Wales is a country in which two languages (English and Welsh) have equal status in law. So parents can choose whether their children are educated through the medium of English or Welsh. There are lots of interesting issues that arise when pupils educated in Welsh come from homes where English is mainly spoken, and these issues are interesting to teachers anywhere in the world who work with pupils where a different language is spoken at home to the one being used in the classroom.

We welcome Dr Mirain Rhys and Dr Katharine Young to the studio to discuss their research into language immersion, which is where pupils receive an immersive intervention in the language to help them make progress in the classroom. They've got plenty of advice about what teachers and parents can do to support pupils whose home language is different from that which they experience in school.

You can find the Welsh Government page about this topic (with plenty of Mirain and Katharine's work featured!) here.

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Recorded in Studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 25th June 2025.

Most of the guests who pass through our studio are teachers of some kind, so it’s a rare treat to welcome some people who are from a slightly different world, but who have taken a real interest in helping out the profession with their specialist insights!

Chris and Suzy Peach are both doctors, and decided that they wanted to make something that could help young people with their health and wellbeing. Their creation is the Peach Wellness Academy, which is now available for schools and has a wealth of resources aimed at helping young people help themselves.

Chris and Suzy tell us some amazing (and quite worrying) things about what’s going on with the health and wellbeing of young people, we try to dig into why some of it is happening, and what we need to be aware of in order to address some worrying trends.

Thanks to Chris and Suzy for coming all the way from Scotland to join us in the studio!

You can find out all about Peach Wellness Academy at peachwellnessacademy.com

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Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 2nd October 2025

After welcoming Kelly Bubbins from Willows High School in Cardiff to our studio a year ago, we're delighted to be having a chat with one of Kelly's colleagues. Nicola Lo Celso is literacy coordinator at the school, and has been responsible for developing the school's literacy policy.

Listeners who remember our discussion with Kelly last year will know that Willows have a strong view about how they want to do things, and we've always found it rewarding to dig into that and see how the school's vision leads to specific things happening in classrooms.

Nicola tells us about the school's potentially controversial emphasis on booklets for all subjects, while explaining how she works with subject specialists to make this happen, and outlining the nuts and bolts of what's going on when they are designed.

Thanks to Nicola for coming in - with literacy a perennial hot potato, it's always good to hear from someone who's making decisions on the front line.

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Recorded in Studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 25th June 2025.