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English and Welsh-language pupils could learn alongside each other in a new school which could be built in Cardiff.

People will be asked their views on plans for a new two-form entry primary school on the Plasdwr development in the north west of the city, where thousands of houses are being built .

The new school, which would serve the Creigiau, St Fagans, Radyr, Morganstown and Fairwater areas, would be one-form entry Welsh medium and one-form entry English medium “with a significant use of Welsh,” the council says.

Cardiff council’s cabinet has given the go-ahead for a public consultation on the new school, which would be open from September 2021. The consultation will begin in June.

The meeting on Thursday, April 18 heard the English medium pupils at the school would have a significant amount of their teaching in Welsh.

Cabinet member for education, Councillor Sarah Merry, said the school could be an “exciting” new development which encourages pupils to become bilingual.

She said: “I genuinely think this is something that’s innovative and could be very exciting.”

(Image: UGC MWL / Golley Slater)

Councillor Merry said her children went through English-medium education but “none of them would be likely to drop into using Welsh in social contacts any more than they would be fluent in French.

“For some people there’s a sense of loss there.”

She said some teachers who can speak Welsh may not feel comfortable teaching in Welsh-medium schools.

“I hope people can see (the proposed school) as something which is different and exciting,” she said.

An exclusively-Welsh school is not being proposed as it could take pupils away from other Welsh mediums in the surrounding area, the meeting heard.

Developers of the Plasdwr development, Cardiff’s £2bn “garden city”, have committed to build the new primary school which would also have 48 part-time nursery places.

(Image: UGC MWL)

The new school is being planned as hundreds of new homes are being built in the area, increasing the demand for school places.

The first phase of the Plasdwr development – for 630 homes – is not expected to be complete and all homes occupied until between 2022 and 2024.

Another 290 homes are planned for Plasdwr’s phase two on a site south of Pentrebane, and up to 5,000 more homes are planned in later phases.

The council says the new school would provide enough places to meet the extra demand from the new homes.