Chemistry in Curriculum for Wales – planning support

This resource is also available in Welsh

The documents provided are designed to aid teachers in Wales whilst planning their new chemistry curriculum for first teaching from September 2022. It is recommended they are used once a good understanding of the principles and fundamentals of the Curriculum for Wales has been developed. The documents draw on information from appropriate resources, including the Royal Society of Chemistry’s curriculum framework, to outline what suitable progression could look like. They are not intended to be prescriptive, but we hope that you find them useful in supporting your curriculum planning.

Planning your chemistry curriculum

The document Chemistry in Curriculum for Wales: curriculum planning support (progression step 4) connects the What Matters statements in the Curriculum for Wales with the Royal Society of Chemistry’s curriculum framework, thus providing further guidance for teachers during phase 2 (and beyond) of The Journey to 2022. It aims to support planning of your school’s chemistry progression within the Science and Technology Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE), focussing on the What Matters statements: ’Matter and the way it behaves defines our universe and shapes our lives’ in full; as well as parts of ’Being curious and searching for answers is essential to understanding and predicting phenomena.’ 

How to use the curriculum planning support document provides a more detailed explanation of how the curriculum planning support document can be put into practice, showing teachers how different progression statements are linked and how this could be taught in a local relevant context of their choice. 

Identifying key chemistry skills

The chemistry skills template (progression step 4) offers a template and example, summarising the skills developed during progression step 4, as outlined in the  curriculum planning support document. The aim is to exemplify some of what a learner should be capable of towards the end of this progression step to ensure enough challenge is offered to learners in line with the guidance in the Curriculum for Wales, especially for non-specialist teachers of chemistry. Alternatively this template could be used as a worksheet to help summarise skills developed over a series of lessons. Ultimately, as previously stated, the goal of this document is to give an idea of the appropriate level of challenge for a learner at this stage.