Education Wales

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

With the introduction of the Curriculum for Wales, schools and other educational settings across Wales are designing, using and refining their curriculum to ensure all children and young people are supported to reach their full potential.

Following National Network events held across Wales, case studies are now available on Hwb with schools showing how their curriculum is supporting equity, helping children progress in their learning and fulfil their potential.

The events gave practitioners an opportunity to share their experiences and gain valuable insights into approaches others are taking to ensure their curriculum supports equity and inclusion for all.

The case studies include information about approaches to additional learning provision, becoming a trauma informed school, overcoming economic disadvantage and more.

A directory of organisations from the events that can support schools and settings with equity and inclusion is also available on Hwb.

The case studies

• Crownbridge Special School, Torfaen – person-centred planning for pupils with a range of complex and multiple additional learning needs. 
• Fitzalan High School, Cardiff – ensuring inclusivity in a school where approximately 75% of learners have English as an additional language.
• Lewis School Pengam, Caerphilly – promoting citizenship, equity and inclusion within the curriculum.
• Malpas Court Primary School, Newport – a school with a speech and language base and where 44% of learners have additional learning needs
• Monkton Primary School, Pembroke – creating a curriculum focussing on community a sense of ‘cynefin’.
• Moorland Primary School, Splott, Cardiff – Inquiry-based learning
• Victoria Gems, Jewels and Treasures Nursery, at Victoria County Primary school, Wrexham – developing a nursery setting curriculum that promotes equity and inclusion
• Ysgol Bro Pedr, Lampeter, Ceredigion, (one of the first 3 to 19 schools in Wales) – developing an inclusive curriculum at an all-through school.
• Ysgol Gynradd, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire – overcoming economic disadvantage.
• Ysgol Maes Derw PRU, Swansea – Curriculum for Wales at a PRU
• Ysgol Plas Cefndy PRU Denbighshire – developing a curriculum that promotes equity and inclusion.
• Ysgol Santes Dwynwen, Newborough, Anglesey (Welsh-medium primary school) – a trauma informed school
• St Christopher’s school, Wrexham – supporting all learners to develop their skills in environments outside of the classroom.
• Welsh Immersion, Cardiff – provision to facilitate pupils wishing to transfer to Welsh medium education. 

For more networking and information around equity and inclusion and the Curriculum for Wales, log in to Hwb and join the network (search Hwb networks for ‘Equity and Inclusion Tegwch a Chynwysoldeb’).

By registering on the National Network platform you can get the latest information about in-person and online conversations as well as access to materials related to National Network conversations.

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By integrating cultural experiences into their new curriculum, Sully Primary School are inspiring pupils to find out more about the world around them and discover a love for languages.  

With a diverse pupil population, the school has created an environment where language is a dynamic force for celebration, identity, and connection. Parents and cultural institutions are invited into the school to share their personal experiences, knowledge and language skills.

Through exposure to Welsh, Spanish, Mandarin, French, and Italian, a multi-language approach has been developed.

A new curriculum

The school developed a clear aim and vision of what they wanted from the new curriculum and how to achieve it.

Their vision was for pupils to receive an engaging language education, one that developed their curiosity of the world around them, not just being the passive recipients of language teaching.

Their curriculum has been designed to ensure International Languages are firmly positioned to connect with the other areas of learning and experience, with the four purposes as its cornerstones.

Putting theory into practice

They wanted recognition of their curriculum journey and aimed to become an International School with accreditation from the British Council. This itself gave a framework to plan within.

At the beginning of their journey, they were lucky to have a member of staff who was passionate about international studies and languages. With the backing of the senior leadership team, this person acted as a driver for change. Initially some staff were a little reluctant to give a full buy-in to this planned approach but time, strong guidance and obvious pupil interest gradually resulted in all staff being fully on board. 

In the beginning, action plans were shared with stakeholders to gain and buy-in and support from all members of staff and also with the shared understanding of families and the governing body.

They quickly developed strong links with the Italian Embassy, The Confucius Institute and The British Council who have all been immensely supportive in helping Sully Primary School become an International School.

At the heart of their curriculum lies the translanguaging approach. Pupils are encouraged to explore linguistic connections and patterns through exposure to Welsh, Spanish, Mandarin, French, and Italian at different stages throughout their education. These languages were chosen after discussions with their secondary school MFL teachers, who advised to stay away from delivering on one language and instead encouraged us to develop a multi-language approach to foster a love of and a curiosity for languages.

Professional learning

It was very important to ensure staff were fully on board and confident enough with their own language skills and cultural knowledge.  Funding from the British Council enabled staff to travel to countries including Spain, Italy and China.

Cultural visits across the globe assisted in creating a greater independent approach towards professional development with staff seeking to increase their own language skills.

