Category: News

Here is the text of an open letter for the attention of Cardiff Council, sent on 21 September 2026.

Dear Chris Weaver and Cardiff Council Cabinet,

It was very encouraging to hear your comments in the Council on 26 June 2026 regarding your desire to ensure equity for every child in the city in access to Welsh-medium education.

Welsh-medium All-Age School (3-19) to serve Butetown, Grangetown and surrounding areas

• As we await the publication of the results of “Engagement on sustainable growth of Welsh-medium secondary provision”, we wish to state publicly that it is in your hands to rectify decades of structural discrimination against the most multicultural communities of the city and the nation in the context of the progression path of Welsh-medium education from nursery to sixth form. There is still a dire under-representation of some communities, whether geographical or cultural, in Welsh-medium education. Only by securing the fourth secondary school as part of an application for funding to establish a Welsh-medium All-Age School (3-19 years old) to serve Butetown, Grangetown and surrounding areas will you be able to have the possibility of reversing this social injustice.

Callaghan Square land

• We also note the comments of your predecessor Huw Thomas MS about the fourth Welsh-medium secondary school and his reference to a potential site between Butetown and the city centre (in the Senedd chamber on 16 June 2026, and quoted in a Nation.Cymru article on 17 September 2026). The location is absolutely ideal in the sense that it is on the doorstep of the communities of Butetown and Grangetown. We very much hope that you continue to develop the case for establishing the fourth Welsh-medium secondary school and a dedicated sixth form on Callaghan Square as a hub for a multi-site campus to include new primary streams together with resources for the whole community. We therefore express great concern that the Welsh Government is apparently considering abandoning the idea of ​​allocating the land to establish the school with the aim of selling it for private purposes. This emphasises the critical urgency for you to submit a formal application for this land to the Welsh Government. Only you as an administration have the power to work together with the Welsh Government to earmark this land, or otherwise secure another suitable site at the heart of the community, for the benefit of the children and young people of south Cardiff rather than private interests.

Protect Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern

• In addition to establishing the fourth Welsh-medium secondary school as part of the All-Age School, we expect an unequivocal commitment that you will protect Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern which is at the heart of the east Cardiff community, and commit to upgrade the school’s resources to a high-quality building that is fit for teaching purposes in the twenty-first century. In accordance with one of the main cornerstones of the Curriculum for Wales, a community Welsh-medium secondary school is needed at every compass point of the city.

With the local elections in May 2027, this is your chance as the current administration to show that you are serious about delivering for the families of south Cardiff, to invest in Welsh-medium secondary schools in the north, the west and the east of the city and to show, in a very practical way, that the Welsh language belongs to everyone, from all backgrounds.

Sincerely,

• Catrin Dafydd
• Matthew Ford
• Carl Morris
• Emily Pemberton
• Osian Rhys
• Llywelyn ap Gwilym, co-organiser of Parents of the Bro Edern Catchment Area
• Siôn Llewelyn Jones, chair of Cell Caerdydd, Cymdeithas yr Iaith

Come to the protest for Ysgol De Caerdydd.

“Build Ysgol De Caerdydd!”
County Hall, Atlantic Wharf
Thursday 16 July 2026
4-5pm

Please note that this is the new date of the protest! (We had to postpone the original date in June because of the extreme heat.)

Wear (optional): hard hat and hi-viz jacket. If you can, bring a bucket and spade and a placard.

A warm welcome to all at a positive and hopeful protest.

Share details of the protest

In Cardiff, we need Welsh-medium secondary schools in the west, north, east and south. But south Cardiff doesn’t have one.

Butetown, Grangetown and the surrounding areas deserve a first-rate Welsh-medium school in the community – open to children of all ages/backgrounds.

Come to the protest for Ysgol De Caerdydd:

“Adeiladwch/Build Ysgol De Caerdydd!”
County Hall, Atlantic Wharf
Thursday 25 June 2026
4-5PM

Wear: a hard hat and hi-vis clothing. Bring a bucket and spade and a placard. A warm welcome to all.

Share details of the protest

UPDATE 22/6/2026

Please note that the protest by the Ysgol De Caerdydd campaign near County Hall this Thursday is CANCELLED.

The Met Office has issued a red warning for “extreme heat” for Thursday. There is a significantly higher risk to health with forecasts of a temperature that is likely to break the June record, around 35°C or more.

The safety of everyone in the community is absolutely core to the values ​​of the campaign. Please tell your friends that the event has been canceled due to the weather. And watch this space for our next steps as a campaign.

