Key Reforms in England’s National Curriculum:
The government has confirmed the most significant overhaul of the National Curriculum in over a decade, largely adopting recommendations from Professor Becky Francis’s Curriculum and Assessment Review. The reforms are aimed at equipping pupils with “skills for life and work” for the 21st century.
Implementation Timeline
- Final Revised Curriculum Publication: Spring 2027.
- Full Implementation (First Teaching): September 2028.
New Compulsory Subject Content
The changes focus on introducing essential life and digital skills: - Financial Literacy: Teaching on budgeting and concepts like mortgages, to be integrated into Maths or compulsory Primary Citizenship lessons.
- Media and AI Literacy: Greater focus on identifying misinformation, disinformation, and AI-generated content.
- Compulsory Primary Citizenship: Citizenship will become mandatory in primary schools, covering financial literacy, media literacy, law, and democracy.
- Climate Change and Diversity: The curriculum will include more content on climate change and feature better representation of diversity.
Major GCSE and Accountability Changes
Substantial shifts are planned for secondary school examinations and performance measures: - Scrapping the EBacc: The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) accountability measure will be scrapped, with the aim of encouraging a greater breadth of GCSE study, particularly in the arts and creative subjects.
- Guaranteeing Triple Science: Schools will be required to work towards offering the three separate science GCSEs (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) as standard.
- Reducing Exam Time: The Department for Education (DfE) plans to cut overall GCSE exam time by up to three hours for each student on average.
- Progress 8 (P8): The measure will be reformed, though specific details on its final structure are pending.
- New Statutory Year 8 Reading Test: A new mandatory reading test for Year 8 pupils will be introduced, intended to identify and address reading difficulties.
Wider School Experience - Oracy: Oracy (speaking, listening, and communication) is to be given the same status as reading and writing in the curriculum, supported by a new oracy framework.
- Enrichment Benchmarks: Schools must offer and advertise to parents a new set of core enrichment activities, covering:
- Civic engagement, Arts and culture, Nature and adventure, Sport and Life skills.
Progress 8 (P8) Accountability Reforms
The government has confirmed it will reform the Progress 8 (P8) school performance measure, although the specific details of the final structure are still pending.
• DfE Stance vs. Review Recommendation: This is a point of divergence from the Curriculum and Assessment Review, which recommended retaining Progress 8 largely unchanged (other than renaming the EBacc section). The DfE’s decision to reform it is explicitly linked to the scrapping of the EBacc measure.
• The Aim of Reform: The goal of the P8 reform is to ensure the accountability measure now encourages students to study a greater breadth of GCSE subjects, specifically aiming to give equal status to the arts alongside humanities and languages.
• Progress 8 currently divides a student’s best 8 grades into three ‘buckets’: English & Maths (double-weighted), three EBacc subjects, and three ‘Open Group’ subjects.
• What is Expected: Given the removal of the EBacc as a measure, the P8 reform is highly likely to involve changes to the ‘EBacc bucket’ to reflect the new priority of a broader curriculum. However, the exact mechanism—such as how many non-EBacc subjects will be allowed to count or whether the points structure will change—has not yet been finalised by the DfE.
The government is aiming to publish the final revised National Curriculum, including the full details of these assessment changes, by Spring 2027
GCSE Triple Science Entitlement
The government has confirmed it will introduce a statutory entitlement for all GCSE pupils to be able to study Triple Science (separate GCSEs in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics).
Goal: The primary aim is to address the socioeconomic gap in Triple Science uptake, ensuring that access to this STEM pathway is not curtailed by a student’s background or the school they attend. Currently, a significantly lower proportion of disadvantaged pupils take Triple Science.
Mechanism (Access, Not Compulsion): The reform is about access, not mandatory uptake. The change requires all secondary schools to offer the three separate science GCSEs as standard, meaning every child will have the option to choose them. This is a significant change, as many schools currently only offer ‘Combined Science’ (a double GCSE).
Implementation: The Department for Education (DfE) has stated that schools will be expected to work towards offering Triple Science as standard, ahead of the full statutory entitlement. This staggered approach acknowledges the practical challenge of recruiting or retraining specialist science teachers—a key concern raised by school leaders.
