Curriculum for Wales

1 Where it came from

The Welsh Government designed the curriculum with schools across Wales during the late 2010s, and it has been brought in year group by year group since 2022, replacing the National Curriculum that Wales previously shared in most respects with England. It is a framework: the Government sets the areas, statements of what matters and descriptions of learning, and each school writes the curriculum its children actually follow.

2 The big ideas

• Six areas of learning and experience. Expressive Arts; Health and Well-being; Humanities; Languages, Literacy and Communication; Mathematics and Numeracy; and Science and Technology.
• Statements of what matters. Each area is built on a few big statements, such as the core ideas in maths, rather than a long list of topics for each year.
• Progression steps. Descriptions of learning sit at five progression steps, which relate broadly to expectations at ages 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16. They are reference points on a continuum, not targets each child must hit in a given year.
• Literacy, numeracy and digital competence everywhere. These three cross-curricular skills are every teacher's responsibility.
• Welsh and English. Every child learns Welsh; many schools teach mainly through Welsh.

3 What a lesson looks like

A Year 3 class, as an illustration. The school has planned a half-term around a local river. In the morning, children measure the river's width with a trundle wheel and record the readings in a table (Mathematics and Numeracy), then read a short non-fiction text about rivers and write questions for a visitor from the water company (Languages, Literacy and Communication). In the afternoon they sketch the riverbank (Expressive Arts) and talk about how to stay safe near water (Health and Well-being). The teacher tracks each child's progress against the descriptions of learning toward progression step 2.

4 Reading and math

Reading and writing sit in Languages, Literacy and Communication, alongside Welsh, English and international languages, and literacy is expected across every area. Schools choose how to teach early reading, so ask which phonics approach yours uses. Mathematics and Numeracy is built on statements of what matters about number, algebra, geometry and statistics, and on proficiencies such as conceptual understanding, fluency and reasoning. The national online assessments in Years 2 to 9 cover reading in English and in Welsh, and numeracy in two parts, procedural and reasoning.

5 The adult's job

Teachers design learning from the framework and decide what each child needs next. Parents can ask what the school's curriculum covers this term and which progression step their child is working toward. At home, regular reading in whichever language the family speaks, talk about numbers and money, and curiosity about the school's topics help across all six areas.

6 How progress is checked

Teachers assess continuously and report to parents. The national personalised assessments are online and adapt to each learner, and children in Years 2 to 9 in maintained schools take them at least once a year, in reading (English and Welsh) and numeracy (procedural and reasoning). They are formative: they show what a child can do and what to work on next, not a pass or fail. At 16, young people take GCSEs and other qualifications made for Wales.

7 Strengths and criticisms

8 What the research says

This page describes a framework rather than testing it. The sources are the Welsh Government's own: the six areas and their descriptions of learning on Hwb, which describe the progression steps as relating broadly to expectations at ages 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16, and the personalised assessments pages, which say the reading and numeracy assessments are mandatory for learners in Years 2 to 9 in maintained schools at least once each year. The research behind this page did not find outcome studies of the new curriculum.

9 How to try it

1. Ask for the school's plan. Find out which topics and which progression step your child's class is working on this term.
2. Read in both languages if you can. Even a few Welsh picture books at home support what school does.
3. Use the assessment report. After the personalised assessments, the school can share what your child can do and their next steps in reading and numeracy.
4. Line up the years. Wales counts years as England does; our curriculum finder puts them beside US grades and Scotland's P1 to P7.

10 Using Peabody with it

• Everything to learnEvery subject by age band with nothing locked, a good fit for a curriculum built on areas rather than year lists.
• Numbers on PeabodyNumber, algebra, shape and data in eight doors, for fluency and reasoning practice at the child's own step.
• Peabody libraryFree books by reading level, in English.
• Curriculum finderWales's years beside England's, Scotland's and US grades.

Peabody is free and has no ads. Pages on peabody.kids are for children; pages here are for the adults teaching them.

11 Programs that follow it

Programs and materials often named with this approach: Curriculum for Wales (Hwb), National personalised assessments, GCSEs made for Wales.