Wednesday 22nd July 2020

(4 years, 3 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Fowler Portrait The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
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Baroness Bakewell. No? I call the noble Lord, Lord Storey.

Lord Storey Portrait Lord Storey (LD) [V]
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In a reply to my Written Question on arts subjects in schools, the Minister said that all

“maintained schools are required to teach the full National Curriculum, including art and design, and music”

and creative subjects, while, as she knows, academies do not have to do this. Why is this? If she is keen to have a broad and balanced curriculum that provides opportunities for creative subjects for all pupils, surely this needs to be changed.

Baroness Berridge Portrait Baroness Berridge
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My Lords, the noble Lord is correct that teaching the national curriculum is not compulsory in the academies sector. However, Ofsted inspects all maintained and academy schools to the same standard of the broad and balanced curriculum; its inspection framework now includes whether children’s cultural capital is being improved. Ofsted judges all schools to the same standard.