Written question WQ85792

In our Journey to curriculum roll out guidance (updated September 2021) we set out our expectations to support schools in their curriculum development work. These were co-constructed with Estyn and school improvement services to ensure a consistent system-wide approach. Over the last year I have been keen to reinforce the message that we are embarked on a process of continuous improvement, with the expectation that schools will continue to develop and refine their curriculum through an ongoing iterative process. For example, in my recent Curriculum for Wales Annual Report I highlight that there will be an element of real learning and understanding that can only develop when schools are implementing their Curriculum for Wales. While September is an important milestone, it represents the start of the next phase of our curriculum reform agenda, not the end.

These messages relate to all schools and settings, including secondary providers irrespective of whether they decided to implement Curriculum for Wales a year early from September 2022. All schools need to continue work on their curricula throughout the next academic year and beyond.

The Curriculum for Wales has been designed to empower schools to better meet the needs of individual learners to move forward in their learning across the breadth of curriculum areas. In a similar way, it is essential that our support for curriculum reform empowers all schools and settings to move forward across the breadth of their ongoing curriculum design and development work. Key to this is ensuring support matches the needs of individual schools reflecting their evolving stages of iterative development, rather than balancing needs between different groups. Through conversations with the regional consortia, partnerships and local authorities, I am confident that all schools are receiving bespoke support to enable them to progress confidently on their curriculum journey. I expect that to continue through the year ahead and beyond.