The Iron Ring petition shows what we can achieve

Couldn't agree more with what you're saying about not having been taught Welsh history in school, it's only after school that I learnt about Welsh history (and mythology) more thoroughly. I think we learnt more about Dylan Thomas's mocking satire of Welsh life than we did our own history. John Davies' 'A History of Wales' is in places a bit dry but essential reading.

I was educated in a Grammar School in Rhyl in the 1950's and the only history we were taught was English kings and queens. The lessons were a series of dictation whereupon the student write notes. The teaching method would have been better suited tintraining me to be a Secretary.

Without you organising the Petition, this wouldn't have happened and it would have gone ahead. So Diolch yn Fawr and Thank you for your commitment to the cause Izzy Evans.

Welsh history is already part of the WJEC GCSE curriculum in Wales. It is made up of 4 units: 1. Wales and the wider perspective 2. History with a European/world focus 3. Thematic studies (one from crime, health, warfare, migration) 4. Working as a historian The curriculum states: "In following this specification, learners must consider a Welsh perspective if the opportunity arises naturally from the subject matter and if its inclusion would enrich learners’ understanding of the world around them as citizens of Wales as well as the UK, Europe and the world. Specifically, Units 1 and 3 will require candidates to make reference to the impact of historical change on Wales or on a Welsh perspective. Unit 1 assessments will include compulsory questions that require knowledge and understanding of Welsh History. Unit 3 assessments take a thematic approach to historical development. Candidates will be required to draw upon the Welsh context in their responses to specific Unit 3 questions." In other words, half the syllabus is related to Wales and unit 4 could be based on Welsh examples if a teacher wanted to. Teachers do have some flexibility in where to put the balance in units 1 and 3. Many do not place the emphasis on Wales that they might and probably should. This is partly related to a lack of resources (e.g. lesson plans) for teaching Welsh history. It may also relate to a lack of confidence since most teachers' own degrees did not focus on Wales. It is important to remember that schools and teachers have a lot of flexibility in how subjects are taught. The curriculum is deliberately flexible in all subjects. The history curriculum in Wales is also not written by government. I find it very difficult to believe that the education professionals who did write it are deliberately trying to "ensure that we appreciate our neighbours’ history better than our own". More details of the GCSE curriculum are here: http://www.wjec.co.uk/wjec-gcse-history-spec-from-2017-e.pdf?language_id=1 Levels below GCSE have similar characteristics.

Yes – to challenging self-serving, London-centric interpretations of Wales’ past, present and future! Llongyfarchiadau But to really push this agenda forward needs Wales-wide coordination of action.

For a realistic view of our history, schools should introduce children to Terry Breverton,s book,The Welsh The Biography.Young people would soon gain a sense of their true identity and culture and within a generation wales would become independent.

Until Lord in waiting, Carwyn Jones, the rest of the unionists, all those representing foreign political parties and the British llackies are removed from our Senedd and positions of authority of any kind, nothing will change and our people shall be dragged further into oblivion. Until we have our own media our hard of learning will be fed foreign anglo-british lies and will continue to be dumb. The majority of our people, like, lemmings will follow right over the edge into the abyss unless we help them. Until every educational establishment is Welsh speaking and teaches the truth about the history of these isles, how we came to be, due foreign invaders we shall continue to be manipulated, again, by lies purely to keep us from flourishing. Until everyone has the balls to drop their anglo-british-american lifestyles they shall remain comatosed and live in their own petty little worlds divided, just like the English elite want us to be. We all know that this lifestyle is totally unsustainable, I know most of you here know it, but what about the rest? Well, apart from everyone of us patriots celebrating Owain Glyndwr Day and #Indyfest yesterday. Because, some of us that are 'enlightened' cannot let go of the Anglo-British-American trappings that are totally alien to our true Celtic culture, those that are lost will have no true and definitive leadership. Please, no excuses! Jones is, at this moment, clearing the way for the English elite to dump their criminals on us in a new 'super prison' in South Wales. Earlier in the year I wrote to Jones and asked if it was his governments intention to do this? He passed the buck and I was told nothing had been discussed or even reached any kind of planning stage and it was therefore too early to really comment. Of course, they tried to feed me the usual bullshit, but I just laughed it off. That was March it is now only September. Has anyone also witnessed such abuses of power to push through what the English elite want? Due process was and has not been properly, systematically and timely carried out. English consultation as we all know, is a lie and a joke. It will be the biggest in Europe and the first colony becomes the last penal colony for the pathetic misrule by the English elite and all invaders of our lands (and also their own people). Sadly, it doesn't take just those of us fighting for Independence to appreciate this, surely? Until we are free we continue to die!

Yes thank you, and direct action. To comments on Welsh Education. As long as Wales-focused education is not a ploy to focus on Left-wong stuggles and land-rights and 'ordinary' Welsh lives at the expense of conventional historu teachin from a Welsh perspective, I support having a state wide curriculum, but it must not be used to put promote authoritative attitudes of the state or a Leftist political ideology. I only worry about this because I went to YesCymru indyfest yesterday, and the historical education moment took a decidedly left wing approach, and that can be very dangerous. A woman in the audience shouted their's nothing wrong with the image of the 'sickle' used by Soviet Russia and most people agreed with her. I found this abhorrant and highly offensive. How dare YesCymru support Soviet Russia's totalitarian and fascist ideas. After going to the YesCymru Indyfest yeaterstay and seeing Leftists ideas so openly favoured and anything Centrist and Centre-Right viewed with hostility, it makes me wonder if I actually want Welsh independence at all if culture and language is not the driving force in place of Left wing idealism and 'equality' (which i view as conformity and oppression. Dont tell me what to do with my land and money. Glyndŵr was an aristocrat, thank you very much.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with either the sickle or hammer used as part of a communist crest. The use of the hammer symbolises on the one hand the workers, and the sickle on the other, the peasants. Because YesCymru did not actively condemn the woman's statement does not mean that YesCymru supports the totalitarian nature of the Soviet Union. Maybe YesCymru's apparent 'favouring' of so called 'leftists' (I attended #indyfest too, and noted no particular left-wing bias, or indeed, any particular right-wing bias). And perhaps anything centrist or centre-right is viewed with hostility for the reason that most people there yesterday favoured left-wing ideals? Maybe YesCymru is not for you Capitalist and Welsh Nash, and I'd suggest that perhaps the Alaskan Independence Party would be more to your liking. I don't know what exactly you mean about 'conventional history teaching' but suppose you mean where kids are brainwashed into thinking that kings and queens and landowners and capitalists should be revered and that caps should be doffed and forelocks tugged. For most people the only relevant history is that of people like themselves, and in that they have more in common with ordinary people in Catalonia or Burkino Faso than they do with kings and queens and rich people. No, the only history that most of us need is that which emphasises that ordinary people are oppressed and exploited so that captialists and other parasites such as an aristocracy and monarchy can leech off their backs. If YesCymru looks to be left-wing influenced, (and I doubt that) then perhaps it just reflects the personal political perspectives of those who are directly involved in it. Suck it up!

Can't say I'm surprised that a campaign based on nationalism and historical revisionism was successful in Brexit Wales.