Year 4 Curriculum Wales: What Schools Teach and What Home Educators Need to Know

Year 4 sits in the middle of what the Curriculum for Wales describes as the "Progression Step 2" phase, covering learners from ages 7 to 11 (Years 3 to 6). At this stage, Welsh schools are working within six Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLE) — the framework that replaced the National Curriculum for Wales when the new curriculum was fully implemented in 2022.

If you are home educating a Year 4 child in Wales, or considering deregistering, understanding what schools cover at this stage helps you plan and document your own provision. It also helps you understand what local authorities are likely to expect from your annual education report or portfolio.

What the Curriculum for Wales Covers at Year 4

The Curriculum for Wales does not specify what schools must teach at Year 4 specifically. Instead, it establishes Progression Steps at ages 5, 8, 11, 14, and 16. Year 4 falls before the Progression Step 2 milestone at age 11, meaning schools are working toward that checkpoint rather than following a fixed term-by-term programme.

Within the six Areas of Learning and Experience, Progression Step 2 learning broadly looks like this at Year 4:

Expressive Arts: Children are expected to engage with a range of artistic disciplines — visual art, music, drama, dance — and begin to reflect on their creative choices. At Year 4, this typically involves working with materials and techniques with increasing intention, developing an ability to evaluate their own work.

Health and Well-being: This AoLE encompasses physical education, relationships and sex education (RSE), and emotional literacy. Year 4 pupils are expected to develop physical skills, understand how their bodies work, and build resilience. Schools delivering RSE at this stage do so under the mandatory Relationships and Sexuality Education framework, which became statutory in 2022.

Humanities: History, geography, and RE sit within Humanities. At Year 4, children explore their local community and beyond, examine how places and communities change over time, and engage with questions of identity, culture, and diversity.

Languages, Literacy and Communication: This is the largest AoLE for most Year 4 pupils. It covers Welsh (mandatory for all pupils in Wales), English, and modern foreign languages. At this stage, children are developing reading comprehension, writing for different purposes, and oracy skills. Phonics completion typically occurs earlier, so Year 4 pupils are extending vocabulary, reading for meaning, and writing more extended pieces.

Mathematics and Numeracy: Year 4 maths in Welsh schools covers number operations (multiplication tables, division, addition and subtraction with larger numbers), fractions, measurement, shape, and early data handling. The emphasis is on mathematical reasoning and the application of number skills to real contexts, not just procedural recall.

Science and Technology: This AoLE includes science, computing (framed within the Digital Competence Framework), and design technology. At Year 4, children conduct investigations, develop hypotheses, and use simple equipment. Computing at this stage focuses on digital literacy, online safety, and introductory programming concepts.

What Home Educators in Wales Are Actually Required to Provide

Here is the critical point: home-educated children in Wales are not required to follow the Curriculum for Wales.

The Welsh Government's statutory Elective Home Education Guidance states this explicitly. Local authorities must base their suitability decisions on the parents' chosen educational approach, not on whether that approach matches the Curriculum for Wales. You can use any curriculum — structured, Charlotte Mason, classical, project-based, or entirely child-led unschooling — and it can be suitable education provided it is efficient (achieves what it sets out to achieve) and suitable (prepares the child for life and enables them to reach their potential).

What you must demonstrate, if asked, is that your provision covers foundational literacy and numeracy and provides opportunities to develop social skills. That is a much lower bar than delivering all six AoLEs in the format and sequence a school would use.

Why Documentation at Year 4 Matters

Year 4 is not typically the year of peak anxiety for home educators. That tends to be Years 10 and 11, when GCSE access becomes the urgent concern. But laying solid documentation habits at Year 4 matters for several reasons.

Building a track record: With the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill moving toward mandatory registration for home-educating families in Wales, having a documented history of provision from primary age demonstrates a consistent, serious educational approach. Local authorities look for evidence of progression over time, not just a snapshot of what is happening right now.

Primary portfolios are straightforward to build: At Year 4, the evidence is naturally visual and varied. Reading logs, maths worksheets, art projects, trip notes, photographs of activities — all of these accumulate naturally during a year of home education. Organising them into a simple portfolio with subject dividers takes relatively little time but produces a compelling body of evidence.

Literacy and numeracy baselines: Year 4 is a stage where gaps in literacy and numeracy, if present, are worth identifying and addressing. A reading age significantly behind expected levels at Year 4 may be the first indication of a processing or learning difference that benefits from early documentation. If your child later needs an IDP under the ALN Act 2018, having a paper trail of when a concern first emerged and how you responded to it strengthens your case considerably.

What a Year 4 Home Education Portfolio Looks Like in Practice

A practical portfolio for a Year 4 child does not need to be extensive. The goal is chronological evidence of engagement and progress across core areas.

Literacy evidence: Two or three extended writing samples taken at different points in the year — a story, a letter, a description of a project or trip — show progression in sentence construction, vocabulary, and organisation. Reading logs noting titles, genres, and short responses demonstrate breadth and engagement.

Numeracy evidence: Completed maths worksheets, a photo of practical measuring or cooking activities, or a child-written explanation of how they solved a problem all serve as numeracy evidence. You do not need formal test results.

Broad curriculum evidence: One photograph or work sample per term from science, history, geography, or an arts activity is sufficient to demonstrate a broad provision. A flyer from a museum visit with a short paragraph the child wrote about what they learned is more persuasive than a detailed adult-written account.

Social engagement: A note about groups your child attends — sports clubs, creative classes, community events — goes into the social development section of your annual education report. Welsh local authorities specifically look for evidence that children are developing the social skills they will need for adult life.

Responding to a Local Authority Enquiry About Your Year 4 Child

If you receive an informal enquiry from your local authority asking about provision for your Year 4 child, you are not required to allow a home visit. You can respond entirely in writing with a structured annual education report summarising your provision.

The report should cover your educational philosophy briefly, then address literacy and numeracy progress specifically — Welsh LAs scrutinise these most carefully at primary age — followed by the broader curriculum and social development. Cite the Welsh Government's EHE Guidance (2023) and Section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to demonstrate you understand your rights. Keep the tone cooperative and factual.

If your child holds an Individual Development Plan, your report must also show how the home provision is meeting the objectives in the IDP. This is a distinct requirement under the ALN Act 2018 and the ALN Code 2021.

For a complete documentation framework built specifically for Wales — including the annual report template, literacy and numeracy tracking sheets, philosophy statement guide, and legally referenced LA cover letter — the Wales Portfolio & Assessment Templates covers everything a parent of a Year 4 child needs to satisfy local authority requirements without replicating school.

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