UK National Curriculum
Key stages
The national curriculum is organised into blocks of years called ‘key stages’ (KS). At the end of each key stage, the teacher will formally assess each child’s performance.
Age 3 to 5 - Early Years
Age 5 to 7 - KS1
Age 7 to 11 - KS2
Age 11 to 14 - KS3
Age 14 to 16 - KS4
Age 16 to 18 - KS5 (or commonly known as Sixth Form or College)
Learning Resources (external links)
Pastpaper.co (Large collection of exam materials for CIE, AQA, CCEA and OCR)
Revision World (Revision notes, tips, advice and past papers for GCSE and A-Level)
BBC Bitesize (Useful site that provides learning resources for Primary, Secondary and Post-16)
Follow the links below to access the relevant UK curriculum documents
- National curriculum framework from key stage 1 to key stage 4
- National curriculum: primary curriculum
- National curriculum: secondary curriculum
- National curriculum: English
- National curriculum: Mathematics
- National curriculum: Science
- National curriculum: Art & Design
- National curriculum: Citizenship
- National curriculum: Computing
- National curriculum: Design & Technology
- National curriculum: Geography
- National curriculum: History
- National curriculum: Languages
- National curriculum: Music
- National curriculum: PE
KEY STAGES AND RESPECTIVE SUBJECTS
| Key Stages | Core Subjects | Foundation Subjects |
| 1 | English, Maths, Science | Art & design, Computing, Design & technology, Geography, history, Music, Physical education |
| 2 | English, Maths, Science | Art & design, Computing, Design & technology, Geography, history, Music, Physical education, Language (Foreign Language) |
| 3 | English, Maths, Science | Art & design, Computing, Design & technology, Geography, history, Music, Physical education, Language (Modern Foreign Language), Citizenship |
| 4 | English, Maths, Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) | Citizenship, Computing, Physical education |
They have foreign languages in KS2 and modern languages in KS3. All keys stages have religious education and secondary schools have sex and relationship education.
Examination Boards
Broadly speaking, the UK has always had two separate school systems: one for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; and one for Scotland. As a result, two separate sets of exam boards have been developed.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland have several exam boards, with schools and colleges able to freely choose between them on a subject-by-subject basis. Currently, there are seven exam boards available to state schools:
AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance)
CIE (University of Cambridge International Examinations)
CCEA (Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment)
Edexcel
ICAAE (International Curriculum and Assessment Agency Examinations)
OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations)
WJEC (Welsh Joint Education Committee)