The national curriculum

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Key stage 3 and 4

Key stage 3

Compulsory national curriculum subjects are:

  • English
  • maths
  • science
  • history
  • geography
  • modern foreign languages
  • design and technology
  • art and design
  • music
  • physical education
  • citizenship
  • computing

Schools must also provide:

Key stage 4

During key stage 4 most pupils work towards national qualifications - usually GCSEs.

The compulsory national curriculum subjects are the ‘core’ and ‘foundation’ subjects.

Core subjects are:

  • English
  • maths
  • science

Foundation subjects are:

  • computing
  • physical education
  • citizenship

Schools must also offer at least one subject from each of these areas:

  • arts
  • design and technology
  • humanities
  • modern foreign languages

They must also provide relationships, sex and health education, and religious education (RE) at key stage 4.

English Baccalaureate (EBacc)

The EBacc is a way to measure how many pupils in a school choose to take a GCSE in these core subjects:

  • English language and literature
  • maths
  • the sciences
  • history or geography
  • a language

Find out more about the EBacc.