Primary Education

Primary education

A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...

 in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

has a similar structure to Primary Education in England

Education in England

Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools at a regional level....

, but teaching of the Welsh language

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 is compulsory and it is used as the medium of instruction in many schools. The introduction of the Foundation Phase for 3-7 year olds is also creating increasing divergence between Wales and England.

Stages

In Wales, statutory education begins in the term after a child's fifth birthday, although many children start primary school earlier than this. Between the ages of 3 and 11 a child's education is divided into three main stages:

• Early Years - pre-compulsory education (ages 3-5)
• Key Stage 1 - the first phase of compulsory primary education (ages 5-7)
• Key Stage 2 - the second phase of compulsory primary education (ages 7-11).

Primary schools in Wales must, by law, teach the basic curriculum and the National Curriculum. The basic curriculum consists of religious education

Religious education

In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion and its varied aspects —its beliefs, doctrines, rituals, customs, rites, and personal roles...

 (RE) and personal and social education

Personal and Social Education

Personal and Social Education is a component of the state school curriculum in Wales. PSE became a statutory requirement in schools in September 2003, and is compulsory for all students at Key Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 , and shares some similar elements with Personal, Social and Health Education and...

 (PSE). Primary schools are also required to have a policy on sex education

Sex education

Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...

. At Key Stages 1 and 2, the National Curriculum consists of "core subjects" (English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Welsh

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

, mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 and science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

) and non-core subjects - Welsh second language, design and technology, information technology

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

, history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, geography

Geography

Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

, art

Art

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

, music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, physical education

Physical education

Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

 and religious education

Religious education

In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion and its varied aspects —its beliefs, doctrines, rituals, customs, rites, and personal roles...

. There is no statutory requirement to teach English at Key Stage 1 in Welsh-medium schools.

Assessment

Pupils are statutorily assessed to establish their starting point when they first enter school in the Reception Year or Year 1, and there are further statutory assessments in the core subjects at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2.

Foundation Phase

From September 2008 to September 2011, the Welsh Assembly Government is introducing a new Foundation Phase for children from 3 to 7 years of age, combining Early Years Education

Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage is a term defined in Section 39 of the British government's Childcare Act 2006. The EYFS comprises a set of Welfare Requirements and a set of Learning and Development Requirements, which must be followed by providers of care for children below 5 years old – the age...

 for 3 to 5 year-olds Key Stage 1

Key Stage 1

Key Stage 1 is the legal term for the two years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 1 and Year 2, when pupils are aged between 5 and 7. This Key Stage normally covers pupils during infant school, although in some cases this might form part of a first or...

 of the National Curriculum for 5 to 7-year olds. The Foundation Phase places a greater emphasis on experiential learning

Experiential learning

Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. Simply put, Experiential Learning is learning from experience. The experience can be staged or left open. Aristotle once said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." David A...

.