QUALIFICATIONS in subjects such as gardening can help keep students at risk of losing interest engaged in school, a headteacher has said.
The new curriculum for Wales – which is intended to replace traditional subject areas with a broader education for younger secondary school pupils – was also praised as a chance for schools to adapt to the needs of individuals.
Chepstow Comprehensive headteacher Kelly Waythe answered questions from councillors on school exclusions at a Monmouthshire council scrutiny meeting including if the curriculum for Wales would make a difference to students less suited to academic subjects.
Ms Waythe said the new curriculum and qualifications such as VCSEs, a Vocational Certificate of Secondary Education and an alternative to the long-established GCSEs, could do so – but warned schools would need to be supported to invest in them.
She said: “I think the new curriculum is a real opportunity to create something bespoke for individual learners.
“We also have new vocational qualifications coming in, we have VCSEs and we can deliver new courses such as gardening, design and technology and engineering but it will need investment.
“It is about working with us as schools to fund a range of different courses we can deliver.
“It’s not just tailoring to abilities but interests as well. I think the new curriculum is a really good opportunity for schools but it will take time to be embed and will need a lot of investment.”
Hugo Hutchison, headteacher at Monmouth Comprehensive, who also attended the meeting and told councillors rising exclusions are linked to poor behaviour, social media and smart phones, also backed the new curriculum.
But he warned: “Curriculum for Wales does offer greater flexibility but there is both risk and reward.”
He said every school would need a “curriculum expert”, which he described as a weakness of teacher training, but said: “It gives us as larger secondary schools the opportunity to really develop a broad and balanced curriculum.”
Mr Hutchison said schools have the chance to devise a “really rich education” for pupils in years seven, eight and nine before they start formal qualifications at age 14.
He said his school offers a broad range of qualifications with VCES and BTECS alongside GCSEs spanning a range from classics, double maths and triple science to engineering, construction, textiles and performing arts.
Monmouth Comprehensive head Hugo Hutchison (left) and Cllr Peter Strong who questioned the heads on exclusions. (Image: Supplied / Monmouthshire County Council)
The head also said the chance for students to choose which subjects they would like to study can also be a “hook to bring them back in” when they are at risk of exclusion.
“You can tell them you are getting to the point where you can make some decisions about what subjects you want to study and they will start to talk about their options, and what they might want to do at college,” said Mr Hutchison.
Monmouthshire County’s Council’s Labour/Green cabinet has said its proposed budget for 2026/27 will provide an additional £1m for primary and secondary schools.
Rogiet Labour councillor, and former teacher, Peter Strong had asked the heads about the new curriculum. He said the introduction of the national curriculum, by the Conservative government in the 1980s, had reduced the ability of schools to adapt to the needs of individual students. He said if the curriculum “isn’t right for pupils they are more likely to disengage”.
Cllr Strong said he started teaching locally in the late 1970s when his comprehensive and others in Monmouthshire, provided vocational training to “certain year 11 pupils, I think it was all boys.”
He said: “They would spend four days a week doing tech, vocational training, plumbing, bricklaying and they would come back in on a Friday and do their maths and English.
“That seemed to be a success and it’s pretty gratifying when you see their names on the side of vans as well respected local tradesmen but the boot was put into that by the national curriculum that, to my mind, was far too rigid.”
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