Assessment Content for Wales
The following content is available for schools in Wales to use. If you are a school in England or Scotland, please visit the relevant pages.
ALN solutions for your Welsh setting
Our Welsh Progression Steps frameworks let schools assess pupils against the Curriculum for Wales, from Routes for Learning through to Welsh Progression Step 3.
Over 150 schools in Wales already use our assessment software to track the progress of pupils with ALN, using frameworks built around the curriculum they teach.
Our assessments are currently available in English only. We are looking at translating the content into Welsh, including the Welsh aspects of the curriculum breakdowns. If you would be interested in our assessments in Welsh, email us at hello@bsquared.co.uk to register your interest.
The button below compares the new Welsh Progression Steps with the old P Levels and National Curriculum Levels, the Welsh Foundation Phase, the Routes for Learning (RfL) and the typical development for children in different year groups.
Assessment frameworks Comparison ChartAdditional frameworks and FREE frameworks
Our additional frameworks, including area of need and neurodiversity, help schools support pupils with SEND and show progress more holistically.
We also offer a range of frameworks that are FREE* for schools using Connecting Steps.
Primary
Welsh Progression Steps
Core
Welsh Progression Steps Core covers Pre-Progression Step 4 to Welsh Progression Step 3. This gives a developmental range equivalent of P4 to National Curriculum Level 4. It includes Languages, Literacy & Communication (apart from International Languages), Mathematics & Numeracy and Health and Well-being.
The content of this package has been developed using the descriptions of learning, statements of what matters, cross curricular skills and the literacy and numeracy frameworks.
Plus
Welsh Progression Steps Plus covers Welsh Progression Step 1 to Welsh Progression Step 3. This gives a developmental range equivalent of P7 to National Curriculum Level 4. It includes Expressive Arts, Humanities, Languages, Literacy & Communication (International Languages ONLY) and Science & Technology.
The content of this package has been developed using the descriptions of learning, statements of what matters, cross curricular skills and the digital competence frameworks.
For schools already using Connecting Steps, the Welsh Progression Steps Core or Plus frameworks can be added from just £350 for up to 30 students.
Connecting Steps has made a very positive impact on our assessment, and it’s easy for all to use
“Since we started using B Squared’s Connecting Steps at our Specialist Teaching Facility we have been able to clearly assess and track our students’ progress. It links to the Curriculum for Wales and to date has shown that all our pupils are making progress. The tool caters for all levels of students which is excellent and extends down to Routes for Learning (RfL) and up to ABC Steps and beyond.
The training we have received has been excellent and when we have asked for support the reply and help has always been very quick and efficient. Connecting Steps is also working well for staff who are understanding and inputting into the tracking of the students we teach. It has made a very positive impact on our assessment, and it’s easy for all to use.”
Bridget Radford, Manager of Specialist Teaching Facility, Pontarddulais Comprehensive School
E-Portfolios with Evisense
The Curriculum for Wales encourages every learner to have an e-portfolio that shows the progress they make and the experiences they have. Evisense, our evidence for learning platform, makes this simple. Staff can capture photos, videos and observations, link them to skills in Connecting Steps and share them securely with parents. The four purposes are built into Evisense, so schools can show how they are supporting every learner.
Evisense for WalesSpecialist
Routes to Progression
We have used the statements from the Routes for Learning within our Routes to Progression framework. We have split the Routes for Learning statements over 3 steps and over 4 areas:
- Attention Skills – Responding to events and stimulus.
- Preference and Choice – Shows pleasure/displeasure, accepts, or rejects items, people or activities
or makes a choice. - Interaction – Awareness and responding to events and people.
- Cognitive – Explores toys and objects, demonstrates awareness of routines.
Splitting the statements into multiple areas and levels has allowed us to create assessments to support progress towards and around the Routes for Learning Statements.
The Routes for Learning focuses on the areas of cognition and communication. Our Routes to Progression framework looks at a wider range of skills to give a more holistic view of the child so that schools can plan next steps and identify barriers. Alongside our areas working with the Routes for Learning we have also
included:
- Emotional Awareness – Shows basic emotional responses to people and activities and recognises facial expressions.
