Consultation on changes to current school assessments

The Welsh Government is launching a consultation on the required legislative changes to remove the end of Foundation Phase and end of Key Stage 2 assessments. The consultation document also outlines consequential amendments to related legislation that would also be made if these assessments are removed. 

These consequential changes would mean removing the requirements for the moderation of end of Key Stage 2 assessments and content of reports to parents/carers to include the outcomes of end of Foundation Phase or end of Key Stage 2 assessments in respect of pupils in Year 2 and Year 6.

It would require governing bodies to report teacher assessment outcomes for learners at the end of Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2 to local authorities, and local authorities to report teacher assessment outcomes at the end of Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2 to the Welsh Government.

In addition, the Welsh Government is proposing to remove the requirement to moderate end of Key Stage 3 assessments from this academic year. The National Curriculum levels of attainment are well established and have been used by practitioners for many years. This to avoid placing additional burden on secondary schools to put new interim arrangements in place when end of Key Stage 2 assessments are removed and they are no longer able to moderate with their feeder primary schools. This proposal also helps create space for schools as they transition to the new arrangements under Curriculum for Wales.

The Welsh Government is also launching a consultation seeking the views of stakeholders on an amendment to regulations that will remove the requirement on local authorities to distribute paper copies of their annual prospectus to parents and pupils in their transfer year at schools maintained by them, whether they have requested a copy or not. 

Parents will continue to have access to the prospectus online and from the local authority offices, from any school in the local authority area or for reference at public libraries. This change in regulations will remove an unnecessary administrative and financial burden on local authorities, reducing time and costs associated with printing, distribution and storage which would better be spent on raising school standards.