News

National Updates - Summer 2025

Further support for teachers to boost roll out the new curriculum
The roll out of the Curriculum for Wales will be boosted by further support for teachers and schools to ensure consistent delivery across Wales. The support will include; national collaboration to develop common approaches across the profession, simplifying the process of curriculum design and evaluation, tools and templates to plan learning, clearer expectations for teaching and learning and sharing examples of curriculum design and best practice. It will also put revised Literacy and Numeracy and Digital Competence Frameworks on a statutory footing to provide clear expectations for these critical skills. You can read the press release here.

For Local Authorities – Mandatory governor training
Welsh Government has issued updated guidance on the contents of:
Training for chairs of governors; and
Induction training for school governors.

Curriculum for Wales – Annual Report 2024

The Cabinet Secretary for Education has confirmed that plans to change the school holidays will not happen this Senedd term to give teachers and staff space and time to deliver other reforms.
Click here to read the press release.

School attendance and religious festivals guidance.
Dates of religious observance and festivals for 2024. Includes guidance for headteachers on granting authorised absence.

Approved school term dates 2025 to 2026

Estyn – Inspection guidance resources.
Estyn has published the latest guidance handbooks for Maintained Schools and Pupil Referral Units in preparation for the new inspections arrangements which will be in place from September 2024. We will be amending relevant GCS publications, including the self-evaluation template through the summer ready for September.

Updated April 2024 – Exclusion from schools and pupil referral units (PRU)

Pre-16 education grants
Information on how Welsh Government will allocate pre-16 education grants in the 2024 to 2025 financial year. There are several changes to note.

Education Endowment Foundation – Early Years Toolkit.
The Toolkits are designed to support teachers and school leaders who are making decisions about how to improve learning outcomes.

New guidance – Professional development review
The professional development review guidance replaces the Welsh Government performance management guidance for teachers, headteachers and unattached teachers (2012). It also sets out guidance for learning support workers. Certainly a must read for those governors who are involved in development reviews.

We have therefore amended some of our publications in light of this: