Perthshire North MSP, John Swinney, today (Friday 4 November) joined in the five year anniversary celebrations of Gaelic Medium Education starting in Breadalbane Academy Primary School.
As part of the celebrations school pupils, from Primary 1 to S6, performed Gaelic songs and music in a school assembly in front of other pupils, staff and parents. Stars of the assembly included the Gaelic Medium Education class performing “Brocham Lom”, whilst the school’s house Ceilidh Band, Strung, Drawn and Quartered – who recently performed at the national Mod on Stornoway – also performed a number of songs.
Commenting on the visit, Mr Swinney said:
“I am delighted to have been able to take part in today’s celebrations at Breadalbane Academy and to see the amount of work the school is putting into its Gaelic Medium Education, in particular.
“I am very grateful to Mr Devine for inviting me to today’s celebrations. The attitude of all the pupils and staff towards learning was very admirable and everybody who performed at the assembly was a credit to themselves and their school. I was particularly impressed by the performances of “Strung, Drawn and Quartered” who have recently returned from a very successful trip to the National Mod.
“I hope that Breadalbane will build on its excellent foundations in teaching the Gaelic language and hopefully there will be many more happy anniversaries of the Gaelic Medium Education at this school, in the future.”
Breadalbane Academy Primary’s Gaelic Medium Education class is taught by Mrs MacDonald and currently has more than 10 pupils ranging from Primary 1 to Primary 4. All learning and teaching takes place in Gaelic in order to immerse the children in the language, with the aim being to make the pupils as fluent in Gaelic as they are in English, by the time they leave Primary School.
Adding to this, Mr Swinney said:
“Investment in the appropriate infrastructure to encourage future Gaelic education is very important. The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the number of people learning, speaking and using the Gaelic language. There are significant potential economic and social benefits from taking this approach and I am very pleased at the success of this school and its GME programme.
Notes:
Attached are photographs of Mr Swinney on his visit to Breadalbane Academy. The photographs include Mr Swinney cutting the “birthday cake” for the GME’s 5 year anniversary as well as Mr Swinney visiting the GME class.
Further information on Breadalbane’s Gaelic Medium Education is available here:
http://www.breadalbane.pkc.sch.uk/BA/gaelic-medium-education/