Ysgol De Caerdydd campaign

There will be a Senedd election on 7 May 2026.

If you are voting in Cardiff, then this new website dinas.cymru is a resource for you.

The Senedd members who represent us will play an important part in the development of Welsh-medium schools in Cardiff.

That includes the need to build Ysgol De Caerdydd in Grangetown/Butetown as well as other needs.

While Cardiff Council has its own vital role to play, this is a big opportunity to draw the attention of Senedd candidates to the need to grow Welsh-medium education in the city.

Two practical points:

• Email the candidates to ask them to pledge to support the growth of Welsh-medium education in Cardiff. Follow the steps on the website, and it will take 3 minutes.
• Share the website with friends!

Diolch yn fawr iawn, to you for taking part and to the various groups who are co-organising and supporting the message to candidates.

Cardiff Council’s engagement exercises have come to an end.

To all those who have taken part in the campaign for Ysgol De Caerdydd, diolch o galon for all your hard work. There will be more opportunities to take part in the campaign in 2026. Subscribe to the email newsletter and be among the first to hear about campaign news.

This was our short message to the council:

Dear Cardiff Council

I support a Welsh-medium school for all ages (3-19) located in Butetown or Grangetown and to serve the families and communities of south Cardiff – namely a Welsh-medium secondary and primary school in a new, sustainable building with resources for the community (Option 5 in the document “Engagement on sustainable growth of Welsh-medium secondary provision”).

* The Welsh language belongs to everyone from all walks of life.

* Although the population of the south of the city is growing, there is no Welsh-medium secondary school to serve the south of the city. Children must have a local school – not travel out of their communities.

* The geographical spread of Welsh secondary education in the city discriminates against the most multicultural communities in the city and Wales.

* This is an injustice suffered by children from the most economically disadvantaged areas of the capital and Wales.

* The Curriculum for Wales clearly emphasises that children should receive their education in their community in order to celebrate their identity while learning about the world.

* Transporting children in the south of the city from their communities is not fair and inclusive and it is not possible for them to travel conveniently to a community school that represents them. There must be Welsh-medium secondary schools in the South, North, East and West of the city!

* The all-ages school will add to Welsh-medium primary provision in south Cardiff. On the site the number of primary streams could be increased over time. The Welsh Language and Education Act 2025 means that the Council has a duty to actively grow Welsh-medium education.

Read Ysgol De Caerdydd’s campaign position which gives more details on the points above: https://decaerdydd.cymru/engagement/

As a matter of social justice, the city’s 4th Welsh-medium secondary school must be built immediately – an all-age school (3-19) located in and to serve the children of Butetown, Grangetown and the south of the city.

[Ends]

Read the full responses of the campaign to Cardiff Council.

Thank you and thanks to everyone who has emailed Cardiff Council to support Ysgol De Caerdydd – a new Welsh-medium school for south Cardiff located in Grangetown/Butetown!

If you haven’t emailed the council yet… Remember that the council is inviting you to express an opinion about Welsh-medium education now, and the last day to do this will be 26 March. Send the email today.

The council is sending a confirmation email to anyone who has emailed:

Dear Consultee

Thank you for your email response to the engagement exercise on sustainable growth of Welsh-medium secondary school provision.

[…]

We would be grateful if you could also complete the engagement survey […]

The council has already stated that sending an email is a valid and acceptable way to respond to the engagement. It’s not clear why we are being asked to fill out a survey.

If you have 5-10 minutes, you could go through the survey.

Here are some things you could bear in mind.

General points

• Every question is optional. If you’re not sure what’s best then you can skip any question.

• This is an informal engagement to “tease out the issues”. It is not a formal consultation. Your response is just part of a conversation. Therefore it’s important to engage, and try to convey the ideal outcome. But it’s not worth worrying about the fine details.

Section 2: Principles and Section 3: Priorities

• Section 2: Principles and Section 3: Priorities are odd because they contain lists of things that are all important. Some of them are Cardiff Council’s statutory duties! If in doubt about anything, move on.

Section 4: Options

• Section 4: Options is the most significant section of the survey. Here are the campaign’s recommended responses:
  • Option 4: Establish a new fourth Welsh-medium secondary school in the south of Cardiff – Support
  • Option 5: Establish a new age 3-16, or 3-19, Welsh-medium school in south Cardiff – Strongly support
  • As a campaign we Strongly Oppose all of the other options (1, 2, 3, and 6). They are either insufficient or unacceptably disruptive.

