Education Wales

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Sam Sykes, UCAS Lead for Schools and Colleges

The UCAS January equal consideration date is approaching, and with many students submitting their university or college application before the Christmas break, they will be seeking support from their parents, carers, teachers and careers advisers.  

Completed applications for all 2025 entry undergraduate courses, except those with a 15 October deadline, should arrive at UCAS by 18:00 (UK time) on 29 January 2025. 

This is our ‘equal consideration date’, which means course providers must consider all applications received by this time equally. However, we do know that many schools and colleges set their own internal deadlines, to ensure there is sufficient time for your students to complete sections, and for you to add in references and predicted grades.

How best can I support my students in the run-up to the UCAS January Equal Consideration Date?

If your students are in the process of completing their UCAS application, my top tips to help them are:

Personal statements

Remind your students the importance of their personal statement. Writing their personal statement is an important milestone in a student’s higher education journey, and it’s a great opportunity for them to really reflect and think about the course or courses they are looking to study. 

Our advice to help you support your students is to break down their statement into key areas: their experience, what excites them about the subject, any relevant work or personal experiences, and plans or ambitions for a future career.

References

Each student’s reference must be completed before the application can be sent to UCAS, if you are a UCAS registered centre, it is your responsibility to identify relevant referees, add, and approve references.

The reference doesn’t have to be written by the head teacher or head of sixth form – it’s more important that it’s written by someone who knows the student well enough to comment on their individual performance and circumstances.

Explore our latest guidance, FAQs, training, and real-life examples to help you write impactful references.

Qualifications

For your students who are studying the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales, make sure they have selected the correct qualification: WJEC Level 3 Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales. This ensures that their chosen universities and colleges can make accurate offers. 

To help ensure a smooth admissions journey, you can explore tips and latest guidance on completing the education section of the UCAS application here.

What about my students who will be completing their application after the Christmas break?

For some students, applying before the Christmas break just isn’t possible, and they will be looking to do this when they come back to school or college in the new year.

Ahead of the equal consideration date, you can join us for bespoke tips, and a chance to ask questions live to UCAS colleagues.

How can I support younger students who are discovering and exploring their options?

If you’re supporting someone who is at an earlier stage in the process – perhaps they have just created a UCAS account and are exploring their future pathways – you can encourage them to use UCAS’ Careers Quiz. This will help match them to their best-suited career options and suggest suitable university and college courses.

Your students could also discover all their options under one roof at a UCAS Discovery event. There are events taking place in Wales in April 2025, where students can learn more about undergraduate courses, apprenticeships, careers, and more.

• Newport 7 – 8 April, ICC Wales
• Carmarthen 9 April, University of Wales Trinity St David, Carmarthen Campus
• Aberystwyth 10 April, Aberystwyth University

At these events, your students can: 

• chat to unis and colleges about courses and life on campus;
• speak to employers and apprenticeship providers about what an apprenticeship is like and the options available;
• speak to qualified careers advisers about their future;
• listen to talks from experts in their fields;
• Talk to our UCAS experts to get dedicated support about options.

You can learn more about these, and find your closest event here.

Alongside UCAS events, students can discover all their options using their UCAS Hub account. Students can use virtual work experiences and subject tasters to enable them to ‘try before they apply’- giving them access to explore, interact with, and sample university subjects, courses and work experience online ahead of making an application. This is not only useful for students exploring their options, but can also be referenced in their UCAS personal statement.

Finally, alongside the UCAS Adviser portal, you can stay connected with like-minded individuals and learn about UCAS updates, on UCAS’ new LinkedIn page- specifically for teachers and advisers.

Helping learners with the costs of applying and going to university

For the 2025 cycle, UCAS has removed the undergraduate application fee for any student who is or has received free school meals during their last years at school or college. You can find a step-by-step guide and further information on the UCAS website.

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

The ALN system implemented in September 2021 has been gradually rolled out across Wales, creating a system supporting children and young people aged 0-25, replacing the Special Educational Needs System (SEN).

