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, with energy, materials, cells, the environment and health taught through scientific enquiry. It names almost no digital tools. Its digital work sits in the data behind enquiry: recording results in tables and charts, turning tables into graphs, spotting patterns and doing simple calculations in the Unit 2 enquiry tasks and the Unit 3 health tasks, plus finding secondary information on websites and judging whether it looks valid. Unit 1 topic tests can be taken on screen. The biggest thing Key Stage 3 can build is confident use of a spreadsheet to record a results table and turn it into a clear chart.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level and Level 1
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Low
- 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 Creating digital content
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Recording practical results in tables and charts
In the Unit 2 enquiry tasks learners make observations or measurements and record their results clearly in tables, tally charts and simple charts such as bar charts. Each task allows up to an extra hour for data collection or data presentation, so a spreadsheet is a sensible way to record and present results, although no tool is named.
DCF: Data and information literacy, Creating digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils type the results of a dissolving experiment into a ready-made spreadsheet table with headings and units, then make a bar chart from it.
- Year 8
- Pupils set up their own spreadsheet table for a pulse rate investigation, choosing column headings and units, and add a tally of results from the class.
- Year 9
- Pupils design a spreadsheet to record repeat readings from a heat loss experiment, then choose and format the best chart to present the results for a display.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 2, Using primary data, page 18; Section 3.2, Unit 2 overview, page 27
“record results clearly, including tables, tally charts, simple charts”
Progression step 3
I can construct, refine and interrogate data sets within tables, charts, spreadsheets and databases to test or support an investigation.
I can use a range of software to select, produce and edit a range of multimedia components for a purpose, such as:
- text and images, e.g. format text (bold, underline, italics, highlight); insert and edit text boxes; columns; use refine tools (spellchecker, find and replace); word wrap; crop; alter size and shape; alter images; add effects; trim and split sound and video clips; transitions; onion skin
- presentation, e.g. page orientation; animations; transitions; remove and alter images; use background; use action buttons to create hyperlink; embed objects.
Progression step 4
I can create a data capture form, capture data, search data and create a database and spreadsheet with appropriate data input method.
Good to know
- Unit 1 topic tests can be taken on screen or on paper: "Centres can select from digital and paper formats within a four-week assessment window." (Summary of assessment, page 5). Separate entry codes exist for the on screen and paper tests at each tier (Section 5.1, page 31).
- Unit 2 and Unit 3 tasks come through the WJEC Portal: the enquiry tasks "will be issued to centres in assessment packs for each topic via the WJEC Portal" (Section 3.2, page 27).
- Each Unit 2 task has extra time for data 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).
- No digital tools or software are required anywhere in the specification; data handling is described in terms of "tables, tally charts, simple charts" (Unit 2, page 18), so paper or spreadsheet are both open to centres.
- The specification does not mention artificial intelligence. NEA follows "JCQ's Instructions for Conducting Non-Examination Assessments (Vocational and Technical Qualifications)" and teachers "must not provide feedback on the evidence being produced" (Section 3.3, page 28).
- Appendix A ticks all four Digital Competence strands (Citizenship, Interacting and Collaborating, Producing, and Data and Computational Thinking) for all three units (page 35) but does not say where in the content they occur.
Links with other qualifications
Foundation The Sciences leads towards GCSE The Sciences (Double Award) and GCSE Integrated Science (Single Award), which build on the same scientific enquiry skills of recording, graphing and evaluating primary and secondary data, then add data logging, gradients and fuller evaluation of accuracy. The waste, pollution and biodiversity enquiries overlap with Geography fieldwork, the BMI, diet and exercise work links with Physical Education and Health, and the Appendix C data skills support Foundation Mathematics and Numeracy.
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).