A few members of staff requested refresher training in Welsh language. Another enrolled on a night school course with her husband to learn Italian and a few others started competing with each other using Duolingo. 

Skills of the existing workforce were developed along with relationships with outside agencies who could bring expertise into the school, benefitting both children and staff. There are now members of staff who are comfortable in delivering basic Spanish, French and Italian sessions and peripatetic Italian and Chinese language teachers are used to deliver weekly language lessons across the school.

Language as a tool for connection and knowledge

Recognising the relationship between language and culture, cultural experiences are actively integrated into language education. ‘International Languages Week,’ enables pupils to immerse themselves in the exploration of a specific country, delving into its culture, language, and religion.

These weeks provide a platform for inviting parents into the school to share their personal backgrounds, cultural knowledge, and language skills. Embraced by the wider school community, these weeks culminate in a celebratory display, allowing children to showcase their newly acquired skills and knowledge to a wide audience.

Last year the school was selected to work with the British Council for the Cerdd Iaith project with pupils learning songs in a range of different languages. They worked with the writer and composer, Tim Riley, and the Welsh actor and singer Lily Beau. The positive impact of this project on pupils was clear. The weekly sessions left pupils feeling energised and excited, learning new words and phrases in different languages.

Involvement in the project culminated in a concert at the Wales Millennium Centre where pupils got to perform with a live orchestra alongside children from all over Wales.

Use of the Cerdd Iaith website continues with a weekly singing assembly for older children. The resources provided by Cerdd Iaith fit perfectly with the schools translanguaging-centric approach to the teaching of International Languages.

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Education leaders and practitioners have been clear that they need national guidance to support trans and nonbinary children and young people to feel valued, included, and safe in their education.

We know teachers and schools are already working hard to support children and young people. Providing appropriate national guidance for schools in Wales to support trans, nonbinary and gender questioning children and young people in education is a Welsh Government commitment.

We have been working closely with school leaders, practitioners, learners and a wide range of stakeholders on the development of guidance for Wales.

A public consultation was planned for this academic year. However, we have decided to take more time to develop the guidance so that it’s informed by the best available evidence, including the findings of the Cass Review and the views of stakeholders, including learners themselves and parents.

We are committed to taking this guidance forward. All learners need to feel valued, included and safe and ensuring their wellbeing is our main priority.

Thanks to everyone, especially to the children and young people who have talked to us so far and helped develop this guidance.

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Following a period of co-construction and consultation with practitioners, the Curriculum for Wales guidance has been updated to include ‘Continuing the Journey’, which outlines our expectations for ongoing curriculum design.

Whilst our expectations for curriculum design have not changed, we have, in response to practitioners, made the guidance shorter and easier to navigate and understand.

It has been split into 4 areas:

• Purpose: what should our learners learn and why?
• Progression: what should progress in that learning look like for each learner?
• Assessment: how are we assessing to enable that progression?
• Pedagogy: how does our daily practice support our curriculum?

Easy to access support is also now available on Hwb, including:

• Navigating the Curriculum for Wales Framework – a hyperlinked document to help navigate the guidance.
• Key terms from the Curriculum for Wales – explaining more about terms such as ‘cross cutting themes’, ‘the four purposes’ and ‘principles of progression’.
• Understanding Cluster Working – a model for cluster working to support planning, designing, reviewing, and refining curriculum and assessment.
• What are schools legally required to do? An understanding of the mandatory and statutory duties for headteachers and governing bodies.
• Assessing learner progress – practical support for assessment design
• Developing a shared understanding of progression.
• Shared understanding of progression: supporting cluster working
• Principles of progression: supporting self-evaluation and a shared understanding of progression.
• A range of Professional learning resources to support effective curriculum design.

Work is underway, with input from schools, to provide updated guidance on each of the areas of learning and experience.

Keep an eye out for more information over the next couple of months.

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For the first time, Professional Learning resources have been centralised in one place on Hwb. The freshly categorised and classified resources are now readily searchable and accessible to all education practitioners across Wales via the professional learning area.

The professional learning area has been organised to help practitioners find the right resources to meet their professional learning needs, whatever those needs may be. Within the area, practitioners will find a wide breadth of training, self-guided learning, case studies, guidance, and research on all aspects of professional learning. The resources cover 4 broad areas: curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; leadership and governance; well-being, equity and inclusion; and developing as a professional. Practitioners can filter the resources within these categories or search for resources using keywords.

A practitioner working party was convened to assure quality during the process, and several other groups are still providing feedback. The PL area is a work in progress and feedback can be left by anyone accessing the page. Your feedback will help us improve it.

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‘Governor’s Self Evaluation’ is a new resource designed to help governing bodies evaluate their work and act as a critical friend when looking at the effectiveness of their school.

It contains practical guidance, prompts, interactive resources, training materials and case studies.

