Introducing the Curriculum for Wales
The world is changing and we need new ideas and creative use of technology. To address these challenges teachers and education experts from across Wales have been working together to develop the Curriculum for Wales.
The new curriculum is designed for all children. It will support your child with creative lessons with real-life meaning. It will suit their needs and help them reach their full potential. The world is more connected nowadays, so what they learn is more connected too. Knowledge is really important, and they will also be given the skills and experiences they need for a fast-changing world.
Want to know more? Watch the short film below:
Our Curriculum Statement
Our vision at Eastern Primary School is to be a community of excellence who provides a caring, safe, happy environment which is inclusive to all. Everyone is valued, through our community partnerships, which helps our children become independent, responsible, respectful citizens of the future.
We aim to provide a rich, experiential and balanced curriculum that stimulates natural curiosity and enquiring minds of our pupils to become ambitious, independent and creative learners. We want all our pupils to reach their full potential and be equipped with the necessary skills (including digital) to become capable and resilient lifelong learners. By designing a curriculum which focuses on these elements our children at Eastern Primary will develop the four purposes of being Ambitious Capable Learners; Enterprising Creative Contributors; Ethical and Informed Citizens and Healthy Confident Individuals
The curriculum at our school is progressive and will ensure pupils develop control and independence in their development of their literacy, numeracy, digital and integral skills in addition to ensuring pupils engage with increasingly complex and sophisticated content to progress their knowledge and understanding.
Our curriculum is designed to develop in our pupils a sense of belonging, not just in a physical or geographical sense but also the historic, cultural and social place which has shaped and continues to shape the community which our school inhabits. We aim to help our pupils make sense of their own identities and those of others, in our community, Wales and the across the world.
The school will monitor the impact of its curriculum on pupils’ progression and their development of the four purposes on a continuous basis throughout the academic year and complete a formal review on an annual basis.
What are The Four Purposes?
At Eastern we support our pupils to become:
• 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, ready to take part in Wales and the world, and
• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.
These are the ‘four purposes’ of the Curriculum for Wales and are at the heart of our school curriculum.
Ambitious, capable learners:
- set themselves high standards and seek and enjoy challenge
- are building up a body of knowledge and have the skills to connect and apply that knowledge in different contexts
- are questioning and enjoy solving problems
- can communicate effectively in different forms and settings, using both Welsh and English
- can explain the ideas and concepts they are learning about
- can use number effectively in different contexts
- understand how to interpret data and apply mathematical concepts
- use digital technologies creatively to communicate, find and analyse information
- undertake research and evaluate critically what they find
and are ready to learn throughout their lives.
Enterprising, creative contributors:
- connect and apply their knowledge and skills to create ideas and products
- think creatively to reframe and solve problems
- identify and grasp opportunities
- take measured risks
- lead and play different roles in teams effectively and responsibly
- express ideas and emotions through different media
- give of their energy and skills so that other people will benefit
and are ready to play a full part in life and work.
Ethical, informed citizens:
- find, evaluate and use evidence in forming views
- engage with contemporary issues based upon their knowledge and values
- understand and exercise their human and democratic responsibilities and rights
- understand and consider the impact of their actions when making choices and acting
- are knowledgeable about their culture, community, society and the world, now and in the past
- respect the needs and rights of others, as a member of a diverse society
- show their commitment to the sustainability of the planet
and are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world.
Healthy, confident individuals:
- have secure values and are establishing their spiritual and ethical beliefs
- are building their mental and emotional well-being by developing confidence, resilience and empathy
- apply knowledge about the impact of diet and exercise on physical and mental health in their daily lives
- know how to find the information and support to keep safe and well
- take part in physical activity
- take measured decisions about lifestyle and manage risk
- have the confidence to participate in performance
- form positive relationships based upon trust and mutual respect
- face and overcome challenge
- have the skills and knowledge to manage everyday life as independently as they can
and are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.
Cross-Curricular Learning
Through topic based learning our children are taught literacy, numeracy and digital skills in a cross curricular way. Everything your child learns is connected to the six areas of learning:
- Expressive arts
- Health and well-being
- Humanities
- Languages, literacy and communication
- Mathematics and numeracy
- Science and technology
Learning focuses on things that matter to the children now and when they grow up. Each area of learning and experience contains statements of what matters which shape learning for children of all ages. These help your child think about what they’re learning and how topics link to each other, to work and to life. They also support your child to progress each year as they build their understanding and skills.
If you would like to find out more about the new curriculum and what it means for your child’s learning click on the link to the parents guide below:
A guide to the new Curriculum for Wales
RSE Curriculum
At Eastern we want our pupils to excel in all aspects of life, so they grow into adults who are healthy, confident individuals. Our curriculum is designed to encourage and support young people to respect themselves and others, to value diversity, and give them the ability to build healthy, respectful relationships.
Young people should have the right to access information that keeps them safe from harm. This includes learning about healthy relationships, keeping safe, online and offline, and being confident to raise issues with responsible adults. Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) is designed to safeguard all our children and young people, supporting them to develop knowledge, skills and behaviours that will assist in protecting them throughout their lives. This is critical to building a society which treats others with understanding and empathy, whatever their ethnicity, social economic background, disability, sex, gender or sexuality.
Want to know more? Watch the short film below:
What will primary children be taught?
Additional Learning Needs
The Welsh Government is changing the way children and young people with Special Educational Needs are supported. The support children with SEN receive is called special educational provision (sometimes called SEP).
The old SEN system is being replaced with the new Additional Learning Needs system. The new ALN system strengthens the importance of providing information and support so that children, young people and their parents are involved as much as possible in the process and in decisions that affect them.
When the ALN system is introduced you will notice the following changes to what things are called:
- special educational needs (SEN) becomes additional learning needs (ALN)
- special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCos) become additional learning needs co-ordinators (ALNCos)
- special educational provision (SEP) becomes additional learning provision (ALP)
- plans such as individual education plans (IEPs), statements and learning and skills plans (LSPs) will be replaced with a new plan called an individual development plan (IDP)
Some things have not changed. Having ALN is the same as having SEN. This means that if a child or young person has SEN they are also likely to have ALN. And it means the special education provision children and young people get to help them learn at nursery, school, PRU or college because they have SEN will continue, if it is still required, but it will now be called additional learning provision.
Moving children from the SEN system to the ALN system will take place over 3 school years to make sure there is enough time for nurseries, schools, PRUs and local authorities to discuss the support needed and to prepare plans. If you would like more information on how the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act will affect you and your children please take a look at the factsheet below: Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act Factsheet To familiarise yourself with the Additional Learning Needs Code for Wales please click the link below: Additional Learning Needs Code for Wales