Guides
The secondary years, one page each.
What happens in each year, what to watch for, and the dates that matter. Every date carries the source we checked and when.
Years 7 to 9
- Year 7: starting secondary school in WalesThe Curriculum for Wales has no key stages and no levels, so the first report home may contain no grades. What progression steps mean, and the habits worth building in the first term.
- Year 8: the quiet year, and where the narrowing startsNothing in Year 8 appears on a certificate, which is exactly why it is the easiest year to drift through. What is actually being decided, and what to build now.
- Year 9: choosing courses for 14 to 16The first real decision of secondary school. What every learner in Wales must keep, what is genuinely a choice, and how much the choice actually decides.
GCSE · Years 10 and 11
- Year 10: the first GCSE year, and the first real examsWales has a new set of GCSEs, made for its own curriculum, graded A* to G and built from units. Some of those units are sat in Year 10 and they count.
- Year 11: GCSE exams, results, and what comes after 16 in WalesThe exam year. Coursework windows through the winter, the summer 2027 exam dates, results day, and the fact that education in Wales is not compulsory after 16.
A Level and UCAS · Years 12 and 13
- Year 12: AS units that count, and the Skills BaccalaureateIn Wales the AS is part of the A Level and is worth 40% of it, so Year 12 produces marks rather than predictions. What that changes, and where the Skills Baccalaureate fits.
- Year 13: the second year of A Levels, with UCAS on topSecond-year units, an AS resit decision, the Skills Baccalaureate individual project and the UCAS deadlines, all inside the same autumn. The dates for 2027 entry.
- UCAS timeline for 2027 entryEvery UCAS date for students applying to start university in autumn 2027, from the October deadline to Clearing, with the personal statement format and what happens on results day.
Across the years
- Choosing courses for 14 to 16 in WalesWelsh runs to 16 for everyone, maths is one course worth two GCSEs, and the tier a child is entered at caps the grade. What is fixed, what is chosen, and what to ask.
- A Level choices in Wales, and what the Skills Baccalaureate is worthThree subjects plus the Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales is the standard shape. How the AS changes the stakes, and how universities actually treat the Baccalaureate in an offer.
- Welsh-medium and bilingual schools: what it actually means93,377 pupils were in Welsh-medium schools in January 2025. What studying and sitting exams through Welsh involves, what the new school language categories mean, and the honest difficulties.