Currently in its pilot phase, any feedback on the resource is welcome before the final version is published on Hwb in September. A link to a feedback form can be found on the landing page.

The resource is a guide and its use is optional. There is no expectation for governors to evaluate every prompt or address every aspect within this resource systematically.  Governors are welcome to use as much or as little as required.

The resource draws on content from other self-evaluation toolkits available regionally, and is presented in a similar way to the National Resource: Evaluation and Improvement (NR:EI) used by schools.

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As part of the Cabinet reshuffle, following the appointment of Vaughan Gething as First Minister, Lynne Neagle has been appointed as the Cabinet Secretary for Education, replacing Jeremy Miles who moves to the Economy portfolio.

Lynne Neagle is the Senedd Member for Torfaen, and moves to Education from her previous Cabinet post as the Deputy Minister for Mental Health.

Dear Colleague

I am privileged to have been appointed Cabinet Secretary for Education. I know from my time as Chair of the Senedd Children, Young People and Education Committee what a dedicated and hard-working education workforce we have in Wales, and I am really looking forward to working with you in my new role.

You are critical to the success of our transformative education reforms, including the Curriculum for Wales roll out, the current consultation on 14 to 16 learning, Made-for-Wales GCSEs, and the implementation of the Additional Learning Needs programme. Ensuring you have the tools to make these reforms a success will be my number one priority.

I am acutely aware that you are supporting our ambitious transformation of education while also dealing with the aftermath of a global pandemic. The increase in mental health issues amongst learners and the workforce, a drop in attendance and reports of deteriorating behaviour are matters that worry us all.

Government, parents and carers, and society as a whole need to come together to address these challenges. I know it can’t all be the responsibility of schools.

Making sure our young people have the best chance in life is a passion for me. A good education in an inclusive, safe, and nurturing environment helps build skills, knowledge and resilience. It is the greatest gift we can give our children and young people.

As Deputy Minister for Mental Health, I jointly chaired our Ministerial Board to take forward our Whole Schools Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing in Wales and was able to secure additional funding for Child and Adolescent Mental Health services in Wales.

I intend to spend my first months in office listening to you. I hope to visit schools after Easter and during those visits, as well as meeting children, young people, and your staff, I would like to talk to you about your burning issues.

I am really looking forward to working with you and meeting as many of you as possible. If there are issues you would like to discuss with me my door is open. Please email Dysg@gov.Wales or Correspondence.Lynne.Neagle@gov.wales and I’ll be in touch.

Yours sincerely

Lynne Neagle AS/MS
Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Addysg
Cabinet Secretary for Education

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Introducing Curriculum for Wales is a journey, not just for schools but for the wider education system as it adapts to support curriculum reform. Estyn’s evolving approach to inspection is an important example.

Ceri Richmond, Deputy Headteacher at Morriston Comprehensive School, is a Peer Inspector. She has recently had a week’s refresher training and is the perfect person to tell us more about how the approach to inspection is changing.

Firstly Ceri, why did you become a Peer Inspector?

I started in 2017 because as a senior leader with responsibility for self-evaluation and teaching and learning, I wanted to ensure that I could identify good practice. I wanted to be confident when observing lessons and mentoring departments in self-evaluation procedures. For me it’s about better teaching and learning, although I started by focussing on school self-evaluation.

What’s the essence of the role?

It’s important for Estyn to have practicing professionals in the team for balance and to bring that current perspective.  There are usually at least two peer inspectors in each team.  I appreciate the fact that we are full members of the inspection team with the same range of responsibilities.  On the other side, I have also appreciated that current perspective from the peer inspectors when my own school is under inspection.

Can you describe your recent training?

I really enjoyed it. We were a room of Peer Inspectors, mainly looking at teaching and learning, pastoral (e.g. skills and attendance) and team development. We looked at lots of examples of pupil work and were asked what we could glean.  Evidence gathering is always about triangulating and analysing how those work scrutinies would tie in with observations and pupil voice, for example. During an inspection we would share all our observations and notes from different inspection activities in a live document.  This means that all inspectors can collate and see the information pertinent to the area they have been allocated to report on.  It’s really good as refresher training if you’ve had a gap in inspections, and I can take a lot back to my own school.

As we move firmly into schools delivering the new Curriculum for Wales, I will be very interested to see how these activities and the focus of these activities will develop to take into account differences, for example in the way we use the principles of progression to measure progress and what we are now measuring in terms of progress, as we move to a purposes-driven curriculum, with a new but more equal emphasis on learner effectiveness as well as knowledge and skills.

How different are inspections under Curriculum for Wales?

The biggest improvement in the current framework is the removal of summative judgements. It means we look at both strengths and weaknesses. You can see the needs of a school, and they do come out in that final report, but the feedback is more balanced and far more constructive.

