The New Curriculum – A Briefing for Parents

1. The New Curriculum – A Briefing for Parents Friday 11th October, 2013

2. What I want to achieve… • How the curriculum has been received • Timeline for implementation • An overview of the curriculum itself • Implications for the school • Assessment

3. New curriculum headlines: • Curriculum changes 'rushed' and could create ‘chaos‘ BBC website, 12 April 2013 • 'Gradgrind' Michael Gove's new curriculum is 'so boring that truancy will rise,' teachers warn, Independent.co.uk, Sunday 31 March 2013 • Is the proposed new national curriculum too much too soon? The Guardian, Monday 1 April 2013 • New curriculum teaches 'more cookery and horticulture than technology’, The Guardian, Sunday 31 March 2013 • Education in brief: Pupils will study new curriculum but be examined on the old one, The Guardian, Monday 17 June 2013 • Gove primary curriculum 'abolishes childhood' , 11 July 2013

4. Timeline: • 20th January 2011 review of NC announced • Draft curriculum published February 2013 • Consultation period ending 16th April 2013 • Announcement made: years 3 and 4 start teaching core subjects of new curriculum autumn 2013 • Revised draft curriculum published July 2013 • Consultation period announced ending August 8th • Final version published Thursday 12th September • Statutory for KS1, Lower and Upper KS2 September 2014

5. Timeline for implementation • Core subjects not for current 5 and 6 • Reflected in end of key stage assessments from July 2016 • Years 3 and 4 have introduced in the core subjects so far

8. New structure: • Key Stage 1 • Lower Key Stage 2 (years 3 and 4) • Upper Key Stage 2 (years 5 and 6) Aims 3.1 The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement. 3.2 The national curriculum is just one element in the education of every child. There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications. The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum.

9. Year 1 programme of study • Reading – word reading • Statutory requirements • Pupils should be taught to: • apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words • respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes, including, where applicable, alternative sounds for graphemes  read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing GPCs that have been taught • read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word • read words containing taught GPCs and –s, –es, –ing, –ed, –er and –est endings • read other words of more than one syllable that contain taught GPCs • read words with contractions [for example, I’m, I’ll, we’ll], and understand that the apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s) • read aloud accurately books that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out words • re-read these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading.

10. Notes and guidance (non-statutory) Pupils should revise and consolidate the GPCs and the common exception words taught in Reception. As soon as they can read words comprising the year 1 GPCs accurately and speedily, they should move on to the year 2 programme of study for word reading. The number, order and choice of exception words taught will vary according to the phonics programme being used. Ensuring that pupils are aware of the GPCs they contain, however unusual these are, supports spelling later. Young readers encounter words that they have not seen before much more frequently than experienced readers do, and they may not know the meaning of some of these. Practice at reading such words by sounding and blending can provide opportunities not only for pupils to develop confidence in their decoding skills, but also for teachers to explain the meaning and thus develop pupils’ vocabulary. Pupils should be taught how to read words with suffixes by being helped to build on the root words that they can read already. Pupils’ reading and re-reading of books that are closely matched to their developing phonic knowledge and knowledge of common exception words supports their fluency, as well as increasing their confidence in their reading skills. Fluent word reading greatly assists comprehension, especially when pupils come to read longer books.

11. Attainment targets By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.

12. Our view… • Phonics has a very high profile: only method of learning to read and only method to be used to help catch up • We like the focus on reading for pleasure • Very detailed programme of study with no attainment targets – reads like a scheme of work • Some concepts are introduced earlier than currently esp. spelling rules • Glossaries contain a column of vocabulary that the children should be able to use • Spelling glossary extremely detailed • Staff training will be necessary Writing • transcription includes spelling and handwriting • Composition • Statutory requirements for ‘spoken language’ • New jargon: common exception words

13. Maths: The national curriculum for mathematics aims to ensure that all pupils: • become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, including through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately. • reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalisations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language • can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions. NB: Calculators should not be used as a substitute for good written and mental arithmetic. They should therefore only be introduced near the end of Key Stage 2 to support pupils’ conceptual understanding and exploration of more complex number problems, if written and mental arithmetic are secure.

15. Maths: Year 1 • Number - place value • Number - addition and subtraction • Number - multiplication and division • Number - fractions • Measurement • Geometry – properties of shapes • Geometry – position and direction

16. Maths: Year 2 • Number – number and place value • Number - addition and subtraction • Number - multiplication and division • Number - fractions • Measurement • Geometry – properties of shapes • Geometry – position and direction • Statistics

17. Maths: KS1 • The principal focus of mathematics teaching in Key Stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. • By the end of Year 2, pupils should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value.

