All about the National Curriculum

By Sean Callery

The National Curriculum lays down what should be taught in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales. It sets out all the content that children should be learning and the levels they should be achieving at various stages. Here's the definitive guide.

The National Curriculum for primary schools includes the foundation stage (rising fives), Key Stage 1 (KS1) for Years 1-2 (ages 5-7), formerly called the 'infants', and Key Stage 2 (KS2) for Years 3-6 (ages 7-11), previously called the 'juniors'.

Content
At the foundation stage, there are 'Early Learning Goals' covering skills in English, maths, physical, social, emotional and creative development. KS1 and KS2 cover three 'core subjects': English, maths and science and the 'foundation subjects': Levels
In all subjects, there are levels which show what your child is capable of doing. Most children should get to at least level 2 by the end of KS1, and rise to level 4 by the end of KS2. Brighter ones should be able to achieve the next level up each time (or even higher), and of course some won't make it to the target levels. Literacy and Numeracy Hours
The Literacy Hour was introduced in 1998 and starts in reception class through to Y6. It starts with half an hour when the class works together, looking at a text and talking about how it is written, while looking at grammar (sentence level work) and spelling (word level work). The text is often an extract from a longer book, old or new.

After that, for 20 minutes the teacher works on reading or writing skills with a small group, while the rest of the class has tasks linked to the main lesson. The final 10 minutes is the 'plenary', when the main ideas of that days' session are discussed.

The Numeracy Hour came in in 1999, and is not as strictly set as the Literacy Hour. The teacher will do about 10 minutes of mental 'warm up' activities, helping the class improve doing sums in their heads. Then the class works (sometimes in ability groups) on that day's maths skill, often in the form of everyday problems to solve.

Sean Callery is a teacher and writer. He has taught all year groups in KS2 and has watched anxiously as two classfuls completed their SATs. He has written many information books, and now writes on educational matters.

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