The first ever Welsh language full day care nursery in Newport is now open. Wibli Wobli offers full day care from 7:30am to 6pm Monday to Friday and is located in Rogerstone.
The nursery is in a newly refurbished building with brand new equipment and an outdoor area, a spacious kitchen with a nursery cook and Welsh speaking nursery staff.
Wibli Wobli have big plans to ignite interest in parents to put their children into a Welsh language setting and to highlight the benefits of exposing children to another language at a young age.
“We want to address the misconception that children won’t understand or thrive in a Welsh language setting. Children are like sponges and pick up other languages naturally and much more easily than their parents”.
“The benefits reach far beyond just being able to speak Welsh, it develops cognitive skills generally, including critical thinking, memory and the enhanced ability to process all language including their native tongue. Not to mention the future career opportunities in Wales if they were to continue with Welsh medium education”.
The nursery is also developing a brand new bilingual nursery app with Wootzoo, a Cardiff based business. This is the only nursery software currently available in English and Welsh language (parents select whether they would like their account in English, Welsh or both). It will have lots of features that will encourage parents to have fun learning Welsh at home too.
“We want parents to take an interest in the language. The reality is that most of our parents are non-Welsh speaking, so we would love for them to learn the language alongside their children”.
Wibli Wobli also has plans to introduce work placements and schemes with local schools and colleges so that Welsh speaking students have the opportunity to continue using their Welsh fluently and work in childcare. If the government want to achieve their target of more Welsh speakers they need more Welsh language workplaces like Wibli Wobli, otherwise people aren’t using their Welsh in an everyday context.
The nursery is looking to be very involved in the local community with children visiting the local fruit and vegetable supplier, the local community garden and the local care home and library. “We want parents and the community to see that their children can thrive in a Welsh language environment and have a positive experience of the language”.
