School curriculum
A curriculum is a set of courses or subjects for study. It describes the knowledge, skills and understanding that your child needs in each subject.

The national curriculum
Early years curriculum
All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers, such as childminders, preschools and nurseries must follow the standards.
Find out what your child will learn and how he or she will be assessed at the Early Years Foundation Stage on the Government's website.
The curriculum in primary schools
- English
- maths
- science
- design and technology
- history
- geography
- art and design
- music
- physical education, including swimming
- information and communication technology (ICT)
- ancient and modern foreign languages (at key stage 2).
Primary schools may also teach:
- modern foreign languages (at key stage 1)
- personal, social, health education and citizenship (PSHE)
- citizenship.
Tests and assessments
You child will be assessed in both key stage 1 and 2, starting with a Year 1 phonics screening test.
The Government's website tells you when your child will be tested and what tasks they will need to do.
The curriculum in secondary schools
Years 7 to 9 (key stage 3)
- English
- maths
- science
- ICT
- design and technology
- art and design
- music
- geography
- modern foreign languages
- citizenship
- history
- physical education.
Years 10 to 11 (key stage 4)
- English
- maths
- science.
- ICT
- physical education
- citizenship.
- arts
- design and technology
- humanities
- modern foreign languages
English Baccalaureate (EBacc)
Sex and relationship education
Some parts of the subject are compulsory as they make up part of the National Curriculum for science, however you can withdraw your child from other parts.
Your child's school has a policy on SRE, which you can ask to see.
Religious education
The religious education (RE) curriculum is set locally by each council in the UK.
In Newham, councillors, teachers, faith leaders and representatives have come together to agree a syllabus for religious education (PDF) and guidelines for collection worship (PDF). This document sets out what pupils aged 3 to 19 will study in their RE lessons in the schools that we maintain.
Newham's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) Annual Report 2017-18