So what now?
Elevate Intentionality: Strategic Focus on the New Curriculum
The new curriculum, slated for first teaching in September 2028, requires immediate, high-level planning. Intentionality means moving beyond mere compliance to strategic integration.
• Audit for New Literacies: Do not wait until 2028. Elevate intentionality by immediately mapping where financial literacy and digital/AI misinformation can be woven into existing subjects (Maths, Computing, Citizenship, PSHE). Design a whole-school strategy now, rather than rushing a few isolated lessons later.
• Design for Breadth (Post-EBacc): The scrapping of the EBacc and the reform of Progress 8 creates an opportunity. Intentionally design your Key Stage 4 (GCSE) curriculum to reflect true value, not just accountability measures. Ensure your staffing and options structure genuinely promote uptake in Arts, Music, and Languages based on student interest and economic opportunity, not just league table mechanics.
• Plan the Three Sciences Pathway: The commitment to ensuring all students can take three science GCSEs as standard is a significant logistical change. Be intentional about resource allocation, laboratory time, and science staffing needs, particularly for students who might have previously been guided towards Combined Science.
Combat Complacency: Accountability and Attainment Gaps
Complacency—particularly around established attainment patterns—is a risk during any transition. Leaders must actively target areas of underperformance.
• Tackle Year 8 Head-On: The introduction of the statutory Year 8 reading test is a direct government action to combat complacency regarding secondary-level literacy. School leaders must treat the results of this test as a major diagnostic tool, not just an assessment.
• Advice: Develop rapid intervention programs for pupils who do not meet the expected standard, using the data to address the “problem pupils experience during the first years of secondary school”—a known factor in widening attainment gaps.
• Scrutinise Accountability Metrics: Do not assume the goalposts are static. The DfE has promised to “reform” Progress 8 and scrap the EBacc.
• Advice: Combat complacency by forming a small working group to track DfE announcements on the new P8 methodology. Ensure subject leaders understand that the value of their subject (e.g., Arts) is now guaranteed to be viewed more equitably in the new system.
Champion Growth: People, Skills, and Curriculum
Growth is not just about student attainment; it’s about the professional development required to teach a “cutting-edge” curriculum.
• Invest in Digital CPD: To teach students how to spot AI-generated content and misinformation, staff themselves must be experts. Champion growth by commissioning immediate, practical CPD for all teachers on digital literacy and the responsible use of AI in learning and assessment.
• Prioritise Oracy and Communication: The push for oracy to have the same status as reading and writing is a profound call for growth in classroom practice.
• Advice: Embed explicit instruction in speaking, listening, and debate across all subjects. This is not just an English department initiative; it’s a whole-school effort to build the communication skills valued by employers and university pathways.
• Model Reflective Practice: Use the new curriculum as a moment for all departments to ask: “How can we better represent diversity and global contributions in our subject content, while maintaining our core foundational knowledge?”
Inspire Deeper Connections: Community and Opportunity
The reforms emphasize moving beyond the exam hall to prepare children for society and the world of work. Inspiring deeper connections is essential to this mission.
• Integrate Enrichment and Community: The new enrichment benchmarks on civic engagement, life skills, and arts are now part of the accountability framework.
• Advice: Inspire deeper connections by formally partnering with local businesses, civic groups, and arts organisations to deliver these benchmarks. Frame lessons on budgeting and mortgages not as abstract concepts, but as direct connections to financial wellbeing in their community.
• Connect Post-16 Pathways: Ensure the proposed exploration of a post-16 qualification in data science and AI is discussed early with your feeder colleges and sixth-form providers.
• Advice: This fosters a deeper connection between your school’s curriculum and the high-value technical and academic pathways your students will progress to.
By using this framework, school leaders can view the curriculum review not as a burden of change, but as a clear mandate to create a relevant, robust, and modern education system for their students.
It just got a little more interesting, didn’t it?
Good luck and I hope this is of some use to you and what you do next.
The Authentic Leader 