🔗 Share this article

The MoD allocates around £1m annually to place children to private schools in northern Wales because "public schools teach various lessons in the Welsh language".

It paid over one million pounds in educational stipend in the northern region for 83 children of service personnel in 2024-2025, and £942,000 for seventy-nine students in 2023-2024 under a longstanding policy.

An official representative said "military families' children can face regular relocations" and the allowance "aims to minimize disruption to their schooling".

The Welsh party called it a "complete waste of money" and "an insult to our language" while the Conservatives argued families should be able to select the medium in which their children are taught.

The figures were obtained following a request under the public records law.

The online portal of RAF Valley on Anglesey tells its personnel, "for those residing and working in northern Wales, where state schools teach some or all lessons in the Welsh language, you may choose to enroll your kids to an English-language independent school".

"As long as you are joined by your family at your posting, you can use this allowance to cover the expense of tuition fees, field study trips/residential educational courses and daily transport."

A defense ministry representative explained, "the aim of Day School Allowance in North Wales (the allowance) is to assist service families posted to the region, where Welsh is the primary medium of public schooling".

"As mobility is a part of military career, service children can encounter frequent moves and from DSA-NW aims to lessen interference to their learning."

"The MoD acknowledges the sacrifices service personnel, and their families undertake, and through the stipend assists with the expenses of independent day schooling given in the English language."

'In Areas With Bilingual or Non-English Instruction'

The allowance covers tuition fees up to a maximum of £22,755 annually, seven thousand five hundred eighty-five pounds per term, and is accessible to people living in the regions of Conwy, the area, Gwynedd, the island or Flintshire and serving in one of the following establishments:

• RAF Valley, Anglesey
• The combined forces alpine training facility, the island
• Joint Services Mountain Training Wing, the town
• The university military training program (UOTC), Bangor detachment, the city

The eligible private schools are Treffos institution, the village, Anglesey; Rydal Penrhos Prep school in Colwyn Bay; St Gerard's, the city and St David's institution, Llandudno.

The relevant military policy document states that "disbursement of the stipend is restricted to those areas where teaching in the state sector is on a bilingual or non-English foundation".

People serving in other locations in the three branches of the armed forces - the ground forces, the naval service and the Royal Air Force - can apply for a educational continuity benefit which helps with boarding and/or tuition fees up to a cap, with a required family share of 10% for each eligible child.

Tory assembly representative Natasha Asghar said "personnel of the British armed forces move around the nation and the world, and the MoD has always sought to ensure that their children have availability to continuity in education".

"Although we strongly endorse Welsh-medium education across the country, it's important to recognize there are dual recognized tongues in our country, the English tongue and the Welsh language, and local councils and school boards should provide for both."

"Parents should always have the choice to decide the medium in which their children are taught."

Plaid Cymru's learning representative the assembly member said "not only is this a complete waste of money, it is a slight to our tongue".

"It's hard to imagine any valid reason to be allocating these funds every year, on preventing young people living in Wales from having the opportunity to acquire the Welsh tongue."

"Dual-language ability enhances experience and aids the development of youth, but the British administration is clearly blind to this."

"These funds is a perfect example of the approach of the Westminster parties regarding the nation and the Welsh language - namely ignorance and disrespect."