Primary Schools

For five to 11-year-olds in England, the biggest change will be the revamped 'frameworks' for the teaching of English and maths.

The 'numeracy hour' and the 'literacy hour' have now entered the education lexicon, although they have only been around for seven years.

While they have brought improvements in the national test results at ages seven and 11 in English and maths, the government is frustrated that progress appears to have stalled well short of its targets.

Meanwhile employers continue to complain that school-leavers lack basic skills such as the ability to spell and punctuate or do mental arithmetic.

So, to deal with these concerns, the numeracy and literacy curriculum is being narrowed further to focus more specifically on core areas.

In English there will be a new emphasis on the use of phonics in learning to read. Specifically this will mean greater use of Synthetic phonics, which involves children learning the sounds of letters and letter groupings before they attempt whole words.

So, for example, in the Foundation Stage (reception year), children will be taught to 'link sounds to letters, naming and sounding the letters of the alphabet'.

In Year 1 they will 'use phonics to read unknown or difficult words' and by Year 3 they should be reading independently using phonics.

In maths, mental arithmetic will be stressed even more strongly than before. So, for example, children are expected to learn the two, five and 10 times tables in Year 1.