Alongside the ALN reform, the Curriculum for Wales offers schools and colleges more flexibility to teach in a way that best meets the individual needs of each learner, breaking down barriers to provide educational and training opportunities and outcomes for all learners.

We’ve learnt how 4 education and training settings are supporting learners with Additional Learning Needs to thrive.

With 16 mainstream classes, 7 specialist classes and one nurture group Bro Banw primary school in Ammanford put learners at the heart of everything they do. 

A person-centred approach is embedded across the whole school, putting the learner at the centre of the process and strengthening relationships with families and external agencies ensuring the right support is in place. The team is led by a senior ALNCo (Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator), to enhance the provision for pupils with ALN and that support is identified early.

Victoria Raikes, Senior ALNCo shared “We work closely to ensure that the children’s additional learning needs are catered for with early identification of needs, working with external agencies, liaising with parents and families really closely and also with the children to ensure that that person-centered approach is embedded across the school.”

Parkland primary school in Swansea take an inclusive approach to learning by using techniques such as differentiation and the use of technology to support all learners, especially those with ALN.

Importance is placed on early intervention to identify any ALN, ensuring learners get the support they need to reach their full potential. Engagement with parents and carers is a priority, both in person and online.

Felicity Poole, Acting Headteacher says, “this supports all learners, particularly those with ALN so that they feel included and that they can access the curriculum.  It really helps them make progress and feel confident that they are making developments and improvements with their learning”.

“Curriculum for Wales is a great avenue to allow schools to do what is right for the child and see children as individuals – individualised support and target intervention, you’re a bit more free to do that through Curriculum for Wales”.

At Coleg Gwent a group of hearing-impaired learners are developing independent life skills through individually tailored support at post-16, realising their full potential.

Working with students, Coleg Gwent develop personalised learning strategies and facilitate work placements to enhance academic achievement and prepare students for successful transitions into the workforce and community life. The college has a strong partnership with Elite training who support learners in their transition to employment

Coleg Gwent student Adrian says: “Coming to college for the first time, it’s difficult when you can’t communicate through speaking and listening.  The college has helped me to do work experience”.

Nicky shared “I got my confidence up because they made me happy working there.  I’m waiting for Elite to find work for me and learn at the same time, really.   And I can’t wait for the future to get confidence in myself and go up the levels in mechanics”. 

Hearing-impaired learners from Cwmbran High school are also part of the Deaf Club at Coleg Gwent, helping to build their confidence and supporting their transition from school.

Deaf students take centre stage at Coleg Gwent: https://www.gov.wales/deaf-students-take-centre-stage-coleg-gwent

Grŵp Llandrillo Menai in North Wales has been building close relationships with local schools to support learners with ALN. 

The college recognises the importance of collaboration and communication to help learners with ALN to achieve their education and training goals by supporting them to plan a successful transition to the next stage of their life.

Sharon O’Connor, Head of Additional Learning Needs at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai explains how the ALN system promotes collaboration and communication:

“This is a system where we can identify the student’s aspirations, the aspirations of the parents, and how we cooperate with schools. The teachers are integral to this, sharing information on what’s needed in the future. 

“Cooperating with external agencies and local authorities has been essential and at the heart of everything we have done as an ALN team.  We strive to create close relationships so that communication is clear, early identification, and that everyone is comfortable to have a conversation about young people”.

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Thank you to everyone who took time out of their very busy schedules to attend the secondary headteacher conference in Cardiff on 8 November. 

It was wonderful to see so many headteachers from across Wales come together to network and to hear the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle give a keynote speech, put questions to her, and participate in two roundtable discussions chaired by Sir Alasdair McDonald and Professor Dylan Evans. 

Special thanks go to those who shared their experiences and strategies with the audience. Chris Parry, Lewis Boys, Pengam and Sarah Parry from Llanishen High during the Behaviour as a barrier to learningsession, and to Gwenno Davies and Dr Gareth Evans, Ysgol y Creuddyn, during the Standards: literacy and numeracy session.  Thanks also to Dr Cameron Downing, University of York on his contribution regarding the RILL programme.