18. Maths: Lower KS2 Both year groups: • Number – numberand place value • Number - addition and subtraction • Number - multiplication and division • Number - Fractions • Measurement • Geometry – properties of shapes • Statistics Year 4 only: • Geometry – position and direction • Number – fractions (including decimals)

20. By the end of Year 4, pupils should have memorised their multiplication tables up to and including the 12 multiplication table and show precision and fluency in their work.

21. Maths: Upper KS2 Both year groups: • Number – numberand place value • Number - addition and subtraction • Number - multiplication and division • Number – fractions (including decimals and percentages) • Measurement • Geometry – properties of shapes • Geometry – position and direction • Statistics Y6 only • Ratio and proportion • Number – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division • Algebra

22. By the end of Year 6, pupils should be fluent in written methods for all four operations, including long multiplication and division, and in working with fractions, decimals and percentages.

23. Maths: Cambridge Primary Trust Feedback • Clarity regarding the format of written calculations and the general raising of expectations at KS2 in preparation for KS3 was welcomed • The focus is too exclusively on content acquisition, rather than on securing pupils’ understanding • The aims for mathematics emphasise the importance of using and applying, but this is not threaded through the content of the PoS as a whole.

24. Science Purpose of study A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.

25. Key Stage 1 The principal focus of science teaching in key stage 1 is : • to enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena • To encourage children to be curious and ask questions about what they notice. • Enable pupils to use different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions: • observing changes over a period of time, • noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, • carrying out simple comparative tests, and finding things out using secondary sources of information. Pupils should: • begin to use simple scientific language • communicate their ideas to a range of audiences in a variety of ways. Most of the learning about science should be done through the use of first-hand practical experiences, but there should also be some use of appropriate secondary sources, such as books, photographs and videos.

26. Science: KS1 Year 1 Year 2 Living things and their habitats Plants Animals including humans Uses of everyday materials • Plants • Animals, including humans • Everyday materials • Seasonal changes • Working scientifically • People: Dunlop, Macintosh and Mcadam

27. The principal focus of science teaching in lower key stage 2 is to enable pupils to broadentheir scientific view of the world around them. They should do this through exploring,talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should ask their own questions about what they observe.

28. Science: lower KS2 Year 3 Year 4 Living things and their habitats Animals, including humans States of matter Sound Electricity People: Carl Linnaeus, Mary Anning • Plants • Animals, including humans • Rocks • Light • Forces and magnets

29. The principal focus of science teaching in upper key stage 2 is to enable pupils to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They should do this through exploring and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions about scientific phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically. At upper key stage 2, they should encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates.

30. Science: upper KS2 Year 5 Year 6 Living things and their habitats Animals, including humans Evolution and inheritance Light Electricity Mary Anning, Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace • Living things and their habitats • Animals, including humans • Properties and changes of materials • Earth and space • Forces • Galileo Galileiand Isaac Newton

31. Science: Cambridge Primary Trust Feedback • The strand that ensures children will ‘work scientifically’ including carrying out independent investigations at KS2 was welcomed. • Expectations at KS1 are too low, and include no requirement to make predictions or plan investigations. • Important knowledge and understanding for KS1, such as electricity and light and dark, have been removed. • The specification of year by year content will create an inflexible approach to planning, teaching and learning.

32. Design and Technology Aims The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all pupils: • develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday • tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world • build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users • critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others • understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

34. History • Area of the most significant change between the draft and final version especially at KS2 • Has received a positive reaction in the press • Historical enquiry skills • Developing historical perspective • Combination of ‘overview’ and ‘depth’ studies • Balanced

35. Pupils should be taught about: • changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age • the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain • Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots • the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor • a local history study • a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066 • the achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer; The Indus Valley; Ancient Egypt; The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China • Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world • a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history - one study chosen from: early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad c. AD 900; Mayan civilization c. AD 900; Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300.

36. Music Aims The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils: • perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians • learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence • understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

37. PSHE: Cambridge Primary Trust Feedback • There are no PoS for PSHE • Schools must ‘tailor’ their programme to reflect the needs of their pupils • Must build on basic school curriculum, drug education, financial education, sex and relationships education and the importance of physical exercise and diet for a healthy lifestyle • Must equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions.

38. What have we done to prepare for this…? • Read the draft version • Briefed SLT • Involved key colleagues in discussions at SLT meetings • INSET • Developed an action plan for the SDIP • Restructured the phases • Contacted Abacus • Conducted phase meetings looking at the new Science curriculum • Had year group meetings sharing updated literacy scheme.

39. www.education.gov.uk/consultations