- Emotional Regulation – Attempts to self soothe, responds to adults when distressed and begins to regulate emotional response.
- Functional Movement – Gross motor skills, fine motor skills and coordination.
For schools already using Connecting Steps, the Routes to Progression framework can be added from just £75 for up to 30 students.
Personal Development (Alternative Provision)
Using the Personal Development Assessment Model (PDAM) created by Philip Parker (founder of InspirEd), this framework is designed specifically for Alternative Provision settings. It helps staff identify barriers, track progress and support successful reintegration into mainstream education wherever appropriate.
This framework focuses on the wider personal development that underpins engagement with learning. Development is assessed across five key domains, giving staff a clear picture of each pupil’s strengths, needs, triggers and progress:
Emotional Self & Identity
Personal Management & Independence
Relationships & Communication
Thinking & Achievement
Society & Citizenship
The framework provides clear evidence of pupil development and aligns with key areas of the Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit, including inclusion, behaviour, personal development, and progress from starting points. It supports targeted intervention, tracks development over time, and helps leaders demonstrate effective support strategies and oversight of pupils placed in Alternative Provision.
For schools already using Connecting Steps, the Personal Development (Alternative Provision) framework can be added from just £50 for up to 30 students.
Post-16
Steps 4 Life
Steps 4 Life is a broad and flexible assessment framework designed to prepare learners with SEND for adulthood. It covers a wide range of academic skills, life skills, and employability skills, supporting young people as they move towards greater independence, further education, or the world of work.
The framework is built around real-world learning, helping learners develop the practical knowledge and confidence they need for everyday life. Steps 4 Life can be used with individuals aged 14 to 25 and beyond, and is ideal for schools, colleges, alternative provisions, and care settings. Whether students are working towards full independence, semi-independent living, or supported living, Steps 4 Life provides a clear structure to recognise and celebrate every step of progress.
For schools already using Connecting Steps, the Steps 4 Life framework can be added from just £500 for up to 30 students.
The Steps 4 Life assessment content is available in 3 packs and covers the following areas:
Academic Skills Pack
English
Maths
PSD (Including Relationships & Sex Education)
Digital Skills
Life Skills Pack
Food
Independence
Self care
Travel
Employability Skills Pack
Identify a job
Getting a job
Geography
Your rights
Workplace routines
Workplace skills
Communication & Interaction
The Communication and Interaction framework supports schools in assessing and developing how pupils express themselves, understand others, and interact socially. It breaks communication down into clear, manageable areas, recognising that individuals can communicate in many different ways — through speech, signing, symbols, gestures, or behaviour.
Designed for use alongside our other frameworks, Communication and Interaction helps staff pinpoint where support is needed, plan targeted interventions, and track small but important steps of progress. It provides a flexible, strengths-based approach to communication development, whether pupils are using emerging language skills or working towards more complex social communication.
Each area goes from level 1 (birth – 3 months) to level 16 (13 – 15years). The levels are based on typical development and students are likely to be working across a number of different levels, based on their needs.
For schools already using Connecting Steps, the Communication & Interaction framework can be added from just £175 for up to 30 students.
Clear, manageable areas
Executive Function
Executive functions are the mental processes that help us manage time, regulate emotions, prioritise, focus, and adapt to new challenges – and they continue developing well into our late twenties. The proposed SEND reforms are naming Executive Function as a standalone area of development for the first time, meaning schools will increasingly need to identify, track, and evidence support in this area.
Our Executive Function framework, developed in collaboration with Victoria Bagnall from Connections in Mind, helps staff notice, celebrate, and support the development of key executive function skills over time. It covers from age 4 to preparing for university/employment, across 11 areas and 5 levels of development. This provides a structured, consistent way to track progress, giving staff a clearer picture of each pupil’s strengths, challenges, and next steps.
For schools already using Connecting Steps, the Executive Function framework can be added from just £175 for up to 30 students.
Covering the following areas:
Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)
The SEMH framework supports schools in assessing and developing pupils’ social, emotional, and mental health skills. It breaks SEMH down into clear areas like recognising emotions, managing feelings, building positive relationships, and making social decisions – skills that are critical for learning, wellbeing, and life beyond school.