You can see the video of the speeches and discussion sessions on the day

Thanks to everyone who provided their comments during the day, however, we would still welcome your input.  You may have had discussions back at school and have additional comments to make.  Please respond below.

Presentation slides

Questions: behaviour session

Respond to behaviour session

Respond to literacy and numeracy session

Diolch

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

During her Oral Statement in the Senedd, the Cabinet Secretary for Education outlined her key actions to improve attendance, including extra funding for family engagement officers.

Extra funding for family engagement officers in drive to boost school attendance

Statement

Our community-focused schools approach: Ysgolion Bro / Community Focused Schools – YouTube

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Grants will be awarded from April 2025 for up to 3 financial years to a range of organisations to support curriculum priorities under a new Curriculum for Wales grant support programme.

The application window for proposals opens on 29 November 2024 and closes on 31 January 2025.

The new programme is being introduced to better reflect how the curriculum is taught and the support needs of schools and settings.

Grants will be awarded either directly to organisations who are uniquely placed to deliver curriculum priorities, or through competitive bids to organisations targeting particular projects against clear national support priorities.

Competitive bids will focus on a number of key curriculum priorities:

• Curriculum design
• Literacy 
• Mathematics and numeracy
• Science and technology

The new grant programme will also include funding awards for the National Music Service (via the WLGA) and Foundation learning.

For eligibility see here.  https://www.gov.wales/curriculum-wales-grant-support-programme-guidance

Grants will be awarded to organisations who have a track record in supporting learning and teaching in schools and settings and can demonstrate a robust understanding of the Curriculum for Wales.

Organisations from the third and public sector, universities and private companies are invited to bid for the grants to support schools with expertise, training, materials and events, securing a range of support from outside organisations.

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Find out more about resources for teachers and our joint events for school leadership teams in the new year.

Earlier this term, we published statutory guidance on 14 to 16 Learning under Curriculum for Wales (CfW) to support schools to plan and design their curriculum for the first cohort of year 10 learners under CfW from September 2025. 

The 14 to 16 Learning Guidance also complements the publication of the first wave of reformed GCSE exam specifications from WJEC.

Responding to the feedback, we have worked with school leaders to create a package of professional learning support to support schools to design and deliver a curriculum for learners in year 10 and 11 that makes best use of qualifications and meets the expectations set out in the 14 to 16 Learning Guidance.  This package complements the work of WJEC to support the delivery of the new Made-for-Wales qualifications.

The 14 to 16 Learning under the Curriculum for Wales PowerPoint helps schools in understand and implement the guidance. 

The Successful use of qualifications specifications within Curriculum for Wales resource helps schools to understand how to use the new Made for Wales qualification specifications to support learner progress along the 3-16 curriculum.    

The Director of Education recently wrote to headteachers of secondary aged learners inviting them and their leadership teams to attend our 14-16 Leadership Conferences which will be held across Wales at the beginning of 2025.

The conferences will give space and time for leaders to discuss our 14-16 Learning Guidance within the context of 3-16 Curriculum for Wales and its significance in supporting all learners in making effective transitions to post-16; but to also consider implications for:

• Self-evaluation and improvement (including the use of data, information and evidence)
  
• Pedagogy (including curriculum, progression and assessment, learner effectiveness and dealing with barriers to learning)
  
• Curriculum and timetabling (including a consideration of curriculum time and resources, and the balance of NEA/examination across the suite of qualifications)

We are aiming for these conferences to take place on the agreed INSET days and in conjunction with the WJEC Professional Learning events for the new ‘wave 1’ GCSEs.  Further details on location, agenda along with registration links will be shared with senior leaders in the coming weeks. 

We are working with Dr James Mannion, and senior leaders across Wales, to develop a research informed professional learning programme, ‘Embedding Learner Effectiveness’, designed to support schools with teaching learners and young people how to become more confident, proactive and self-regulated learners. 

