A north Powys school looks set to become the county’s first all-age Welsh-medium school.

Ysgol Bro Hyddgen in Machynlleth appears set to become a Welsh-medium school, with proposals to complete the move set to come before Powys Council's cabinet on Wednesday, May 18.

A seven-week consultation period was held during December and January, with its findings due to be discussed by the cabinet at the meeting this month.

The council's executive body will also be asked to continue with the process change Ysgol Bro Hyddgen from a dual-stream school to a Welsh-medium school, which would be introduced on a phased basis, year-by-year, starting with reception in September 2022.

The proposal will help the council deliver one of the aims in its Strategy for Transforming Education 2020-2030, which is to improve access to Welsh-medium provision across all key stages. The strategy was approved in April 2020.

If given the go-ahead, the council will publish a statutory notice formally proposing the change. It would then be required to consider another report to conclude the process.

Dr Caroline Turner, chief executive of Powys County Council, said: “We would like to thank all those who took part in the consultation exercise for this proposal. After considering all the consultation responses, the recommendation that will be put forward to cabinet is to continue with the proposal by publishing the statutory notice formally proposing the change.

“In order to meet these aims and objectives within our Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys, we want to move Ysgol Bro Hyddgen along the language continuum. This would ensure that all pupils attending the school have the opportunity to become fully bilingual, fluent in both Welsh and English, therefore contributing to the Welsh Government’s aspiration to achieve a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

“We are developing a fantastic new community campus for Ysgol Bro Hyddgen and the Dyfi Valley community that will be a flagship development not only for the area but also for the county and Wales. Alongside this development we want to give every child the advantages that a bilingual education provides from the very beginning.”

Additional support would be provided to pupils to improve their Welsh language skills including opportunities for immersion education which has proved very successful in other counties.

The council’s learning and skills scrutiny committee will be considering the proposal on Wednesday, May 12.