Test Administration Handbook and Supplementary Guidance

Guidance is now available on the administration and marking of the 2015 National Tests for learners with:

• visual impairment who use Braille
• visual impairment who use modified large print (MLP)
• hearing impairment or learners who use sign language.

Anchor Testing

NFER are currently recruiting schools to take part in testing to support the standardisation of the live numeracy tests. The process is necessary to produce national age standardised tables for numeracy and it is vital that schools and learners contribute. If you have received an invitation we hope that your school will participate in this important exercise

Requests for past papers for the National Reading and Numeracy Tests

Schools are reminded that a balanced curriculum should be maintained in the run-up to the tests and that time spent familiarising learners with test techniques should be kept to a minimum. The Welsh Government holds past papers for practitioner training purposes but does not provide them to schools or parents.   

Reflective Practice mini-pack now available

Take a look at the Reflective Practice mini-pack that has now been made available. This is the latest in a number of upcoming resources which have been designed to support practitioners to develop in their professional learning. 

St Joseph’s RC High School’s approach to Professional Learning

In this video, Jackie Jarrett, Deputy Head at St Joseph's RC High School talks about the structures and opportunities that she and her senior management team have introduced to support practitioners’ Professional Learning.

New guidance is now available for Early Years providers to make best use of their Pupil Deprivation Grant funding  

What Really Works for the Early Years provides information on effective strategies and support to help raise educational attainment for disadvantaged 3-5 year olds in Foundation Phase settings 

Guidance for Key Stages 2 and 3 – Exemplification of national curriculum level descriptions for Key Stages 2 and 3

These materials, provide key messages for practitioners for planning, teaching, learning and progression across all national curriculum subjects at Key Stages 2 and 3. 

• English – Guidance for Key Stages 2 and 3
• Maths – Guidance for Key Stages 2 and 3
• Science – Guidance for Key Stages 2 and 3
• Welsh first language – Guidance for Key Stages 2 and 3
• Welsh second language – Guidance for Key Stages 2 and 3

National Digital Learning Awards 2015 

Has your school undertaken some interesting digital projects this year? Do some of your teachers and pupils deserve recognition for the excellent work they are undertaking in digital learning? Tell us about your digital successes by applying for a National Digital Learning Award 2015! Remember – the deadline for submission of entries is 1 May 2015.

The Sport Wales School Sport Survey 2015 – Take part today!

Sport Wales is now seeking your views and opinions on school sport to help guide local and national sports policies.  The School Sport Survey gives teaching professionals and learners an opportunity for their voices to be heard, to help shape improvements in school sport 

Keeping Learners Safe - Safeguarding Training Needs Survey

We need your views!

Following on from the publication of revised guidance, Keeping learners safe, we invite you to complete our short survey on safeguarding training in your school.  The survey can be accessed here

Creative Learning through the Arts – an action plan for Wales

An action plan for Wales seeks to improve attainment through creativity, increase and improve arts experiences in schools, and support teachers and arts practitioners in developing their skills. 

New ‘Cymraeg’ website to support and promote the use of the Welsh Language

We’ve launched a new website – Cymraeg, to support and promote the use of the Welsh Language. The website offers information on the range of Welsh language opportunities available, from introducing Welsh into the family, finding activities in Welsh for children and teenagers, to the benefits of using the language in the workplace.  Live, learn and enjoy in Welsh – why not take a look?

Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes National Quality Award indicators

There are new minimum requirements relating to tobacco use in schools.

Many schools are working towards the Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes (WNHSS) National Quality Awards (NQA) and the 78th school has just received the award.

CLIConline: our decision to withdraw support

We have brought forward the timetable for withdrawing support for the National CLIConline website and will therefore terminate on the 30 April 2015, 10 months ahead of schedule.

Education Workforce Council

The EWC, formed by reconfiguring the General Teaching Council for Wales, was created through the Education Wales Act 2014.

To find out more about the EWC and its work, visit Education Workforce Council, follow on twitter @ewc_cga and sign up for Education Wales, EWC’s e-newsletter.

WLGA Toolkit Launch for Service Children

The Minister for Culture and Sport will be launching the new WLGA toolkit for service children and service children families 23 June 2015 at the Pierhead building, Cardiff at 13:00.  Please attend and show your support!

New Effective Collaboration Resources

We are continuing to extend the bank of practitioner based resources to demonstrate how Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) can impact on learners, practitioners and the wider community. A new PLC Impact Assessment is now available which has been led by Llanhari Primary School

Geiriadur Gwybod y Geiriau

A dictionary for 8-10 year olds with 1500 definitions including nouns, adjectives, verbs, phrases, English words and an English appendix. This is the third dictionary in a series of three, following Geiriadur Pinc a Glas Gomer for 6-7 year olds and Geiriadur Mor, Mwy, Mwyaf Gomer for 7-8 year olds. These three steps lead to Geiriadur Cynradd Gomer.

Welsh and bilingual educational resources for schools and colleges

Update: the deadline to make suggestions for new resources has been extended until Friday, 15 May.

Take a look at the latest available Welsh and bilingual learning resources commissioned by the Welsh to support teaching and learning.

70th anniversary of VE-Day

Friday 8 May is the anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day), marking 70 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe.  To mark the occasion, a number of events are being organised around Wales and the UK.   Schools are also being encouraged to hold a special assembly on that day.  The British Legion has developed resources for schools to use to learn more about VE Day

Living Streets’ Walk to School Week - Get involved!

Walk to School Week (18–22 May) brings together almost one million school children, teachers and parents each year.  We design resources and activities for schools and organise events across the country to celebrate the week. Walk to School Week 2015 is all about the healthy benefits of walking.  

20th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide - 11 July 2015

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide on 11 July, the Remembering Srebrenica charity is carrying out a football project for schools across England and Wales. 

Mold HwbMeet Tuesday 12 May 

Book your place soon if you don’t want to miss the opportunity to attend this event.

Hwb+ and Office 365

Over the past few months, and following extensive stakeholder feedback, we are pleased to announce a number of exciting new developments. New features have now been added to the Connect Tool application and Microsoft Office 365.  For more information, please visit Hwb.