Designed to be used alongside our other frameworks, the SEMH framework helps staff identify specific strengths and needs, plan targeted support, and track meaningful steps of progress. It promotes a proactive, strengths-based approach to supporting pupils’ emotional wellbeing and social development, not just reacting when difficulties arise.
Each area goes from level 1 (birth – 1 year) to level 11 (13 – 15years). The levels are based on typical development and students are likely to be working across a number of different levels, based on their needs.
For schools already using Connecting Steps, the SEMH framework can be added from just £250 for up to 30 students.
Covering the following areas:
Autism Progress
Autism Progress is a profiling tool designed to help schools, colleges, and care settings better understand how autism presents in each individual. It focuses on four key areas — Communication, Social Interaction, Flexibility of Thought, and Emotional Regulation — recognising that autistic individuals often have very spiky profiles, with strengths and needs across different areas.
Autism Progress allows staff to build a detailed, personalised profile, whether or not a formal diagnosis is in place. It provides clear descriptors and practical strategies to reduce barriers, promote wellbeing, and support learning and participation at every stage of development.
For schools already using Connecting Steps, the Autism Progress framework can be added from just £250 for up to 30 students.
Autism Progress helps build a profile of an individual’s autism in the following areas:
Communication
Flexibility of Thought
Social Interaction
Emotional Regulation
Each area goes from level 1 (around birth) to level 17 (early adulthood). A significant benefit of Autism Progress are the strategies that it contains, we have worked with experts to create a list of strategies for each area and each level to help support your students.
guide sample pages autism progress websiteFREE Frameworks*
Curriculum for Wales – Mainstream
Our free Curriculum for Wales Mainstream framework supports the assessment of all pupils in primary schools in Wales, helping schools track progress through the Curriculum for Wales in a clear and manageable way. It captures the key milestones and progress points without the fine detail needed for pupils with ALN, making it ideal for mainstream learners following a broader developmental path.
If you use our Mainstream Curriculum for Wales framework and Welsh Progression Steps together, you can analyse your whole school data together in Analytics.
Developmental Pathways
This free framework is based on the curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings. This contains a single level called Nursery, and contains all 5 areas.
Literacy, Numeracy & Digital Competencies
This free framework is based on the literacy, numeracy and digital competencies. It contains all the statements from the competencies for Welsh Progression Steps 1 – 3 and the ABC Steps. In Connecting Steps, Pre-Progression Steps 4 – 6 are equivalent to the ABC steps.
*FREE for the number of Connecting Steps licences you have.
Assessment and E-Portfolios for the Curriculum for Wales 2022, for Pupils with ALN/SEN
Our new Welsh Progression Steps Frameworks are now available. Schools can use our assessment frameworks to assess against the new Curriculum for Wales 2022. Our new frameworks cover from Routes for Learning through to Welsh Progression Step 3.
In 2016 we launched our first assessment products designed specifically for the Welsh curriculum. Over 150 schools in Wales already use our assessment software for pupils with ALN. The launch of our new Welsh Progression Steps lets schools assess using a framework linked to the curriculum they will be using.
Our assessments are currently only available in English. We are looking at translating the content into Welsh and adding the Welsh aspect to the curriculum breakdowns. If you are interested in our assessments in Welsh, please contact us to register your interest.
Connecting Steps
Connecting Steps is the most popular and effective assessment software for pupils with SEND. A wide range of frameworks that are built into Connecting Steps helps schools get up and running as quickly as possible.
Connecting Steps is the standard assessment system for pupils with SEND across a number of authorities in the UK. The simple interface, powerful features and flexible approach to progress means it works for a wide range of pupils. Connecting Steps V5 brings even more features and now works on iPads and other tablet devices.
Assess
Connecting Steps makes recording achievements simple. As well as being able to record the skills pupils achieve, you can also record the steps as they work towards it.
Engagement
Before pupils can achieve a skill, they need to engage. Connecting Steps can show the engagement levels of pupils and show the progress as engagement increases.
