Over the past few days, inspired by a single tweet about conjunctions (!), I have published three articles on key changes that secondary colleagues might not be aware of in relation to the new primary curriculum. These three articles can be found here:
- 10 things you might not have realised about the new Primary English curriculum
- 10 things you might not have realised about the new Primary Maths curriculum
- 5 things you might not have realised about the new Primary Science curriculum
I realise that teachers of other foundation subjects get scant enough information about what is taught in primary schools, so I would love to be able to offer the same level of depth article for everything from Art to PE. Sadly, the reality is that the content of the curriculum is now massively weighted in favour of just English and Maths, and so the best I can offer for the other foundation subjects is a 10-word (slightly tongue-in-cheek) summary of each to assist our secondary o̶v̶e̶r̶l̶o̶r̶d̶s̶ colleagues.
Art & Design
There’s hardly any content in the curriculum, so who knows?!
Computing
Less typing, more programming. Expect Scratch to become near universal.
Design & Technology
Probably as erratic as before, with some cooking thrown in.
Geography
More factual knowledge: countries, biomes (but no Africa or Asia!)
History
They’ll all cover the same periods – in wildly varying depth.
Foreign Languages (note, no “Modern” in KS2)
If you thought they had varying abilities before… prepare yourself!
Music
Staff notation is in, and some history of music apparently.
Physical Education
More of the same, but with a little more competition.
The good news for teachers of the other foundation subjects is that the statutory curriculum at KS1 and KS2 is very briefly set out, so you could read it in a few minutes by visit the Primary Curriculum website here: www.primarycurriculum.me.uk
Tagged: foundation subjects
Ramblings of a Teacher 
History: Children are expected to be able to understand the chronology right from the very start of mankind’s existence
Music: All children must read music and play a tuned instrument (including in an ensemble)
Well Africa and Asia are covered in KS3 – there is an element of not wanting to repeat the same things – hence cutting science units down (which I think is a really good idea). Also if one picks carefully an element of it can be introduced during history.
I actually like the freedom of the national curriculum BUT I think you have to be willing to gain a lot more subject knowledge than before. The whole sketch book and practice in Art has been amazing – actually teaching Art skills in more detail rather than assuming they have them.
However, those who want more guidance are going to rely on schemes again….
Reblogged this on WonderwhizArts and commented:
#reblog
I agree with all the points already made. On lighter note though, is the use of strikethrough on the word ‘overlord’ instead of simply deleting it deliberate? I just wondered.
We are experts in our field of primary education and that should not be knowledge based. Over reliance on the old QCA units de-skilled many teachers and we should not be looking knowledge based units of work in Primary teaching. Why are teachers bleating about the lack of content in the NC when they should be celebrating the freedom it could create to teach well?