Q: Nationality of Ian Saynor

I thought Ian Saynor was very convincing as the talented Welsh boy, and was wondering if anybody had any biographical info. In particular, I wanted to know if he was a speaker of the Welsh language, since there is only one scene in which he speaks a phrase of Welsh ("'ci bachera skol,' that's what they call me in the village: 'the schoolmistress's little dog!"--although I don't have a notion of how to spell the Welsh, or even if I heard it right).