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Information About

National Curriculum




The Education Reform Act 1988 requires that all state students be taught a Basic Curriculum of Religious Education and the National Curriculum.

The purpose of the National Curriculum was to ensure that certain basic material was covered by all pupils. In subsequent years the curriculum grew to fill the entire teaching time of most state schools.


PRINCIPAL AIMS


There are two principal aims to the National Curriculum:

  • '' Aim 1: The school curriculum should aim to provide opportunities for all pupils to learn and to achieve.''


  • '' Aim 2: The school curriculum should aim to promote pupils' Spiritual , Moral , Social and Cultural development and prepare all pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life.''



COMPULSORY SUBJECTS



Key Stages 1 and 2


At Key Stage 1 (ages 5-7) and Key Stage 2 (Ages 7-11) all pupils in State Education are required to study:


In Wales, pupils are additionally required to study:

The government proposes that by 2010, all pupils in Key Stage 2 will have 'an entitlement' to learn a modern foreign language {Link without Title} .

Also, many schools provide a Sex Education programme. This must be an agreed policy of the individual school, and parents may withdraw their children from any such lessons.

Although schools are required to offer some form of Religious Education , which varies depending on the status of the school, it does not form a part of the National Curriculum.


Key Stage 3


At Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14) all students in State Education are required to study:


A programme of Sex Education should also be provided in accordance with local policy.
In Wales, pupils are additionally required to study:


Key Stage 4


At Key Stage 4 (ages 14-16) all students in State Education are required to study:


and undertake a programme of Work-related Learning .
Schools must provide religious education for all pupils, although parents can choose to withdraw their children.
In Wales, pupils are additionally required to study:


NATIONAL CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT


See Also: National Curriculum assessment


Assessments are carried out at three ages: seven (school year 2, at the end of Key Stage 1 ), eleven (Year 6, the end of Key Stage 2 ) and fourteen (Year 9, the end of Key Stage 3 ). Some aspects of subjects are Teacher -assessed, whilst others involve sitting an Examination paper. The results are considered when school and LEA performance League Table s are being compiled, but they do not lead to any formal qualification for the candidates taking them. Many schools find them a valuable introduction to public examinations, before the relative importance of GCSE s.

The exam-based assessments, ''National Curriculum Tests'', are referred to as ''SATs'' ( ''Standard Attainment Tests'' ). This was their title when they were being developed in the 1990s and there is no connection with the American university-entrance examination of the same name.


SEE ALSO




EXTERNAL LINKS




Concerning Assessment