Written question WQ93110

As set out in the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021, RVE is a legal requirement of the Curriculum for Wales and is mandatory for all learners from ages 3 to 16.

As Religious Education was under the previous curriculum, RVE is a locally determined subject. An Agreed Syllabus must be created to specify what should be taught in RVE within each of the 22 local authorities in Wales. Each local authority has a legal duty to convene an Agreed Syllabus Conference, through which an appropriate syllabus is agreed. All maintained schools and settings are required to have regard to the agreed syllabus including schools of a religious character, in their design of the agreed syllabus element of their RVE provision.

Maintained schools are publicly held to account through Estyn inspections, which provide objective, independent, and impartial information about schools’ performance and effectiveness. Local authorities have statutory responsibility for monitoring their schools and intervening where appropriate. Under the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013, local authorities have the power to intervene in a school where specific grounds for intervention exist, for example, ground 5, where the governing body or headteacher has failed, or is likely to fail, to comply with a duty under the Education Acts. Further information regarding local authority powers of intervention can be found online:

• School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013

• Schools causing concern – Statutory guidance for schools and local authorities