Option 5 is best because it would bring the 4th Welsh-medium secondary school to the south of the city, and also address the growing need for more nursery/primary provision. Ysgol Hamadryad is an excellent school which will feed into this new secondary. Hamadryad currently serves the whole Bay, Butetown and Grangetown areas. If the council is serious about its duty and strategy of giving more children the Welsh language, then there will be a need for more Welsh-medium primary provision in the community for years to come. This could be gradually increased over time. An all-ages campus (locating the new nursery/primary on the same site as the new secondary) would bring many benefits.

Option 4 is the second best, which is why Support makes sense. The weakness of this option is that it does not mention the growth of nursery/primary.

Section 5: Catchment Areas

• Section 5: Catchment Areas is difficult to answer. The new school will improve the accessibility of Welsh-medium education in south Cardiff. It will create a new catchment area anyway. It’s better to skip this question because it is context-free. Answering it may create the impression that the ultimate solution is fiddling with catchment areas. In itself, this will not address the need in Grangetown, Butetown and surrounding areas for a brand new school.

We trust you find this helpful. If you want detail you can view the long response of the campaign to the engagement exercises.

Feel free to email the campaign team if you want to help or want a chat.

Email Cardiff Council today

Cardiff Council’s engagement on Welsh-medium secondary education ends on Thursday 26 March 2026 so this is your chance to act.

The campaign for an all-ages (3-19 year old) Welsh-medium school for Butetown, Grangetown and the surrounding area has produced an easy-to-use template response for you to copy in one email to the council.

• Here are the steps you can follow.

And within 3 minutes? You will have contributed your voice for the children of the south of the city.

The children of Butetown, Grangetown and the surrounding areas are now depending on us to call for an all-ages (3-19 year old) Welsh-medium school.

The school would include the 4th Welsh-medium secondary school in the city. In addition it will grow Welsh-medium nursery/primary provision on the site for the coming years. A campus that will be a resource of use for the whole community and a vibrant, civic place where the Welsh language will be central and part of a multicultural, multilingual story.

In a city the size of Cardiff, Welsh-medium secondary schools are needed in the North, South, East and West.

Please don’t forget to respond because every email to Cardiff Council will count.

Thank you and please spread the word!

Share the opportunity to email the council

If you can encourage a friend or neighbour to email the council then all the better.

You can recommend the web address www.southcardiff.wales which will take them to the right place so they can follow the steps. Diolch!

Here are some social media posts you can like and share.

Facebook (Cymraeg)

3 munud o dy amser i alw am yr ysgol

Facebook (English)

3 minutes of your time to call for the school

Instagram (Cymraeg)

3 munud o dy amser i alw am yr ysgol!

Instagram (English)

3 minutes of your time to call for the school

Bluesky (Cymraeg)

3 munud o dy amser i alw am ysgol.Cer i decaerdydd.cymru

— Ysgol_De_Caerdydd (@ysgoldecaerdydd.bsky.social) 2026-03-04T16:12:17.294Z

Bluesky (English)

3 minutes of your time to call for the schoolGo to southcardiff.wales

— Ysgol_De_Caerdydd (@ysgoldecaerdydd.bsky.social) 2026-03-04T16:32:32.045Z

Over 80 well-known names have signed a public letter calling on the Leader and Cabinet of Cardiff Council to establish a Welsh-medium secondary school to serve the communities of Butetown, Grangetown and surrounding areas.

Among those who have signed are community leaders from the Butetown and Grangetown areas such as Emily Pemberton, Tariq Awan, Liz Musa, and Ifty Khan.

Among the musicians, artists, poets and actors who have signed are Gwenno Saunders, Dafydd Iwan, Gruff Rhys, Dionne Bennett, Hammad Rind, Patricia Morgan (Datblygu), Don Leisure, Caryl Parry Jones, Sue Jones Davies, Cian Ciarán, Ani Saunders, Griff Lynch, Cerys Hafana, Annes Elwy, Morgan Elwy, Rachael Solomon (Eden), John Griffiths (Llwybr Llaethog), DJ Jaffa, Peredur ap Gwynedd (Pendulum), Sharon Morgan, Lisa Angharad, Rhys Gwynfor, Joe Patrick Healy, Ali Goolyad, Kyle Legall, Llio Maddocks, and Miriam Isaac.

Read the full story in Nation.Cymru

Updates:

CJS News covered the campaign with an article and a video.