Foundation Phase Curriculum
The New Curriculum
We are currently in an exciting time in the reform journey set out in Education in Wales: Our National Mission. These materials are the product of three years of extensive co-development with the education profession through pioneer schools, in partnership with regional consortia, Estyn, Qualifications Wales and a range of other stakeholders and experts.
The national mission is to raise standards, reduce the attainment gap, and deliver an education system that is a source of national pride and public confidence. Curriculum for Wales 2022, made in Wales but shaped by the best from around the world, is fundamental to achieving that mission.
For the first time, Wales will have a curriculum which is purpose based, based on four purposes that articulate what we want our young people to be at 16:
• ambitious and capable;
• enterprising and creative;
• ethical and informed and
• healthy and confident.
Curriculum for Wales 2022 is designed as a national framework for learners age 3 to 16 to support professionals to develop our school level curricula: allowing us the flexibility to provide teaching and learning which meets the specific needs of our learners in their contexts and communities.
It signals a new phase of co-construction in the development of the new curriculum. Over the summer term, the WG will be seeking the views of the whole education profession in Wales as well as children and young people, parents and a range of wider stakeholders.
The refined Curriculum for Wales 2022 will then be made available in January 2020 for use in September 2022 by primary schools and for year 7. The new curriculum will then be rolled out on year by year basis in secondary schools.
Through the summer term, WG will engage extensively with the teaching profession and wider stakeholders. As the next phase of co-construction WG are inviting a wide range of feedback so the practitioners who developed it can further refine the new curriculum.
Workforce events involving the Consortia, Qualifications Wales and Welsh Government will take place during May and June.
There will also be a pack for us to use in our own events that will be available from mid May.
You can access the published materials and provide feedback at:
The Foundation Phase is a developmental curriculum for 3 to 7-year-olds in Wales.
It encourages children to be creative, imaginative and to have fun and makes learning more enjoyable and more effective.
Children will be given more opportunities to explore the world around them and understand how things work by taking part in practical activities that are relevant to their developmental stage. They are challenged with open-ended questions and given opportunities to explore and share their ideas for solving problems.
The Foundation Phase is based on the principle that early years' provision should offer a sound foundation for future learning through a developmentally appropriate curriculum. It brings more consistency and continuity to children’s education at such an all-important period in their development.
The Foundation Phase places great emphasis on children learning by doing. Young children will be given more opportunities to gain first hand experiences through play and active involvement rather than by completing exercises in books. They will be given time to develop their speaking and listening skills and to become confident in their reading and writing abilities.
Mathematics will be more practical so that children can see how problems are solved and how important mathematics is in their everyday lives. There will be more emphasis on children understanding how things work and on finding different ways to solve problems.
The curriculum will focus on experiential learning, active involvement and developing each child's:
- Skills and understanding.
- Personal, social, emotional, physical and intellectual well being so as to develop the whole child.
- Positive attitudes to learning so that they enjoy it and want to continue.
- Self-esteem and self-confidence to experiment, investigate, learn new things and form new relationships.
- Creative, expressive and observational skills to encourage their development as individuals with different ways of responding to experiences.
- Activities in the outdoors where they have first-hand experience of solving real-life problems and learn about conservation and sustainability.
This framework sets out the curriculum and outcomes under seven Areas of Learning. For each Area of Learning, the educational programme sets out what children should be taught and the outcomes set out expected standards of children's performance.
The LNF sets the skills we expect learners to develop. Within literacy we expect learners to become accomplished in:
- oracy across the curriculum
- reading across the curriculum
- writing across the curriculum.
Within numeracy we expect learners to become accomplished in:
- developing numerical reasoning
- using number skills
- using measuring skills
- using data skills.
Teachers will be able to use the LNF to:
- develop curriculum content to ensure that all learners have opportunities to develop and refine the skills set out in the LNF
- integrate literacy and numeracy into their teaching – whatever the subject matter
- inform discussions with parents/carers, learners and other teachers about learner performance
- help learners with their own self-assessment activities and planning for learning
- monitor, assess and report on individual learner performance
- identify learners who may benefit from intervention or who are working beyond age-related expectations.
