Foundation The Sciences
Foundation The Sciences is an Entry Level and Level 1 qualification for learners in Years 10 and 11 who need a practical, accessible science course built around scientific enquiry. Literacy sits in reading test questions and secondary sources, using scientific words, planning an enquiry in simple words, and writing short conclusions, evaluations and reasoned decisions in the Unit 2 and Unit 3 tasks. Numeracy is integrated throughout, as Appendix C sets out: careful measuring, tables and bar charts, plotting two variables, means, decimals and percentages, sampling, and simple calculations such as BMI, energy efficiency and payback time. The biggest thing Key Stage 3 can build is a secure routine of measuring, recording in a table, graphing and then writing one clear sentence about what the results show.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level and Level 1
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Science in Everyday Life: Two topic tests of 30 minutes each, 30%, 60 marks (2 × 30), set and marked by WJEC; tiered (Foundation tier Entry 1 to Entry 3, Higher tier Entry 3 to Level 1); centres choose on-screen or paper tests within a four-week window
- Unit 2: Caring for the Planet: Non-examination assessment, four enquiry tasks of 30 minutes each plus up to one additional hour per task for data collection or data presentation, 40%, 60 marks (4 × 15); centres choose one WJEC set task for each of the four contexts; marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
- Unit 3: Me and My Health: Non-examination assessment, two tasks with up to 20 hours in total, 30%, 60 marks; set by WJEC, centres can tailor the practical elements; marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
Skills that use Representing data
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Recording results in tables and bar charts
Learners record results clearly in tables, tally charts and simple charts, and present their results in ways they understand, such as a bar chart. Appendix C lists constructing and interpreting tables and diagrams as a mathematical skill for the whole qualification.
Numeracy: Representing data
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils make a tally chart of the types of litter found in the school yard and draw a bar chart with a labelled scale.
- Year 8
- Pupils draw a results table with units in the headings for a melting experiment and turn it into a bar chart.
- Year 9
- Pupils put class reaction times into a grouped frequency table with equal class intervals and draw a suitable chart.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 2, Using primary data, page 18; Appendix C, page 42
“present their results in ways they understand, such as in”
Progression step 3
I can represent data using:
- lists, tally charts, tables, diagrams and frequency tables
- bar charts, grouped data charts, line graphs and conversion graphs
- pictograms where one symbol represents more than one unit using a key
- Venn and Carroll diagrams.
I can select and construct appropriate charts, diagrams and graphs with suitable scales.
Progression step 4
I can select and construct appropriate charts, diagrams and graphs with suitable scales.
I can construct frequency tables for sets of data in equal class intervals, selecting groups as appropriate.
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Plotting graphs of two variables
Appendix C asks learners to translate information between graphical and numeric form and plot two variables from experimental or other data. Unit 2 asks them to change data from a table to a graph or chart, and Unit 1 tests use graphs as resources.
Numeracy: Representing data, Interpreting data
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils plot temperature against time for cooling water on a grid with the axes already drawn and labelled.
- Year 8
- Pupils choose scales and plot a line graph of heart rate against time during exercise, then read off a value.
- Year 9
- Pupils plot light intensity against bubbles of oxygen from pondweed on axes they design, draw a line of best fit and describe the trend.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Appendix C, page 42; Unit 2, Analyse data, page 18; Section 3.2, Unit 1 overview, page 26
“Plot two variables from experimental or other data”
Progression step 3
I can select and construct appropriate charts, diagrams and graphs with suitable scales.
I can extract and interpret information from an increasing range of diagrams, timetables and graphs (including pie charts).
Progression step 4
I can construct and interpret graphs and diagrams (including pie charts) to represent discrete or continuous data, choosing an appropriate scale.
I can construct graphs to represent data including scatter diagrams to investigate correlation.
Good to know
- Mathematical skills must be taught within the science, not separately: they "must be integrated into the teaching of subject content rather than taught in isolation" (Section 2, page 9, and Appendix C, page 42).
- Calculation demand rises with tier in the Unit 1 topic tests: foundation tier calculations carry "1 mark maximum" and data is shown to 1dp, while higher tier calculations carry "Up to 3 marks available" with "Data displayed up to 2dp" (Section 3.2, page 26).
- Unit 2 allows extra time for numeracy work: learners "may have up to an additional one hour for any data collection or data presentation linked to the task(s)" (Section 3.2, page 27).
- In the internally marked units, "Written evidence must be annotated to show how it meets the marking criteria" and spoken work such as presentations is recorded on observation records (Section 3.3, page 28).
- Appendix A maps listening, reading, speaking and writing, and all four numeracy strands, to all three units (pages 34 and 35), and Appendix C lists the mathematical skills: handling data and graphs (page 42).
- Unit 1 topic tests are taken "under invigilated examination conditions" and can be on screen or on paper (Section 3.2, page 27; Summary of assessment, page 5).
Links with other qualifications
Foundation The Sciences prepares learners for GCSE The Sciences (Double Award) and GCSE Integrated Science (Single Award), which use the same enquiry writing and data skills but add longer evaluations, chemical calculations, rearranging equations and gradients. The Appendix C data and graph skills overlap with Foundation Mathematics and Numeracy, the reasoned decisions about waste, energy and pollution link with Geography and Humanities, and the BMI, diet and exercise work links with Physical Education and Health.
Source: WJEC Entry Level/Level 1 Foundation The Sciences specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).