Transcript The National Curriculum

The National
Curriculum
A guide for parents
The National Curriculum is a
framework used by all maintained
schools to ensure that teaching and
learning is balanced and consistent.
It sets out:
the knowledge, skills and understanding required
in each subject
standards or attainment targets in each subject teachers can use these to measure your child's
progress and plan the next steps in their learning
how your child's progress is assessed and
reported
the subjects taught
National Curriculum subjects
English
Maths
Science
Design and technology
Information and Communication Technology
(ICT)
History
Geography
Art and design
Music
Physical education
Schools also have to teach religious
education, though parents have the
right to withdraw children for all or part
of the religious education curriculum. In
addition, schools are advised to teach
personal, social and health education
(PSHE) and citizenship, together with
at least one modern foreign language.
National Curriculum levels
At Key Stages 1, 2, and 3, the
National Curriculum is accompanied
by a series of eight levels. These are
used to measure your child's
progress compared to pupils of the
same age across the country.
All schools assess pupils’ progress
during the school year, though
some make more frequent use of
the National Curriculum levels than
others. You'll receive information
about the level your child has
reached at parent-teacher evenings
and in their school reports.
Your child will be formally assessed
at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2.
At the end of Key Stage 1, the teacher’s
assessment of your child’s progress will take
account of their performance in several tasks and
tests in English and maths.
At the end of Key Stage 2, your child will take
national tests in English, maths and science. You
will be sent their test results and their teacher’s
assessment of their progress.
By the end of Key Stage 1, most children will
have reached level 2, and by the end of Key
Stage 2 most will be at level 4.
The Primary Framework for literacy
and mathematics
The Primary National Strategy is a set of
tools for primary schools, aimed at helping
them to raise standards – and to deliver
the National Curriculum more effectively.
The Primary Framework for literacy and
mathematics is a central part of the
strategy. While the focus is on literacy and
numeracy, schools can use the approaches
it recommends to support teaching,
learning and assessment across the whole
curriculum.
As well as reading and writing, literacy
involves the development speaking and
listening skills. The framework encourages
teachers to use a variety of approaches to
teaching literacy. It recommends regular,
dedicated literacy lessons, but recognises
that pupils can also develop literacy skills
while they learn about other subjects in the
curriculum.
The framework encourages
teachers to put a greater emphasis
on using ‘phonics’ (teaching your
child to recognise the sounds of
parts of words). It also stresses the
part you play as a parent in helping
your child to develop their literacy
skills.
Developing maths skills
The framework recommends
a daily maths lesson,
providing guidance for
schools on how to develop
pupils’ mathematical thinking
and number skills.
As with literacy, schools are encouraged to
use a variety of approaches. Published in
October 2006, the latest version of the
framework puts more emphasis on mental
maths and recommends that children should
start learning their times tables earlier than
they had been doing.
The strategy also sets out a suite of
catch-up programmes designed to
help pupils in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6
who have fallen behind. Parents
are encouraged to get involved in
developing their child’s numeracy
skills as much as possible
Teacher assessments
Your child’s teacher will carry out
regular checks on their progress in
each subject as a normal part of
their teaching. At the end of Key
Stages 1, 2 and 3 they will carry out
a formal “teacher assessment”,
indicating which National Curriculum
level best describes your child’s
performance in each area of
learning.
'End of key stage' tests
At the end of Key Stage 1,
the teacher’s assessment of
your child’s progress will take
account of their performance
in English and maths,
measured by tasks and tests
that are administered
informally.
At the end of Key Stage 2, your
child will take national tests in
English, maths and science. Your
child will not take a national test at
the end of Key Stage 3. At the end
of Key Stage 4 they will probably sit
exams for GCSEs and/or equivalent
qualifications.
The tests won’t give you a complete
picture of how your child is doing at
school – they provide a “snapshot”,
showing how they performed in
selected parts of a subject on a
particular day. But schools can use the
test results as an independent measure
of how they, and their pupils, are doing
compared to standards across the
country.
The Shape of Things to Come
A major review of the primary curriculum (The
Rose Review) recommends that the primary
curriculum is organised into the following six
areas of learning:
• Understanding English,
communication and languages
• Mathematical understanding
• Scientific and technological
understanding
• Historical, geographical and social
understanding
• Understanding physical development,
health and wellbeing
• Understanding the arts.
Literacy, numeracy and ICT should
form the new core of the primary
curriculum.
Schools should continue to prioritise
literacy, numeracy and ICT as the
foundational knowledge, skills
and understanding of the primary
curriculum, the content of which
should be clearly defined, taught
discretely, and used and applied
extensively in each area of learning.
Primary schools should make sure that
children’s spoken communication is
developed intensively within all subjects
and for learning across the curriculum.
In so doing, schools should capitalise
on the powerful contributions of the
performing and visual arts, especially
role play and drama.
Primary schools should continue to
build on the commendable progress
many have made in teaching
decoding and encoding skills for
reading and spelling through high
quality,
systematic phonic work
as advocated by the 2006 reading
review4 as the prime approach for
teaching beginner readers.
Every Child Matters
be healthy;
stay safe;
enjoy and achieve;
make a positive contribution;
and
achieve economic wellbeing.
Assessing Pupil Progress
APP is a process of structured periodic assessment
for mathematics, reading and writing. It
supports teachers by promoting a broad
curriculum and by developing teachers’ skills in
assessing standards of attainment and the
progress children have made. It involves
'stepping back' periodically to review pupils'
ongoing work and relate their progress to
National Curriculum levels, and provides
information to help teachers plan for the next
steps in children's learning