Leaner inspection arrangements are more focused on the most important areas that drive improvement. It’s also more based on the school’s own self-evaluation activity. In that way, we’re also assessing the strength of the school’s own ability to identify improvement.

Interestingly, in a recent House of Lords evidence session, it was said that the Inspectorate needs to respect the decisions taken at local level on curriculum, otherwise there is a risk that schools will try to please inspectors rather than serve the needs of the learners, which makes absolute sense in Wales!

So what style can schools expect from you?

The style has changed. It’s not big brother anymore, it’s working with the schools and it’s more supportive, although I do believe it will be some time before it feels this way by the school being inspected. The report is far more balanced and constructive.  Also, there is more regular contact and more frequent visits – engagement visits and thematic visits.  These are designed to focus on improvement processes to support stronger evaluations.

On balance it feels better, especially in a time when the curriculum is being introduced year by year in secondaries. We need to acknowledge the amount of change that’s involved and ensure that all tiers and departments within the sector talk to and communicate openly with each other.

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Since April 2023, 3500+ learners from more than 80% of state-funded schools and colleges engaged in mathematics workshops, masterclasses and conferences organised by Further Mathematics Support Programme Wales (FMSPW). 

Support is still available to all schools in Wales and can be applied for here.

But for the full picture of the support and how it works for learners in Wales at various ages, read on.

Funded by the Welsh Government and managed by Swansea University, the FMSPW collaborates with partners across Wales and the UK, operating across Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, and Swansea universities. Together, we offer a comprehensive range of mathematics enrichment activities tailored for all ages.

For pupils in years 7 and 8, FMSPW hosts lunchtime and after-school math clubs, fostering a welcoming atmosphere where participants can engage with mathematics through interactive games and hands-on activities.

For learners aged 14-15, our program provides access to a series of mathematics masterclasses by the Royal Institution, available both online and in-person, along with junior and senior math challenges and problem-solving sessions. Our “Careers in Mathematics” talks offer valuable insights into the practical applications of mathematics in the world of work and study, aiding students in making informed decisions regarding their A-level choices.

As students approach GCSE level, we provide support through revision events and online resources. The FMSPW is especially committed to supporting Additional Mathematics Level 2 qualification as it is evident that the qualification is important for schools. Our recent case studies have shown that studying Additional Mathematics can lead to increased enrolment in A-level mathematics classes, boost confidence among female students, and contribute to a more balanced gender representation at A-level. To encourage more schools to offer Additional Mathematics, FMSPW developed a suite of engaging Desmos resources covering the entire syllabus.

At the A-level stage, FMSPW program extends to include revision classes and a wealth of materials to support students pursuing A-level Mathematics and Further Mathematics qualifications.

For schools unable to offer Further Mathematics internally, FMSPW provides online tuition classes complemented by in-person study days held across Wales. This year, we have had 27 schools subscribe to our Further Mathematics tuition courses, supporting nearly 60 students in studying 140 FM modules. 40% of our students come from schools with medium to high percentages of pupils receiving free school meals.

James Johnson from a school in North Wales shared his positive experience studying Further Mathematics with FMSPW:

“Studying Further Maths has been a fun, challenging and rewarding experience over the last year. The tutors have provided me plenty of support and there were lots of resources available to assist us during the year.”

Further Mathematics remains an important qualification preferred or encouraged by some universities with research evidence of improved transition to STEM degrees among all students but especially girls. 

Problem-solving remains a focal point of the FMSPW program at A-level, with challenging courses designed to stretch students’ understanding. As learner feedback shows, participants find the problems both stimulating and enjoyable, often forming new friendships along the way.

A student in Year 12 who is taking part in the Introduction to Problem Solving course this year said:

“I feel like the topics were very challenging and difficult to get your head around, which was good because it stretches your understanding.”

Recognising the need to further support Wales’ brightest mathematicians, we offer a hybrid support program for students aiming to study at Russell Group universities, which may require additional mathematics tests like MAT or STEP. Our online Bridging Maths to Uni program helps students bridge the gap between school mathematics and university-level study.

FMSPW extends its gratitude to our partners in schools, colleges, education consortia, and universities for their invaluable help and support. Together, we continue to inspire and empower the next generation of mathematicians in Wales and beyond.

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A new research project, and a new resource, have been designed to support Talk Pedagogy.

Talk Pedagogy enables teachers to reflect on their professional identity in a safe pedagogical space. It enhances teacher agency and supports their capacities to navigate the uncertainty around curriculum design and delivery.

To understand how schools are changing their thinking around pedagogy and learning within Curriculum for Wales, a new research project is underway. Led by The Universities of Bangor, Wrexham and South Wales, supported by GwE, it will explore the extent to which thinking and practice is changing at a national level. Changes in values, beliefs and practices will be in focus.