Schools are one of the foundational building blocks of communities and societies. You could see them as ladders, on which children and young people progress in their learning and development step by step. It’s quite intuitive, then, that the Welsh word for school and ladder is the same: ysgol. Ysgol is a feminine singular noun, and the plural form is ysgolion.
ysgol
school or ladder
The two meanings of ysgol have slightly different etymologies, although they are both borrowings from Latin. The school meaning comes from the Latin schola, also meaning school, whereas the ladder meaning derives from scāla, meaning ladder or steps.
In the North, ystol is sometimes said instead of ysgol specifically when describing a ladder. The plural of ystol is ystolion. Ysgolion or ystolion are made up of ffyn ysgol (rungs) – but that’s pretty much the only ladder terminology most people need to know in their daily life! So, for the rest of this article, we’ll focus mainly on the school meaning.
A bachgen ysgol (schoolboy) or a geneth ysgol (schoolgirl) might take the bws ysgol (school bus) to mynd i’r ysgol (go to school). They should make sure that they arrive yn brydlon (promptly), to avoid getting in trouble with the swyddog presenoldeb (attendance office). However, that doesn’t mean leaving home in a rush, or they’ll be at risk of putting their gwisg ysgol (school uniform) on wrong, forgetting their bag ysgol (satchel), or even leaving behind their gwaith cartref (homework).
Being yn yr ysgol (at school) requires following a lot of rheolau (rules) and maintaining good ymddygiad (behaviour) in gwersi (lessons), but with ffrindiau da (good friends) and inspiring athrawon (teachers) it can be a really positive experience for a lot of children.
However, most disgyblion (pupils) will still be looking forward to the gŵyl ysgol (school holiday) at the end of the blynydd ysgol (school year), no matter how much they like learning!
Mwynheuaist ti’r ysgol? Do.
Did you enjoy school? Yes.
The word ysgol doesn’t undergo mutation because it begins with a vowel. However, it does experience what’s known as h-prosthesis when preceded by eu (their) or ei (his/her)—though in the case of ei, only when it means her. H-prosthesis simply refers to the addition of an h at the beginning of the word.
For example, when referring to a female disgybl (pupil), we say ei hysgol (her school), whereas for a male pupil, it remains ei ysgol (his school).
Like in English, ysgol has a couple of other meanings. Firstly, it can refer to the different subsections of a prifysgol (university). (You may have noticed that the word prifysgol also comes from ysgol, combined with the prefix prif, which means main or prime.) For example, Prifysgol Bangor (Bangor University) has twelve different ysgolion, such as the Ysgol Feddygol Gogledd Cymru (North Wales Medical School) and the Ysgol Busnes Bangor (Bangor Business School).
Secondly, ysgol o feddwl means school of thought. Examples might include yr Ysgol Platon (the Platonic School) in athroniaeth (philosophy), or yr Ysgol Eidalaidd (the Italian school) in celf (art). However, you can’t use the word ysgol to translate phrases about groups of animals, like a school of fish – this would be translated as haig o bysgod.
Rwy’n astudio yn yr Ysgol Ieithyddiaeth.
I study in the School of Linguistics.
Of course, there are plenty of different kinds of school, depending on how old the pupil is, where they live, and what subjects they are interested in. Here are some of the most important terms to know:
- ysgol gynradd = primary school
- ysgol uwchradd = secondary school
- ysgol haf = summer school
- ysgol breswyl = boarding school
- ysgol feithrin/cylch meithrin = nursery school
- ysgol Sul = Sunday school
- ysgol noson/ysgol hwyrol = night school
- ysgol gyfun = comprehensive school
- ysgol breifat = private school
- ysgol ramadeg/ysgol ramadegaidd = grammar school
Did you know that, unlike in England and Northern Ireland, there are no grammar schools in Scotland and Wales?
The Welsh word for coleg is college, and it’s a pretty direct equivalent of the English, even having the same etymology, being borrowed from late Latin. It can refer to coleg technegol (technical school) for teenagers who are not interested in coleg chweched dosbarth (sixth form), or to institutes of addysg uwchradd (higher education), often those more focussed on music and arts. For example, one might attend coleg celf (art school), coleg dawns (dance school), coleg cerdd (music college), or even coleg arlwyo (catering school).
Whether a myfyrwyr (student) attends prifysgol or coleg, they’ll likely be hoping to dysgu (learn) as much as possible so that they can earn a gradd ysgol (university degree).
Rhaid i fi weithio’n galed yn yr ysgol er mwyn fynd i’r brifysgol.
I have to work hard at school so as to go to university.
Addysg (education) in Wales is quite different to the English system. One big difference is that there is generally more financial support available to university students from the Welsh than the English government. The structure of primary education in Wales is also generally seen as giving more freedom to teachers to design the cwrs addysg (curriculum) themselves.
Some differences, though, are fairly surface-level – for example, Welsh students of TGAU (GCSEs) still receive their graddau (grades) in letters rather than numbers. The subjects are mostly the same, including mathamateg (maths), Saesneg (English), bioleg (biology), chemeg (chemistry), ffiseg (physics), hanes (history) and daeryddiaeth (geography).
Of course, Welsh students also have to study Cymraeg (Welsh) – whether as a second language, in the same way as Ffrangeg (French) or Almaeneg (German), or to the same difficulty as English for those who have gone to school yng nhgyfrwng Cymraeg (Welsh-medium). All ysgolion in Wales require their pupils to study Cymraeg to some level, even if their parents haven’t chosen for them to learn it as their iaith gyntaf (first language).
As of 2012, 20% of Welsh pupils were in ysgolion where Welsh is the primary mode of instruction. Hopefully, this number has continued to increase since then. Interestingly, today, there is even one ysgol iaith Gymraeg (Welsh language school) in London!
