Parents and children say they love Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain (the London Welsh school), the only bilingual Welsh language nursery and primary school in England. The only problem, according to the school’s chair of governors, is there aren’t enough of them.
For 65 years Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain has been teaching Welsh language and culture to children of the Welsh diaspora. But since Covid, the tiny independent school in west London has become even tinier.
The school began last year with 25 pupils, until the end of pandemic measures resulted in many of its families moving back to Wales. This year the London Welsh school has just eight pupils.
“The problem we’ve got now is the younger children haven’t joined. And Covid had a part to play in that, because before lockdown families would make an effort to travel further and come to us. But because we were all told to stay local, of course children went to a local nursery and they then progressed to a local school,” said Glenys Roberts, the chair of governors, who has been involved with the school for 30 years as a parent and former teacher.
