As part of the government's review of the National Curriculum, more will be done to make Key Stage 3 more engaging, exciting and distinct part of child’s experience, as evidence suggests that too many children are switching off from school in their early teens

The government is therefore planning to make the first three years of secondary school count, by restoring Key Stage 3 as a distinct three-year phase.

The new National Curriculum, due to be published in full later this year, will see over-crowded content slimmed down and better sequenced across all school stages to create more space for deeper understanding and richer experiences, and to ensure more children are stretched and make progress.

This will come with higher expectations on core knowledge and skills needed for the future, like oracy and confident speaking, reading fluently and reading for pleasure, and numeracy. There will also be a more engaging offer in subjects like drama, PE, music, and modern foreign languages, alongside technical and digital skills.

It also comes with new expectations on schools to stop the increasingly widespread practice of encroaching on Key Stage 3 with an ever earlier focus on GCSEs. Exams and assessments are a vital part of school life, but the pressure to prepare for GCSEs early is growing. Public First Global for the International Baccalaureate found that more than half of teachers say GCSE courses are dominating the first three years of secondary school, despite this content not being intended to begin until Year 10, with some schools starting GCSE teaching as early as Year 7.

Lucy Powell, Education Secretary said: "The early years of secondary school should be a time when children are excited to go to school and engage in the specialist and much broader teaching on offer, and where they find their passion and develop a love of learning.

"Instead, we’ve seen worrying trends of disengagement and high levels of persistent absence, with the disadvantage gap stubbornly large and too many leaving school without the knowledge and skills they need to thrive.  That’s what our exciting and engaging new National Curriculum aims to address as part of our wider education reforms.

"What’s more, the pressures of GCSEs and an overcrowded curriculum are resulting in too many children receiving a narrower offer during Key Stage 3 and being rushed towards exams without grasping the fundamentals or developing deeper understanding. I’m putting a stop to that.

"The new curriculum and focus for these vital early teen years, will mean more children are excited to learn and more teachers are excited to teach. There will be more time to develop deeper understanding, as well as a richer experience that will engage more young people in their passions and prepare them better for the fast-changing world they will grow up in."

The new curriculum will say schools should not start GCSE specifications early for large cohorts or see children routinely required to narrow their options earlier or entered earlier for exams, teachers will still retain the flexibility to stretch high-achieving pupils or groups who are ready to go further without narrowing their options.