The programme is being trialled and reviewed for publication in the summer term 2025, for schools to use from September 2025.

We will also publish a number of case studies to sit alongside the publication of the programme, to showcase the important impact of this work throughout curriculum design. 

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

The Curriculum for Wales Framework guidance is updated annually in January and is available on Hwb.

A consultation on some of the proposed changes for 2025 opened on 4 November and will run until 20 December, your feedback is welcomed.

The revised sections of guidance under consultation have been developed by practitioners and other partners and are aimed at making the guidance clearer and more user-friendly.

The guidance supports schools, PRUs and other education settings with the practical steps of designing, implementing, and maintaining the ongoing review of their curriculum.

The draft guidance for feedback on is available here along with questions in the online response form.

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

When designing your curriculum and making decisions about learning and teaching you will be drawing on a range of sound evidence. This will include disciplinary-specific expertise, learning from professional enquiry, intelligence from research, including local, national and international information.

The Camau i’r Dyfodol project is working with practitioners to move forward our shared understanding of progression and assessment. You can read about the project in our previous blog.

The Schools as learning organisations (SLO) model in Wales has been developed over the course of several years, based on work with the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development).

The Collaborative Evidence Network (CEN) involves higher education institutions and other organisations that have looked at impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on various aspects of the education system and on particular groups of learners. They examine ways to mitigate those impacts, as well as ways practitioners and learners can be better supported moving forwards.

In our blog post in June, we told you that the Welsh Government was working in partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to support evidence-informed practice. Lizzie Swaffield, from the EEF, met with Curriculum for Wales Policy group members in Swansea recently to look at the opportunities and challenges of using EEF resources in the Welsh context and in the context of the Curriculum for Wales.

Using reliable evidence and expertise can support schools’ confidence that their approaches are appropriate. For example, there is evidence, of learners’ progression in literacy when explicit and systematic teaching of phonics is part of a wider whole-school approach that also supports their comprehension, vocabulary and spelling development in a language rich environment.

A new literacy area on Hwb will make it easier for practitioners to find supporting materials, resources and case studies related to learner progression in listening, speaking, reading and writing.  As part of this, all schools will be able to access information about Microsoft tools which help learners develop literacy.  More will be added to the literacy area in the coming months.

Information for practitioners about reading  and information for parents and carers has also been collated in handy new  guides.

If you are a practitioner in a school or setting that uses the Curriculum for Wales and have a passion for working with others to co-construct solutions, please complete the Expression of interest form for the Policy Group reserve list.

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During her Oral Statement in the Senedd, the Cabinet Secretary outlined the key improvement priorities for schools, as well as more funding for initiatives to improve attainment in literacy, maths and science.

The Cabinet Secretary speaking in Plenary on Tuesday 5 November

The Statement

Attendance, literacy and numeracy central to improving school standards as stats show schools attendance levels improve

Letter to schools

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1. So what is Medr?

Medr is the new arms-length funder and regulator for tertiary education and research in Wales. We have oversight for further education, higher education, work-based learning and apprenticeships, adult education, research, and school sixth forms.

Wales the first place in the UK to have brought all those areas together in one place – we’re leading the way!

2. Why was Medr created?

Although Medr officially went ‘live’ on 1 August this year, the journey to get to this point began almost a decade ago, when the Welsh Government commissioned Professor Ellen Hazelkorn to undertake a review into the post-compulsory education and training system in Wales.

The review looked at gaps in provision across the tertiary sector and identified the need for better coherence and more joined-up thinking. It recommended the establishment of a new national body with responsibility for the regulation, oversight and co-ordination of the post-compulsory sector. We have explored systems with similar models (such as those in New Zealand and Norway), and we are confident that implementing this approach in Wales will lead to better strategic alignment across the tertiary sector.

The overarching goal is a system that delivers for learners and for Wales, and Medr has been created to enable that by facilitating clearer pathways for learners and encouraging collaborative working across the sector.

