Schools need to move with the times and teach much secondary school Information Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge earlier at primary, said Sir Jim Rose in a major report published yesterday.

The report also says that summer-born children should start primary school the September after their fourth birthday and some children should start part-time.

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls today welcomed these and other findings in the interim report of Sir Jim’s root and branch independent review of the primary curriculum. Sir Jim unveiled plans for a new curriculum that would mean a smoother transition between early years and primary and offer more opportunities for play and child-based activities, easing parents’ concerns about an abrupt change from play in early years to formal teaching in primaries.

Mr Balls asked Sir Jim to lead the review so the Government could build on the last decade’s successes and create fresh momentum in raising standards. Sir Jim says schools should continue to make literacy and numeracy priorities but also develop speaking and listening skills and put greater focus on personal development.

Provisional recommendations are made to smooth the transition between primary and secondary schools, reduce prescription and give teachers more flexibility within a richer curriculum.

Provisional recommendations and findings include:

• The curriculum should include the best of subject-teaching and cross-curricular studies in six new areas of learning. This would dovetail with the new Early Years Foundation Stage framework and enable strong links to be forged with the new secondary curriculum;
• Children should get more opportunities to use and apply knowledge and skills across the curriculum, e.g. in mathematics, science and technology;
• Pupils’ progress from early years to primary to secondary should be maintained, including a better record of a child’s achievement when they begin secondary school;
• Children should acquire a range of personal, social and emotional qualities essential to their health, well-being and life as a responsible citizen in the 21st century – getting the right skills, knowledge, understanding and attitudes;
• The value of play to children’s learning and development should be made explicit in any revisions to the primary curriculum; and
• Building on Lord Dearing’s report recommending foreign languages be taught in primaries, schools should focus on teaching only one or two foreign languages at primary school and, where possible, the same language should be taught at secondary school. However there should still be opportunities for pupils to study the likes of Mandarin and Urdu.

Sir Jim Rose said:

“The demands of society on primary schools have risen and continue to rise but if we are to establish a ‘world class’ high quality curriculum, we must face the reality of prescribing less so that teachers can better teach and children can better learn.What some regard as the piggy-in-the-middle position of the primary years from age 5 to 11 presents a considerable challenge for curriculum design and choice of content. While primary education must build upon the EYFS and prepare children for education post-11, it is far more than either a post-script to the early years, or a prelude to secondary education.

Good primary teaching deepens and widens children’s understanding by firing their imagination and interest in learning. One highly promising route to meeting the demand for in-depth teaching and learning is undoubtedly emerging through ICT.

The primary curriculum needs to be forward-looking. Advances in technology and the internet revolution are driving a pace of change which we could not have imagined when the National Curriculum was introduced twenty years ago.

By definition, this interim report is work in progress. It identifies and seeks to clarify issues, examine options and set out directions for fulfilling the remit of the Review. The report takes into account what we know about how learning and standards are advanced in our leading edge schools through high quality teaching.”

The full interim report can be read at:http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetails&PageMode=publications&ProductId=BLNK-01010-2008&

You can find out more about the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum and comment on the interim report through its website http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/primarycurriculumreview/