The Welsh Government is taking a bold step forward in educational policy-making with the establishment of the Ministerial Headteacher Advisory Group (MHAG). This prestigious new body will bring together approximately 12 exceptional school leaders to work directly with the Cabinet Secretary for Education.
The MHAG represents an approach to collaborative policy development, offering experienced headteachers and teachers in charge the opportunity to shape national education strategy while maintaining their school leadership roles. Members will provide direct counsel to the Cabinet Secretary for Education, support the Education Improvement Team, and lead vital discussions on educational reform.
With a commitment to diversity and inclusion, we’re seeking applications from current headteachers and teachers in charge from across Wales who can demonstrate proven success in school improvement and system-wide leadership. The role offers £300 per day plus expenses for a flexible two-day monthly commitment.
Curriculum for Wales Policy Group has been busy since our last blog post with members meeting for monthly workshops in different locations across Wales.
Over time other colleagues will be able to join the group. If you are working in a school or setting that’s using Curriculum for Wales and have a passion for working with others to co-construct solutions, please complete the Expression of interest form to be added to the reserve list. We are especially keen to hear from practitioners in non-maintained nursery settings, pupil referral units (PRUs) and other providers of education other than at school (EOTAS).
The current members are:
Jane Altham-Watkins, Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Gellionnen, Swansea Leon Andrews, Llanwern High School, Newport / Cardiff Met University (DARPL) Lisa Ashton, Llanidloes Community Primary School, Powys Marc Bowen, Raglan Primary School, Monmouthshire Suzanne Chamberlain, St. David’s Catholic Primary School, Swansea Craig Davies, Dwr y Felin Comprehensive School, Neath Port Talbot Kelly Davis, Connah’s Quay High School, Flintshire Dale Duddridge, Maesteg Comprehensive School, Bridgend Liz Dennis, Wellbeing and Behaviour Service, Neath Port Talbot Catrin Evans, Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd, Bridgend Rachel Faulkner, Western Learning Federation, Cardiff Rachel George, Ysgol Maes y Coed, Neath Port Talbot James Griffiths, Llangan Primary School, Vale of Glamorgan Eleri Gwyn, Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy, Conwy Maria Holmes, Ysgol Dyffryn Taf, Carmarthenshire Rhys Hughes, Gowerton Secondary School, Swansea Helen Jarman, Stanwell School, Vale of Glamorgan Anwen Jones, Ysgol Bro Preseli, Pembrokeshire Bethan Jones, Ysgol Robert Owen, Powys Victoria Jobson, St. Joseph’s Catholic and Anglican High School, Wrexham Geraint Llyn, Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones, Ynys Môn Lana Martin, Pontygwaith Primary School, Rhondda Cynon Taf Jamie McAllister, Ysgol Aberconwy, Conwy Michelle McNamee, St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, Flintshire Bethan Moore, Crownbridge Special School, Torfaen Katie Morris, Pembroke Dock Community School, Pembrokeshire Mat Morris, Ysgol Calon Cymru, Powys Catrin Penge, Ysgol Bodhyfryd, Wrexham, Gemma Prangley-Hunt, Maindee Primary School, Newport Leanne Prevel, Mary Immaculate Catholic Primary School, Pembrokeshire Lowri Roberts, Ysgol Brynrefail, Gwynedd Rachel Steed, Ysgol Fitzalan, Cardiff Rachel Teague, Cantonian High School, Cardiff Janine Tennant Jones, Ysgol y Gogarth, Conwy Sarah Tudur, Ysgol Iolo Morganwg, Vale of Glamorgan Kate Watkins-Freeman, Ribbons Preschool, Vale of Glamorgan Lisa Weighell, Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg, Vale of Glamorgan Nia Williams, Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin, Carmarthenshire Richard Williams, Ysgol Rhydyfro, Neath Port Talbot Sally Williams, Ysgol Crug Glas, Swansea Wrexham Youth Services
An explainer for practitioners on reading in the Curriculum for Wales, contains useful information and links to supporting materials, resources and case studies which are linked to progression in reading. These are organised into 4 parts: prereading, beginning reading, fluent reading and reading with growing sophistication.