Graph
Connecting Steps makes showing small steps of progress simple. Progress can be shown in lots of ways, including engagement and non-linear progress.
Great Feedback
Connecting Steps has made a very positive impact on our assessment, and it’s easy for all to use
“We introduced Connecting Steps from B Squared into our Specialist Teaching Facility in September 2021 – since doing so we have been able to clearly assess and track our students’ progress. Connecting Steps links to the Curriculum for Wales and to date has shown that all our pupils are making progress. The tool caters for all levels of students which is excellent and extends down to Routes for Learning (RfL) and up to ABC Steps and beyond.
The training we have received has been excellent and when we have asked for support the reply and help has always been very quick and efficient. Connecting Steps is also working well for staff who are understanding and inputting into the tracking of the students we teach. It has made a very positive impact on our assessment, and it’s easy for all to use.”
Bridget Radford, Manager of Specialist Teaching Facility, Pontarddulais Comprehensive School
Want to learn more about our products for schools in Wales?
Arrange a FREE online meeting to find out how our assessment products work with the Curriculum for Wales 2022
Show Progress for
ALL Pupils
Within Connecting Steps we have a wide range of assessment frameworks that support a wide ability range and age range.
The new Curriculum for Wales is for all students aged 3 to 16 and has been created following the Donaldson report. It introduces new concepts and uses a brand new levelling structure called (Welsh) Progression Steps. The Welsh Progression Steps covers the typical developmental range for students aged 3 to 16 years old. We have developed content to extend below the Progression Steps, linking in with the Routes for Learning.
The button below compares the new Welsh Progression Steps with the old P Levels and National Curriculum Levels, the Welsh Foundation Phase, the Routes for Learning (RfL) and the typical development for children in different year groups.
Areas of Learning and Experience
The new Curriculum for Wales has 6 areas of learning and experience:
- Expressive Arts
- Health and Well-being
- Humanities
- Language, Literacy and Communication
- Mathematics and Numeracy
- Science and Technology
These new broader areas cover a wide range of subjects within. Our assessment content reflects the organisation of these areas. It has been developed with the statements of what matters, the principles of progression and the description of learning. It was not easy!
Four Purposes
The four purposes are a fundamental part of the new curriculum. They should be the starting point and aspiration for schools’ curriculum design. Ultimately, the aim of a school’s curriculum is to support its learners to become:
- ambitious, capable learners (ACL), ready to learn throughout their lives
- enterprising, creative contributors (ECC), ready to play a full part in life and work
- ethical, informed citizens (EIC) of Wales and the world
- healthy, confident individuals (HCI), ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.
These four purposes will be used when schools are thinking about how their curriculum should look, how topics should be introduced and the opportunities the children are given. There is no need to assess against these four purposes, but it will be important to demonstrate how you are supporting your students to fulfill these 4 purposes. The four purposes are built into Evisense, our evidence for learning platform, that schools in Wales can use to build e-portfolios for their children. Schools can use Evisense to showcase the opportunities they are giving their children around the four purposes.
For more information on Evisense, e-portfolios and the four purposes, visit our Evisense website – www.evisense.com/wales
Watch our FREE Webinar
Introduction to our new Curriculum for Wales Assessment Frameworks
This webinar was on 4th February 2021 and was aimed at introducing schools in Wales to our new Curriculum for Wales Assessment Framework.
It is a great way to learn about the new frameworks and how they will work with Connecting Steps and Evisense.
Want to learn more about our products for schools in Wales?
Arrange a FREE online meeting to find out how our assessment products work with the Curriculum for Wales 2022
Assessment Designed for ALN
Smaller Steps
We recognise the small steps of progress pupils with ALN make. We have split each Welsh Progression Step into smaller levels. Pupils working around age related expectations will make progress that can be easily measured, but for pupils with ALN, this won’t be the case. Welsh Progression Step 1 covers 2 years of crucial development. Welsh Progression Step 2 covers 3 years of development. Schools need to be able to demonstrate the small steps of progress pupils with ALN make and for pupils with ALN, these 2 or 3 years of development could take 6 years or longer.
