WATCH: Applecross Primary School looking for teacher to start Gaelic education initiative to revive the language in the community
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A WESTER Ross school is seeking to recruit a new Gaelic teacher for first-off initiative in the Highlands.
Parents at Applecross Primary School were successful with their application for provision of Gaelic medium education (GME) for nine children (eight which will start P1/P2 class and one which is still in a nursery) from August this year.
This is the first time that the new request process, available through the Education (Scotland) Act 2016, has been used within the Highland Council region.
Roslyn Clark, who is a parent of one of the pupils at Applecross Primary, said: "This is an exciting opportunity for a teacher to come and establish a new class in Applecross. There will be 8 children starting the P1/P2 class in August. It is a really special little school, with lots of enthusiasm, culture and nature all around!
"The ultimate goal is that your child becomes bilingual and able to learn all the subjects through the medium of Gaelic.
"There are a lot of benefits to it. The children are little sponges at that age, they can take on these languages so easily and learning Gaelic will actually help them to understand other subjects later in life, and this will also help in future opportunities in terms of career path and participating in the culture where they are living.
"Of course the parents don't need to speak Gaelic either; it would of course be a brilliant support to be able to take it at home and have conversations in Gaelic but this is not a pre-requisite and in fact of the parents who applied for this, none of them speaks Gaelic.
"I can't see any way that one would reverse the process without going through school children: this will encourage parents to speak but it means creating a new generation that will help bringing Gaelic back.
A video to advertise the post was shared by the school:
Unfortunately, due to a shortage of Gaelic medium teachers, so far the school hasn't been able to appoint a Gaelic medium teacher teacher.
"It would be sad if such a great initiative might not go forward because there are no teachers available. We are all crossing our toes and fingers and hope that someone will come forward!"
"Applecross is such a very wonderful place, it's am unique little community and we are all very enthusiastic and friendly. Having the opportunity to establish a new gaelic medium school, this is quite a lot for the children and would be an incredible opportunity."
Anyone interested in the position should contact staffing.recruitmentteaching@highland.gov.uk or contact 01463 702730.
