All maintained schools must follow the National Curriculum. If you're a special school, find out more about how curriculum requirements apply to your setting.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) requirements
All EYFS provision must follow the guidance in the EYFS statutory framework.
You must teach children in the 7 areas of learning and development:
3 prime areas:
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development
4 specific areas:
- Literacy
- Maths
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
The EYFS framework also sets out 'early learning goals' you need to help children work towards – these are the knowledge, skills and understanding that children should have by the end of the EYFS. You can find these on pages 11 to 16 of the EYFS framework (linked above).
See our range of EYFS curriculum articles for more information.
Key Stage (KS) 1 and KS2 requirements
Pupils in KS1 and KS2 are expected