Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum:

The central questions for the review have been: what should the curriculum contain and how should the content and the teaching of it change to foster children’s different and developing abilities during primary years? In looking to build a curriculum that answers these questions and is fit for primary children’s education now and in the future, excellent teaching of communication skills, leading to the achievement of high standards of literacy and numeracy, must remain a priority. So must the achievement of high standards of behaviour and other vital aspects of ‘personal development’. In this day and age, the primary curriculum also needs to give serious attention to building children’s capability with information technology. Our best primary schools already demonstrate that, far from narrowing learning, these priorities – literacy, numeracy, ICT skills and personal development – are crucial for enabling children to access a broad and balanced curriculum. Excellence in the basics supports the achievement of breadth and balance in primary education. Our primary schools also show that high standards are best secured when essential knowledge and skills are learned both through direct, high-quality subject teaching and also through this content being applied and used in cross-curricular studies. Primary schools have long organised and taught much of the curriculum as a blend of discrete subjects and cross-curricular studies in this way. It is the best of this work that Dear Secretary of State This is the final report of the independent review of the primary curriculum which you invited me to undertake in January 2008. It follows the interim report that was published in December of that year. The interim report drew a wide range of responses which, together with further information gathered from visits to schools, consultation conferences, evidence of international best practice and meetings with expert groups, have been used extensively in forming the final recommendations of the review