Skip to content

A review on developing pupils’ Welsh reading skills from 10-14 years of age

Annual Report 2023 - 2024


In September 2024, we published our thematic report on developing pupils’ Welsh reading skills from 10-14 years of age. The report was written in response to a request from the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language in Estyn’s annual remit letter 2023 to 2024 as updated in October 2023. Following the publication of a report on pupils’ English reading skills from 10-14 years of age by Estyn in May 2023, we set out to produce a report on how Welsh and bilingual schools develop pupils’ Welsh reading skills across the curriculum.

Our report draws on findings from visits to Welsh-medium and bilingual primary, secondary and all-age schools, in addition to a few immersion units. In each school visited, meetings were held with senior leaders, literacy co-ordinators, teachers and pupils. We conducted learning walks, looked at pupils’ work and documents the schools had on developing reading skills and on transition arrangements. A pupil survey was carried out in the Urdd Eisteddfod in June 2023 and a pupil questionnaire was distributed to those schools within the sample. We also drew on evidence from primary, secondary and all-age inspections of schools outside the sample during 2023-2024.


Our recommendations

Leaders in schools should consider how to:

  • Strengthen opportunities for pupils to develop a variety of reading skills, including advanced reading skills, in subjects across the curriculum in addition to Welsh
  • Use a variety of self-evaluation activities to effectively monitor and evaluate pupils’ reading skills to identify clearly which aspects of reading need to be improved or strengthened
  • Plan strategically and structure opportunities appropriately to increase pupils’ interest, resilience and confidence when reading in Welsh

Local authorities should consider how to:

  • Facilitate transition arrangements between primary and secondary schools and remove any barriers to ensure that schools are able to work together beneficially to develop pupils’ reading skills

The Welsh Government should consider how to:

  • Create opportunities for Welsh authors to engage with schools and talk to pupils about the type of books they would like to read in Welsh
  • Work with partners such as ‘Adnodd’ to improve and increase the availability of Welsh-medium resources, including non-fiction books

What did our thematic say?

Our report on Welsh reading skills highlights a number of strengths and areas that need to be addressed to ensure improvements. In addition to the examples of good practice in schools, we have included suggestions within each chapter to help schools strengthen their practices in developing pupils’ reading skills.

The first chapter, ‘Pupils’ standards and attitudes’ focuses on the development of pupils’ reading skills across the curriculum and pupils’ attitudes to reading. The main findings here were that almost all pupils understood the importance of reading to support their learning and future life chances. However, the negative impact of the pandemic remains clear on Welsh reading standards and pupils’ confidence in general.

The second chapter which has two parts, considers the offer provided by schools to strengthen pupils’ reading skills and how leaders prioritise reading in their schools. We noted that:

  • many young people from 10 to 14 years of age used basic reading skills successfully to find the main messages and key information
  • the most beneficial opportunities to develop reading skills could be seen in Welsh lessons or language sessions and within the humanities subjects
  • leaders in nearly all schools visited recognised the importance of prioritising the development of pupils’ reading skills
  • the immersion units and Welsh language centres we visited worked effectively in developing the Welsh skills of pupils who transfer from English medium- education at a late stage

Improvements were needed in the following areas:

  • purposeful opportunities for pupils to develop their advanced reading skills across the curriculum
  • co-ordinating provision to develop pupils’ reading skills in a majority of secondary schools
  • leaders use of a wide enough range of evidence to identify the exact aspects of reading that need to be improved and plan relevant actions
  • plans to develop pupils’ reading skills from Year 6 to Year 7

The third chapter, ‘Promoting a reading culture’ describes the way in which effective schools create a reading culture successfully and engage pupils’ interest in full. Overall, experiences to promote reading outside the classroom were seen to have decreased significantly since the pandemic, particularly in the secondary sector.