When we moved here I didn’t know anyone and I’ve been welcomed and befriended by some of the most amazing supportive strong funny women I’ve ever met. We do meet up from time to time and have a cheeky vino collapso and the more the merrier.

Marnie

As Marnie is an only child I encourage sleepovers and impromptu parties.

I work from home and am always available for pick up and drop off emergencies.

I’m currently doing a spinning teachers certificate and am recovering from the Cardiff half where I came 17,354th.. but mostly there are the endless household chores.

I know loads of rubbish jokes so if your feeling glum stop me

Hi All,

I’m Ria and I’ve recently stepped into the role of secretary for the PTA.

I have 2 kiddos in Ysgol Panteg. Wilco’s in blwyddyn 3 and Edwin who has just begun morning meithrin.

We moved here from Bristol on Christmas Eve  2014. I was pregnant and didn’t know anyone or anything about Pontypool. After a few school moves I took the plunge and decided on Welsh language medium education for Wilco. He was 5 when he enrolled. Despite being from Swansea  I’d lived most of my life in England. I had a very limited Welsh vocabulary so, as a non Welsh speaking family, it was a big step but we knew the benefits of a second language from an early age would be worth it.

Wilco began speaking Welsh incredibly quickly and I put a lot of that down to the excellent teaching of Miss Sweet and Miss Llewellyn who were amazing at immersing Wilco in the language and making sure his classmates stopped ‘helping’ him by speaking English!

Moving schools to Ysgol Panteg has been one of the best decisions we’ve made and the staff were so welcoming.

I wanted to get more involved in the PTA as a way of giving back to the school and also being more present at school so I could get to know everyone. I’m very lucky that my job working nights as a support worker meant I’m around in the day. I appreciate that not everyone has that opportunity.  I’m so excited that myself and the other members are keen to help make PTA involvement more accessible to working parents so there will be a way for everyone to be more involved. Despite the stellar efforts of the previous PTA a lot of parents weren’t able to help out

As someone who moved here knowing nobody I have been so very lucky to meet some awesome mums who have been a great support.

School can be an intimidating place for kids and for new parents so please say hi on the playground!

I’ll normally be the one herding multiple children all going in different directions…my children may or may not be wearing shoes!