Broad Areas
Some of the areas like Expressing Ourselves within Languages, Literacy and Communication covers a really wide range of skills. Within this area are all the skills around developing speech and writing. There are lots of key milestones within these areas. We have taken the decision to split some of these broad areas into smaller areas so that schools can identify and demonstrate where pupils are making progress and where they aren’t.
Spiky Profiles
The Curriculum for Wales not only recognises pupils progress at different rates, it also recognises that within one subject a pupil might be working across multiple Welsh Progression Steps. Schools need to support development in different areas at different levels, so that the child is supported to develop across all areas, not just the areas that they are struggling with.
Pre-Progression Steps
Our Welsh Progression Steps covers the typical development stages of children aged 3 years and above. In terms of P Levels, this will be pupils working on P7 and above. This will be suitable for the majority of children, but there are a large number of children who will be working below this level. We are developing new Pre-Progression Steps content for pupils working below this level. We have looked at the Routes for Learning, the ABC Steps and our work with schools in England and Scotland. We are splitting our Pre-Progression Steps into subject-specific learning and non-subject learning. The subject learning will have 3 levels aligned with the ABC Steps that will cover English, Maths and Health and Wellbeing, these will be included in our Welsh Progression Steps framework.
Routes to Progression is our non-subject-specific learning framework and will cover the same developmental range as the Routes for Learning, but will be split into 3 levels and cover a wider scope. The 3 levels of Routes to Progression will cover:
- Attention Skills
- Communicating Preference and Choice
- Interaction
- Cognitive
- Routes for Learning map
- Emotional Awareness
- Emotional Regulation
- Movement
The first 4 areas will include the statements from the Routes for Learning.
E-Portfolios
The new Curriculum for Wales wants all children to have an e-portfolio as a way of demonstrating the progress pupils have made as well as all the experiences they have had. Evisense is an ideal candidate as it links directly to our new assessment frameworks for the 2022 Curriculum for Wales. Wales is the first country in the UK to really push e-portfolios. They are a great way to share with parents what is going on in school.
For more information on Evisense, e-portfolios and the four purposes, visit our Evisense website – www.evisense.com/wales
Evisense
Evisense is a powerful evidence for learning system. The social media style interface for staff and parents is simple to use, but extremely powerful. Our apps for iPhone, iPad, android (tablet and phone) and Kindle Fire means whatever device you are using, you can use the Evisense app.
A number of features make Evisense the most secure evidence for learning system. A number of controls ensure data is safe and evidence can only be accessed by the right people. If you use Evisense and Connecting Steps together, you can link evidence to the skills in Connecting Steps. You can then view the evidence from within Connecting Steps.
Capture
It is quick and simple to capture evidence. Use the Evisense app to capture photos, videos or audio recordings. Tag the evidence to a pupil, add your annotation and click Post.
Powerful Evidence
When you add evidence, you can link the evidence to a range of aspects like EHCP outcomes, IEP targets and more. You can then filter the evidence across the whole school.
Share
Share the evidence you collect with parents to help boost parental engagement. Schools can control parental access. It is up to you if parents can comment or add their own evidence.
Want to learn more about our products for schools in Wales?
Arrange a FREE online meeting to find out how our assessment products work with the Curriculum for Wales 2022
Autism Progress
Autism Progress is based on SCERTS. It is designed to be used alongside your academic assessment to help profile your autistic pupils. Autism Progress covers a neurotypical developmental range equivalent to birth to neurotypical 13 to 15 year old.
Autism Progress was developed with Scottish Autism, Autism Wessex and North East Autism Society. Autism Progress is a tool schools can use to help profile autistic pupils to understand how their autism impacts them and their learning. Autism Progress has a range of skills spread over a set of progressive levels in the following areas of autism:
- Communication
- Flexibility of Thought
- Social Interaction
- Emotional Regulation
Each area goes from level 1 (around birth) to level 17 (early adulthood). A significant benefit of Autism Progress are the strategies developed to support development. We have worked with experts to create a list of strategies for each area and each level to help support your students.
For more information on using Autism Progress to profile your autistic pupils, click here