Adnodd funding letter: 2025 to 2026

Emyr George
Chief Executive
Adnodd Cyfyngedig

Dear Emyr,

Welsh Government’s financial support for Adnodd activities in Wales: 2025 to 2026

Following Senedd Cymru’s approval of the Final Budget for 2025 to 2026, I am pleased to provide the detail of your funding arrangements.

The 2025 to 2026 funding settlement for Adnodd will be £4,502,500. The funding award is based on a cash Grant-in-Aid settlement that may be claimed from the Welsh Government in 2025 to 2026 financial year. 

In 2024 to 2025, strategic and operations groups were established within the Education, Culture and Welsh Language Group to work with and support Adnodd to achieve its key objective of securing bilingual education resources to support the Curriculum for Wales and its qualifications. This may lead to additional funding being committed during this financial year. 

Terms and Conditions of Funding

It is expected that Adnodd’s use of the allocated funding for 2025 to 2026 is in keeping with the Strategic priorities for 2023 to 2026, as set out in your remit letter. The remit letter and framework document issued to Adnodd include various operational requirements and refers to government guidance and policies with which Adnodd needs to comply, in addition to its own duties and responsibilities as a public institution in Wales. 

Adnodd’s strategic priorities 

1. Develop Adnodd’s Corporate Objectives.
2. Ensure that relevant, timely resources and supporting materials are available in both Welsh and English, at the same time, to support the Curriculum for Wales and its qualifications.
3. Provide a quality assurance framework for the commissioning, development and production of resources, ensuring that resources developed are in line with the ethos and core principles of Curriculum for Wales and are fit for purpose.
4. Advance the effective promotion, awareness and use of resources.
5. Develop and invest in skills and capacity in creating, sharing and publishing educational resources in Wales.

Corporate Objectives

Following a successful initial round of recruitment, I am satisfied that Adnodd has already started to deliver on its core mission of overseeing and coordinating the provision of high-quality, educational resources in both Welsh and English to support the teaching and learning of the Curriculum for Wales. This year, I expect Adnodd to publish its strategy and to reach its full operational capacity and capability. It is expected Adnodd will continue to ensure effective corporate governance and services, as well as maintain a corporate website.

Understanding system needs

As part of Adnodd’s development and publication of its strategy in 2025 to 2026, there is a need for a more holistic and strategic view of resources and supporting materials across Wales going forward. Continuing to identify what relevant resources are already available, how they are accessed, what can be adapted or updated and what needs to be commissioned to address priority areas will be key. As a user-centred and evidence-led organisation it will be essential for Adnodd to continue building its evidence base of user needs, existing resources and new approaches through a partnership approach with other education stakeholders. 

Areas of Priority

Recognising potential for differing needs depending on the nature and language medium of schools, practitioners and learners across Wales, I expect a particular focus on literacy, numeracy, religion values and ethics, and health and well-being in 2025 to 2026. This could be broadened to cover other areas of the Curriculum for Wales in 2026 to 2027 and beyond. 

Continuation of 2024 to 2025 commissions and funded commissions into 2025 to 2026

Due to the nature of commissioning resources, we recognise projects are not always completed within a single financial year and may span two or more years. As your transitional phase continues into 2025 to 2026, grants and contracts previously managed by the Welsh Government are transferring to Adnodd for continuation or completion. This will provide continuity of provision while Adnodd considers how the aims of the programmes could be achieved in future. 

For the 2025 to 2026 financial year, Adnodd should:

• complete the Rhyngom project for books based on diversity to help develop empathy in learners, working with the Books Council for Wales
• continue to fund the Rhyngweithiol interactive map to support learning of the histories of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority communities, working with Atebol.
• continue to grant-fund BookTrust Cymru to deliver reading resources for early years, primary and looked after children, while reviewing how the aims of this grant could be achieved from 2026 to 2027 onwards.
• work with the Books Council for Wales to continue delivering new Welsh and English language quick reads titles
• develop a Welsh language guided reading scheme to support ALN learners aged 7 to 12, working with Books Council Wales to ensure delivery in 2026 to 2027.
• continue to support the adaptation of Curriculum for Wales resources to be accessible for learners who are blind or partially sighted, including older teenaged learners.
• provide support for the TANIO project, working with Ysgol Eirias to maintain the bilingual secondary science platform for the year ahead, while reviewing future provision of science resources ongoing development of Welsh History timeline resources, leading to delivery from early 2026 in alignment with the Anti-Racist Wales Action plan commitment to provide dedicated well-being resources centred on the needs of those from ethnic minority backgrounds, start the development of resources which support schools in their Whole School Approach to Emotional and Mental Wellbeing and curriculum arrangements
• support the annual development of bilingual resources in the Welsh context aligned to anti-bullying week themes, working with the Anti-Bullying Alliance
• work with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol on the continuing development of post-16 vocational Welsh language provision
• complete work to secure supporting resources for the first new GCSE (Wave 1) subjects

Other Identified priority areas for consideration within current funding offer

The following areas of interest have been identified for further consideration and potential advancement in 2025 to 2026:

• Provision of numeracy tools in Welsh.
• Embedding numeracy in other curriculum areas.
• Materials that help practitioners (and learners) understand the fundamental building blocks of literacy.
• Materials to support embedding literacy across Areas of learning and experience as a cross curricular skill.
• Resources for Welsh language late immersion (for secondary school aged learners in particular).
• Support the refreshing of resources relating to unions and the world of work, working with the TUC.

In-year Proposals

In addition, and for consideration in-year, during the summer term I would welcome Adnodd’s considered review and costed proposals for further GCSE support for 2026 (Wave 2) subjects as well as supplementary resources for Wave 1 and Wave 2 GCSEs, in conjunction with Qualifications Wales and WJEC. This should include, but not be limited to, the new History and Science GCSEs. I would also welcome costed proposals for additional delivery of Welsh language ALN resources that will fall in 2026 to 2027, including how work to digitise the Welsh Braille code could be progressed in conjunction with other technology projects.

Equity for the Welsh language 

Adnodd will wish to maintain some capacity to respond to the ongoing need for Welsh medium resources in areas of notable deficit, and where the availability of English language material is proving impactful. This includes the areas of priority set out above. 

Innovation

In line with Adnodd’s strategic priorities, an essential part of Adnodd's operating model will be to provide practitioners and suppliers with seed money to generate and develop ideas for resources. Funding should be set aside to establish a small Innovation fund to develop skills and capacity in creating, sharing and publishing educational resources in Wales.

Quality Assurance

Work undertaken in 2024 to 2025 to develop a Quality Assurance Framework should continueto ensure that resources developed are in line with the ethos and core principles of Curriculum for Wales and are fit for purpose. Establishing a pool of reviewers, experts and practitioners which could also help review and evaluate existing resources to help inform and focus Adnodd’s commissioning plans should form part of that ongoing work.

Adnodd Partnership Team

From 2025 to 2026, your Welsh Government partnership team will be headed up by Deputy Director for Curriculum and Assessment and your normal point of contact within the team will be the Head of Policy Delivery. Meetings with your partnership team will take place to agree appropriate oversight and monitoring arrangements. The Welsh Government Partnership Team will continue to meet regularly with Adnodd as set out in the Adnodd Framework Agreement. Funding should be claimed using the relevant documentation provided by the Partnership Team. 

I look forward to following your progress over the course of the year.

Yours sincerely,

Lynne Neagle AS/MS
Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Addysg
Cabinet Secretary for Education