Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the curriculum framework for primary school science as part of her Department’s curriculum review.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review is being independently conducted by a group of education leaders (the review group) and chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The terms of reference were published in July and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/curriculum-and-assessment-review.

As part of its work, the review group is undertaking a review of the existing national curriculum, including primary science. The role of the review group is to consider the evidence, the responses to the call for evidence and widespread engagement, and then make recommendations for the government to consider.

The review group will publish an interim report early in 2025 setting out its interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work and publish its final report with recommendations in autumn 2025.