Gwynedd Council’s Cabinet has backed £1.1m plans to set up Welsh language immersion centres in Tywyn and Bangor and improve provision in Porthmadog. But the plans will see the Penrhyndeudraeth centre shut.

The Welsh Government funding will see the improvement of existing resources at Porthmadog, with plans to set up within Ysgol Eifionydd, as well as new centres at Tywyn and a yet to be determined venue in Bangor.

Covering both primary and secondary aged pupils, the centres support non-Welsh speaking children by immersing them in the Welsh language before enrolling in the county’s schools, which mainly provide their education through Welsh.

The move will see the closure of the existing facility at Penrhyndeudraeth, with children to attend centres in Dolgellau or Porthmadog in future, although no staff losses are expected.

In another change, it’s expected the classes will run four rather than five days a week, for between eight and 10 weeks, with pupils to attend their designated school for the remaining school day.

This had prompted concerns by some councillors during the scrutiny process, with Cllr Alwyn Gruffydd fearing it could make it difficult for fluent fellow pupils to speak Welsh with them in future out of habit. But officers, during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, said that teachers had generally backed the move, also feeling it would make it easier to reassure parents of the merits of sending their children to the centres if a link was maintained with their school during that initial phase.

Cllr Cemlyn Rees Williams, the Cabinet member for education, said: “There is no doubt that we in Gwynedd have led the way over the past decades in ensuring that children and young people who move to the county acquire the Welsh language and succeed in integrating into Gwynedd’s bilingual education system.

“I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to recent conversations on this vision. The experiences that have been shared have been so important as we shape the vision for the future.”

As a result of the move, the county’s six immersion centres will be based at Bangor, Eifionydd (Porthmadog), Tywyn, Maesincla (Caernarfon), Llangybi and Dolgellau.

Cllr Williams added: “We will now move ahead with the important detailed work on the proposals to introduce new modern facilities in the Bangor and Tywyn areas.”

The intention is for the new system and facilities to be in place by September 2022.