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RJ: "Cwrs Carlam" is a teaching approach
that was designed to enable pupils

who come from English
medium primary schools

to develop the linguistic skills
in the Welsh language

that they're fluent by the time
they leave the comprehensive.

The idea behind it is that
by the time they're in year 9,

so after three years
in a comprehensive school,

the pupils will be in a position
to set their GCSEs in Welsh Language

and they will then go on in year 10 and 11
to study for their AAS and Welsh language.

Beyond that, they will leave
the school when ready

to further education or employment
with the language skill developed.

BW: Well, the Cwrs Carlam obviously
gives the pupils an opportunity

to live themselves
within the Welsh language

and to hear the Welsh language
within a classroom and around school

and the extracurricular activities
that we have on offer

and also to gain
two extra qualifications early.

We have two transition teachers employed
by the school in the primary school

so they're involved with teaching
their pupils on a weekly basis

and they are then involved with

working in collaboration with the primary
school teachers and assessing them

on a termly basis
in the language skills:

reading, writing, and oracy, of course.

With the main emphasis on oracy
within the Key Stage 2.

At the end of year 6,

their results with regards to the key
stage levels in Welsh second language

as well as teacher assessments
across the board in the core subjects,

CAT scores then decide

which pupils are suitable
for the fast-track class.

With any language if it's about speaking
and gaining the confidence

so giving them as enough opportunities
to hear and use the Welsh language

is of the utmost importance,

and that is why we teach those five
other subjects bilingually as well.

that would be history, RE, PE, PSC

so that they can hear
the language all the time.

LC: In doing other subjects
through the medium of Welsh's.

I think has widened
our grasp with that subject

and give us a more
complex grasp with that subject

and then in terms of Welsh
giving us a wide vocabulary.

I think it has definitely improved
my confidence linguistically

and just in communication
and teamwork in skills

FT: I thought it'd be
quite a hard transition

because I'm from
an English-medium primary school

but I found that it was quite easy
because this is not on your own

you've got all the teachers
helping you as well

and then soon you doing subjects
in Welsh like history, geography, and RE.

And soon you remember words in history

like 'canrif' is century
and 'chwyldro' is revolution

so it was much easier
than I thought it was going to be.

BW: The results with regards to Welsh
at Key Stage 3, 4, and 5 are excellent

and, you know, well above national
averages and local authority averages.

So I definitely think that it's benefited
the school and the pupils in general.