All pupils in Key Stage 3 will follow a broad and balanced curriculum that reflect the 4 purposes of the 2022 New Welsh Curriculum.  New Horizons aim for all our children and young people to be:

  • Ambitious and capable learners
  • Enterprising, creative contributors
  • Ethical informed citizens
  • Healthy confident individuals

The curriculum will also focus on the development of three mandatory skills of literacy, numeracy and digital competence.

The key stage 3 curriculum will be organised from 2021 into three annual cycles and broadly delivered through a monthly thematic, topic based approach.  Each topic will clearly map components of the areas of learning and experience. 

The six Areas of Learning and Experience:

  • Expressive Arts
  • Health and Well-being
  • Humanities
  • Languages, Literacy and Communication
  • Mathematics and Numeracy
  • Science and Technology

All topics will provide appropriate opportunities for progression with one assessment opportunity per topic.  The emphasis will be on creativity that supports innovation of an exciting and dynamic curriculum.  Children and young people have been consulted on our thematic curriculum design.  Engagement with our many quality assured EOTAS providers will be coordinated to enhance the learning experience in each topic.

Literacy Focus 2020

Read with concentration, texts on screen and on paper that are new to learners and understand the information presented.

Year 7

Select the main points from texts and identify how information and evidence are used to support the points.

Year 8

Locate and selectively use additional information and evidence from different sources.

Year 9

Follow up and use additional material in texts to extend understanding.

Numeracy Focus 2020

Use data skills.

Year 7

Calculate the mean.

Calculate the mean from a table.

Understand types of data.

Bar charts.

Year 8

Calculate the range.

Compare two distributions.

Frequency diagrams.

Year 9

Interpreting charts.

Estimating the mean from a table.

Drawing pie charts.

Interpreting pie charts.

Cyclic topics

2020 – 2021

Cycle A
Curriculum thematic design to be finalised.

2021 – 2022

Cycle B
Curriculum thematic design to be finalised.


2022 – 2023 topics:  

Cycle C
Curriculum thematic design to be finalised.