The new National Curriculum for Wales

On 1st September 2022, the new National Curriculum for Wales was introduced in schools across the country. At Ysgol Owen Jones, we started preparing and adapting our approaches prior to the roll out, in particular working on a new vision, mission and habits to reflect the changing focus areas. Please click the image below for more information.

 
 
 

The background to the new National Curriculum for Wales

On 30th June 2015, the Minister for Education and Skills announced that the Welsh Government would accept, in full, all of the recommendations set out in ‘Successful Futures’, Professor Graham Donaldson’s independent review of the curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales.

Building on the Digital Pioneers model announced on 10th June 2015, this document sets out how, working in a new way with schools, local authorities, regional consortia, Estyn, leading academics and employers as well as other key stakeholders, will build a new curriculum in Wales.

This is an exciting time for the young people across Wales, including our pupils at Ysgol Owen Jones. A new Curriculum for Wales aims to enthuse learners from 3 to 16, giving them the foundations they need to succeed in a changing world.

The new curriculum will have more emphasis on equipping young people for life. It will build their ability to learn new skills and apply their subject knowledge more positively and creatively. As the world changes, they will be more able to adapt positively.

They will also get a deep understanding of how to thrive in an increasingly digital world. A new digital competency framework is now introducing digital skills across the curriculum, preparing them for the opportunities and risks that an online world presents.

 

Why THE changE?


Now more than ever, young people need to be adaptable to change, capable of learning new skills throughout life, and equipped to cope with new life scenarios.

Advances in technology and globalisation have transformed the way we live and work. These changes have profound implications for what, and how, children and young people need to learn. After all, tablets and smart phones didn’t even exist when the last curriculum was introduced in 1993.

Schools and teachers need more flexibility to respond to this environment, using a new curriculum which will promote high achievement and engage the interest of all children and young people to help them reach their potential.​

The new curriculum will bring this about by making learning more experience-based, the assessment of progress more developmental, and by giving teachers the flexibility to deliver in more creative ways that suit the learners they teach.

 

The Four Core Purposes


The four purposes will be at the heart of our new curriculum. They will be the starting point for all decisions on the content and experiences developed as part of the curriculum to support our children and young people to be:

  • Ambitious, capable learners ready to learn throughout their lives

  • Enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work

  • Ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world

  • Healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

 

The new curriculum includeS:

  • Six areas of Learning and Experience from 3 to 16

  • Three cross curriculum responsibilities: literacy, numeracy and digital competence

  • Progression reference points at ages 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16

  • Achievement outcomes which describe expected achievements at each progression reference point.

The central focus of assessment arrangements will be to ensure learners understand how they are performing and what they need to do next. There will be a renewed emphasis on assessment for learning as an essential and integral feature of learning and teaching.

 

The curriculum will be organised into 6 Areas of Learning and Experience:

  • Expressive Arts

  • Health and Wellbeing

  • Humanities (including RVE which should remain compulsory to age 16)

  • Languages, Literacy and Communication (including Welsh, which should remain compulsory to age 16, and Modern Foreign
    Languages)

  • Mathematics and Numeracy

  • Science and Technology (including Computer Science).