Cynllun Pontio is aimed at attracting Welsh-speaking teachers to secondary schools in Wales.
It is open to Welsh speaking primary school teachers looking to convert to teach secondary, as well as Welsh speaking teachers currently teaching outside of Wales and those who have been out of education for 5 years or more.
Angharad Pari-Williams is currently taking part in Cynllun Pontio and is teaching Geography at Ysgol David Hughes on Anglesey. She has converted from primary to secondary teaching.
She said:
“I’m really enjoying the Cynllun Pontio. I’m so glad I applied. With the new curriculum for Wales being so cross curricular I found my experience in primary teaching to be really useful in my new role.
“What makes the Cynllun Pontio unique is that you receive support. There is always someone around to speak to for advice.”
Find out more about the structure of the programme and the application process.
The benefits to learners and teachers alike are plentiful and will last a lifetime. In line with the Curriculum for Wales, the local, national and international contexts provide key perspectives for learners and are of particular importance in supporting learners to realise the four purposes. They can introduce learners to less familiar environments, broadening their horizons, increasing awareness of different perspectives from their own and help learners appreciate wider challenges and issues.
A life-changing experience
Ferndale Community School in Rhondda Cynon Taff visited Singapore on a Taith-funded mobility. It was a STEM based project with a focus on engineering and aquaculture. For a school where more than a third of pupils have never been abroad, the opportunity to travel to Singapore for a group of Year 9 learners really was a life-changing experience.
Here’s what one of the teachers had to say about the trip:
“We cannot put a value on what these pupils got from this trip, particularly in the community that we serve. To offer opportunities like this to some of these children is something they would never be able to access without this funding.”
How can you seek funding for an international exchange?
Taith is Wales’ international learning exchange programme, creating life-changing opportunities to learn, study and volunteer all over the world. Taith mobilities and projects seek to inspire learners and raise aspirations.
Pathway 1 funding supports international exchange of learning through the outward (participants going from Wales) and inward (participants coming to Wales) mobility of either groups or individual participants. For 2025, organisations can apply for up to £60,000 through a new Small Grants Scheme. The scheme features a simpler application form with fewer questions and reduced project management requirements for successful applicants.
Funding calls for Pathway 1 will be open until 27 March. All applicants will be informed of their application outcome within four months of the application deadline. Taith will hold a number of webinars where they will share details of the eligibility criteria, eligible activities and guidance on how to prepare for your application.
The Turing Scheme also offers education providers the opportunity to apply for funding to support their students with study and work placements around the world. Schools in Wales are able to apply for funding.
Following your responses to the consultation during the autumn, we will be making some changes to the statutory Curriculum for Wales framework guidance. Some of these have already taken place and others will take place over the coming weeks. The ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of each page of the guidance on Hwb shows whether a change has been made. Please read on to see what’s changing and which parts of the guidance we’re working to improve.
Literacy
We have made minor changes to be clear about the role and importance of phonics. The statutory guidance for the Languages, Literacy and Communication Area of Learning and Experience is clear that the systematic and consistent teaching of phonics must be a key part of schools’ approach to reading. We have updated this section of guidance to further clarify the role of systematic and consistent phonics teaching in helping learners to decode words.
Having learned to decode words, learners use a range of comprehension strategies to develop understanding of the meaning of words and sentences. Changes have been made to the guidance to clarify the use of pictures or cues in helping learners to understand the meaning of what they are reading – it does not advocate the use of pictures to help learners to decode words.
Further support for teaching and developing literacy will follow later this year. We are already working with partners, including local authorities, to ensure all schools and practitioners have access to the same high-quality training and support to teach literacy and we are reviewing the Literacy and Numeracy Framework to support the whole of our teaching profession to develop literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum. This will be underpinned by clear, evidence-based, national principles for effective literacy and numeracy teaching.
