This is an exciting time for the young people of Wales. A new Curriculum for Wales is currently being implemented across Wales that will enthuse learners from 3 to 16, giving them the foundations they need to succeed in a changing world.

Schools will have some flexibility in determining how and when they begin first teaching of the new curriculum. By 2021 all settings and schools will be using the new curriculum to underpin teaching and learning for children and young people aged 3-16.

At Llansannor we have already started our journey; our staff have had a lot of training with regards to the New Curriculum and our curriculum has already started changing to embrace these changes. Our learners and their views have also been at the heart of our journey.

What is the New Curriculum for Wales?

The Curriculum for Wales purpose is to support children to achieve four key purposes.

The Four Purposes

The Four purposes is 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. These Four Purposes are:

• 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 Llansannor team have been working hard to adapt our curriculum to ensure these four purposes are central to the curriculum and experiences that we provide for our learners. We are currently working as a school community to analyse how these purposes can be further embedded and understood by our children and families to ensure we all thrive and flourish across all four purposes. Watch this space for our four purpose learning posters which will be released in Summer 2020!

What are the key elements of the New Curriculum?

The new curriculum will include:

• 6 Areas of Learning and Experience from 3 to 16
• 3 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 curriculum will be organised into 6 Areas of Learning and Experience:

• Expressive arts
• Health and well-being
• Humanities (this will include all our faith, values and RE experiences)
• Languages, literacy and communication (including Welsh and modern foreign languages)
• Mathematics and numeracy
• Science and technology (including computer science)

What is the timeline for change?

Work on developing the new curriculum is well underway, but this is not a process that will be rushed. The key milestones on the journey are set out below.

January 2020: Final curriculum and assessment arrangements available

September 2021 Schools to prepare for first teaching of their curriculum; this has been achieved at Llansannor

September 2022: All maintained schools and settings using the new curriculum and assessment arrangements from nursery to year 7

September 2023+ New curriculum rolled out to Years 8 to 11 between 2023 and 2026

Why it’s changing

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.

This new approach was informed by Professor Graham Donaldson’s independent review of curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales, Successful Futures, in February 2015 which provided the foundations for a twenty-first Century curriculum shaped by the very latest national and international thinking.

Since the report, teachers and stakeholders have been consulted at events across Wales to gather their thoughts and start to shape future curriculum and assessment arrangements.

Where can I find more information?

https://gov.wales/education-changing

https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales