An introduction to the new
National Curriculum
Welcome!
Aims
To inform you about changes that have
been made to the National Curriculum,
 To share information about how we are
implementing the Curriculum,
 To offer an insight about how children will
be assessed and how this information will
be shared.
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What is the National Curriculum?
The National Curriculum defines the programmes
of study for key subjects in maintained/ state
primary and secondary schools in England.
Fundamentally, it sets out what your child is
supposed to learn and when.
A new version was introduced this September.
Academies, free schools and independent schools do
not have to follow the curriculum.
Changes
Why the change?
The main aim is to raise standards. Although the
new curriculum is intended to be more
challenging, the content is actually slimmer than
the current curriculum, focusing on essential
core subject knowledge and skills such as times
tables and computer programming.
The New National Curriculum
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The content of the curriculum has changed
for all subjects, some more than others.
This directly effects children in year 1 and
upwards.
There is an emphasis on children ‘going
further at an earlier age.’
Each year group has core knowledge that
the children should learn during that year.
Children currently in years 2 and 6 will still
sit SATs which give levels e.g. 2b. However,
after this year levels will no longer be used.
The New English Curriculum
Changes include:
 Stronger emphasis on vocabulary
development, grammar, punctuation
and spelling (for example, the use of
commas and apostrophes will be taught in
ks1)
 Handwriting (not assessed under the
previous national curriculum) is expected to
be fluent, legible and speedy
 Spoken English has a greater emphasis,
with children to be taught debating and
presenting skills.
The New Maths Curriculum
Changes include:
 Five-year-olds will be expected to learn to
count up to 100 (compared to 20 under the
previous curriculum) and learn number
bonds to 20 (previously up to 10)
 More emphasis on fractions and time (to the
nearest 5 minutes as opposed to quarter
hourly intervals)
 Moving on to vertical calculations in ks1 for
addition and subtraction
 Less focus on data handling.
The New Computing Curriculum
Computing replaces Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), with a
greater focus on programming
rather than on operating programs
 From age five, children will learn to write
and test simple programs, and to organise,
store and retrieve data.
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The New Science Curriculum
The physics content of science has been largely
removed from ks1.
There is a greater focus on scientific knowledge and
language.
The areas to be covered in ks1 are:
Plants (y1 and y2)
Living things and their habitats (y2)
Animals, including humans (y1 and y2)
Seasonal changes (y1)
Uses of everyday materials (y1 and y2).
How we are implementing the
curriculum
Topics
As a staff team, we have decided to introduce whole
school topics e.g. Our World, which will include
foundation stage.
The ks1 curriculum content, in areas such as history,
geography and art, has been split in half to create a 2
year cycle of learning to be covered in years 1 and 2.
Foundation stage children will not access this bank of
learning. Instead they will continue with their own
curriculum which will be modified to fit with the
delivery of school topics.
To avoid FS children having repetition, the topic
headings will rotate over 4 years even though the
content will not.
Advantages of a whole school topic
 The
ability to have a shared topic which all
children and staff can discuss and share
experiences/resources in.
 Being able to have whole school assemblies and
events which are topic related and which further
unite the school.
 Having the time to research an area in greater
depth and allowing the children to steer their
learning by asking more questions.
 Families, with more than one child at the school,
being able to concentrate on one topic rather
than 2 or 3.
Points to note
Even though much of the curriculum content will be
the same in years 1 and 2, the expectation of the work
produced by children in year 2 will be greater.
To accommodate topic teaching, and to improve
writing, we have changed the books used in ks1. We
now have :
maths books,
handwriting books,
independent writing books,
discovery books.
The discovery books will contain any writing that the
children do in areas such as literacy, science, RE and
history.
How we will assess and share
information
Key information
When the New Curriculum was introduced the
government decided against providing level
descriptors e.g. level 2b.
Individual schools are now allowed to choose
how they assess and show progress.
Schools are awaiting details as to what the end
of key stage tests will look like for 2016. Current
y1 children will be tested on these.
Sheffield have created an assessment tool which
we, and many other schools, have adopted.
How we assess…this year
The current year 2 are required to sit the Standard
Assessment Tests (SATs) at the end of the year.
They will be the final year group to sit these tests
and as such will still receive a level e.g. 2b in reading,
writing, maths, science and speaking and listening.
As such, these children will still sit practise papers
before their final tests in the summer term. The
results of these tests will inform planning and help
teachers to monitor progress.
However…
How we assess…this year
Our current y2 children will be assessed against the
New Curriculum in y3 which has no levels and are
also expected to be taught the key knowledge for
y2.
All children in years 1 and 2 will, therefore, be
assessed using the Sheffield Tracking and
Assessment Tools (STAT).
Foundation stage children will continue to be
assessed against the statements in the foundation
stage profile.
On a day-to-day basis, the school will continue to
use the mark scheme which was introduced last
year.
Sheffield Tracking and Assessment
Tools (STAT)
NGIS, NGJS and many other schools in
Sheffield have agreed to adopt the STAT.
This allows us to share a common assessment
language and ensures that the means of
assessment is rigorous.
The STAT involves checking that each child has
met key points in their learning according to
National Curriculum requirements.
Grids have been provided for Spelling,
Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG), writing,
reading and maths.
Year 1 SPAG example
Year 2 maths example
Sharing information
All children in years 1 and 2 will have STAT grids for
the 4 key areas (SPAG, reading, writing and maths).
These will be shared with parents/carers at parents
evenings, IEP reviews etc. as a means of discussing
progress and areas to develop.
FS2 children will continue with their profile which
will also be shared at the aforementioned meetings.
Reading records, books etc. will continue to be
marked as usual and you will be able to gain an
insight as to how your child is doing.
Teachers will continue to keep you informed via
letters home and the school website.
Any questions?