Following feedback, we want to take more time to get the changes to Enabling learning and Pedagogy sections of guidance right, so there will be no substantive changes to these sections of guidance at this time.
The purpose of these two sections is to ensure all practitioners adopt a developmentally and pedagogically appropriate approach to planning, designing and implementing their curriculum, to meet the needs of all learners.
The Enabling learning guidance was developed with children of all ages at all stages of development in mind. Our consultation asked for views on changing the guidance to more clearly signal how these principles can support older learners too. Effective learning and teaching is essential to enabling learners to progress and we will continue to work with practitioners to understand the support needed to use the 12 pedagogical principles and the 3 enablers effectively for all learners.
Definitions
Some of the definitions you see when you hover over highlighted terms have been amended to make the definitions clearer and to make sure there’s consistency in Welsh and in English. These changes to definitions do not change the substance of what is conveyed in the guidance.
Welsh language version of the guidance
There is a Welsh language version and an English language version of the statutory curriculum framework guidance (rather than a direct translation from one language to the other). Some parts of the guidance were subject to a bilingual editorial process before publication and your feedback in the recent consultation highlighted the need for a review of the Welsh language version in particular. We intend to take this review forward over the coming months to improve the quality and consistency of the Welsh language version.
Other changes include:
Consistency of wording to reflect the approach to publishing your school curriculum summary set out in the Continuing the journey section that was published in January 2024
wording that better links personalised assessments with progression and assessment and to clarify legislative changes relating to personalised assessments from September
amendments to wording in the Designing your Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements sections to ensure consistency with other sections of the guidance and to reflect that all maintained schools and settings are now using Curriculum for Wales with learners up to Year 9
addressing issues with hyperlinks and typographical errors.
If have a question on the guidance, or identify an issue, please feed that back to us at: curriculumforwales@gov.wales for review.
The theme for this year is protecting against online scams.
Register for SID assemblies
E-sgol, in partnership with Welsh Government, will deliver assemblies as part of SID 2025. These assemblies aim to educate children and young people about online scams and promote safer internet practices. They will also promote valuable resources and guidance to ensure a safer online experience for everyone in Wales.
To register your school or class for a SID assembly, complete the short registration form, making sure to register with your Hwb email address and selecting your preferred language.
Education packs
The UK Safer Internet Centre has produced education packs for practitioners, filled with engaging activities for learners aged 3 to 18.
These bilingual resources focus on the SID theme of online scams and are now available on Hwb:
To celebrate SID 2025, we have invited schools to create content for the Keeping safe online area on Hwb, with the new content being published for Safer Internet Day.
We will also be sharing learners’ activities using Microsoft Sway in the run up to and on SID itself, so if your school would like to take part, please complete our short form (requires Hwb login).
In our November blog, we provided an update on the 14 to 16 Learning under Curriculum for Wales (CfW) statutory guidance and provided links to resources to support schools to plan and design their curriculum for the first cohort of year 10 learners under CfW from September 2025. We also said that we would deliver a series of events across Wales to support you.
Our 14 to16 learning events for school leadership teams take place, across Wales, between February and April 2025, the agenda is available
We hope that all school leaders of secondary age learners and local authority colleagues with an interest in 14 to 16 learning (maximum 2 per local authority) will be able to attend; where a leader or colleague is unable to attend their specified local event, they are welcome to attend another event, where possible.
Guidance is available on Hwb to support schools considering, or beginning to use, Generative AI.
It’s part of a wider package of support for schools available on Hwb and developed with input from leading online safety experts, including the UK Safer Internet Centre, Common Sense Education, Praesidio Safeguarding and Internet Matters.
Estyn Review
Estyn are to lead a review to understand how Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) is currently used in schools across Wales.
This will include a survey for schools and pupil referral units asking for their views and experience, followed by more in depth engagement with teachers.
Please share your views and experiences of Generative AI in schools and PRUs in the Estyn survey.
