Bun-sgoil Taobh na Páirce

With a hat-tip to An Sionnach Fionn, here is a story from STV about the official opening of Edinburgh's first Gaelic-medium school.

First dedicated Gaelic school in Edinburgh officially opened

     

Bun-sgoil Taobh na Páirce has 30 Gaelic speaking staff teaching 213 pupils – 53 of them who started school for the first time this year. It has been built on the site of the former Bonnington Primary School in Leith and replaces the Gaelic Medium Education Unit at Tollcross Primary School. Dr Alasdair Allan, minister for learning, science and Scotland’s languages, officially opened the school on Wednesday.

Headteacher Anne MacPhail, said: "I’m very proud to be leading the school into a historic new era for Gaelic in the city. The local Leith community have been very welcoming since we moved in and I’m really looking forward to building on the successes of our first few weeks."

The primary school, which is open to anyone who wants to send their children there, has been funded by the Scottish Government and the City of Edinburgh Council.

Dr Allan said: "It’s a privilege to be here today to officially open Bun-sgoil Taobh na Páirce, Edinburgh’s first dedicated Gaelic school. This school, and others like it, will help ensure that Gaelic continues to be a vibrant part of our culture, immersing pupils and staff in the language and allowing them to carry it with them throughout their lives. Our efforts to encourage a new generation of Gaelic speakers and teachers is already showing encouraging results – as we’ve seen by the 12 per cent rise in pupils entering P1 this year – and the launch of City of Edinburgh Council’s Gaelic Language Plan will mean that its work to promote the language will reach even more people."

STV News, 25 September 2013

It's very good news. And I have to say that I admire the bravery of those four young girls for not running away while a live haggis was half-squeezed to death during the celebrations. The scourge of the pipes can be a bit of an ordeal. But I understand that it was released back into the wild afterwards, and is expected to make a full recovery.

Baile Mor nan Gaidheal

That's the Big City of the Gaels ... or Glasgow. I was very encouraged to see this report on the BBC Scotland website about the city's plans to increase the prominence and use of Gaelic:

Gaelic language plan for Glasgow

A three-year action plan to increase the use of Gaelic throughout Glasgow is being launched by the city council. The strategy will be unveiled at the first board meeting in Glasgow of Gaelic agency, Bord na Gaidhlig. It will see the opening of a second Gaelic school in the city as well as wider use of the language on signs and official council communications.

Councils are legally obliged to prepare a Gaelic Language Plan under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005.

Glasgow City Councillor Aileen Colleran said: "We have a vision for Gaelic in our city and this plan sets it out. By 2020, the place of Gaelic will be obvious to all. We'll see it around us - in our buildings, on our streets and in our shops - we'll hear it in conversations, in our schools and in the media. Our young people will be speaking it in Buchanan Street without feeling self conscious about it and people will recognise the language as Gaelic."

BBC, 6 April 2010

It's good to see such a positive attitude. We are not alone in wanting to see our languages thrive, and Scotland seems to have followed up on some of the same methods and strategies that we have used in Wales.

There's some more info on Glasgow City Council's website here, and the Language Plan itself is here.