3. How are you making sure that learners’ interests are being represented? Will they have an opportunity to give their views about the education and training they receive?

One of the aims in our draft Strategic Plan (which we’re currently consulting on – you have until 25 October to get a response in!) is about focussing the sector around the needs of the learner and ensuring that they are involved in decision making. We recognise that giving learners the opportunity to share their views on their education and training is key to ensuring that the system delivers for them, and we are looking at how we can capture the learner voice across all parts of the sector.

We are currently in conversation with learners on our strategic direction, and we have a learner representative on our Board. At an institutional level, we are working to develop a learner engagement code for providers, which will ensure that learners are able to contribute to decision making that directly affects them.

4. What will you be doing to make sure post 16 learners with additional learning needs experience a quality education?

We want to ensure that learners find the best learning pathway for them – whatever and wherever that is. An important part of that is ensuring that barriers for learners with additional learning needs are removed whenever possible.

Alongside the work happening elsewhere in the sector, and in the Welsh Government, Medr has work to do to keep identifying and mitigating those barriers. Promoting equality of opportunity is one of our strategic duties as set out in legislation and a key focus for us in our draft Strategic Plan. I hope that responses to the consultation will identify ways we can improve our work around additional learning needs, and that by working in partnership with the sector we will continue to improve our understanding and support for learners with additional learning needs.  

5. What does this change mean for school sixth forms?

On the face of it, there won’t be any significant immediate changes. School sixth forms will receive funding from Medr via their local authority, and Estyn will continue to have responsibility for quality and inspections.

Medr is taking over the Welsh Ministers’ existing powers in relation to sixth form organisation. We know that sixth forms are an integral part of the tertiary sector and a key part of the education journey for many learners. We want pathways to be clear, coherent, and impactful, so we are really glad that school sixth forms are in our remit, and we’re looking forward to working in partnership with the sector to ensure that provision across Wales is the best it can be.

6. What are your plans for making sure learners can carry on their post 16 education in the medium of Welsh?

We are working with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol as the designated organisation under the Tertiary Education and Research Act to advise Medr on our statutory duty to promote and ensure sufficient provision of Welsh-medium tertiary education.

Our commitment to the Welsh language is reflected in our Strategic Plan; we will be developing a national plan for the Welsh language across the tertiary sector and working with Qualifications Wales and other stakeholders to ensure that there are routes available into Welsh-medium education and assessment.

7. What’s in your in box for this term?

Having launched on 1 August, we’re full of energy and are going full steam ahead this term! Our first Strategic Plan is a huge priority for us, and an important one to get right as we consider what we need to focus on over the next few years. We’ve worked hard to ensure that the draft Plan reflects the conversations we’ve had with our partners about the opportunities and challenges ahead, and we’re looking forward to gathering more views through the formal consultation.

As part of our consultation activity, we are engaging with learners and employers to gather their views in preparation for submission of a final draft of the Plan to Welsh Ministers in December.

8. When and how will we start to see the impact Medr is making?

Without getting ahead of ourselves, I think we’re already starting to see it in the way organisations and providers are thinking. We’ve been talking about this for a long time now – it’s been eight years since the Hazelkorn review into our tertiary system. In the conversations we’ve been having with the sector, we’ve heard people’s concerns about the challenges ahead, but we’ve also sensed real optimism about the possibilities for the future.

It may be a while before we start to see tangible impacts of Medr’s work. Our strategic duties are ambitious and we’ll be working hard to deliver them, but we don’t expect to see changes immediately. In our Strategic Plan we’ve outlined our founding commitments, which we hope to achieve in the next two years, and our growth commitments, to be achieved by the end of the Plan’s life in 2030.

From my point of view, one of the key measures of our impact will be conversations with learners to hear their reflections on their educational journey, and whether our system has equipped them with the skills and knowledge they need to lead a fulfilling life – whatever that looks like.

Find out more about Medr.
Have your say on our Strategic Plan