Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Order)
Section 356(1) and (2) of the Education Act 1996 places a duty on the Secretary of State to establish the National Curriculum by specifying by order such attainment targets, programmes of study and assessment arrangements as he considers appropriate for each of the foundation subjects.
This Order, which applies only to schools in Wales, revokes and replaces the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for English, Welsh, Mathematics and Science) (Key Stage 3) (Wales) Order 1996. It specifies the assessment arrangements for pupils in the final year of the third key stage.
The main changes from the 1996 Order are that—
the present Order provides for the results of pupils' achievements in Welsh AT1 (oral) and AT2 (reading) as assessed by the administration of NC tasks to be verified, and for the records of such results to be amended where necessary in the light of such verification (article 11); and
it specifies that National Curriculum tests in English, mathematics and science are to be administered only to those pupils who are expected by the head teacher to achieve level 3 or higher.