The Education (Curriculum Minimum Content) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007

Article 1

SCHEDULE 1 Commencement

The provisions of this Order shall come into operation for pupils in each year of each key stage on 1^st August of the school year shown in the following table:

Commencement Date	Year Group
2007/2008	1st year of the Foundation Stage
	1st year of Key Stage 2
	1st year of Key Stage 3
	1st year of Key Stage 4
2008/2009	2nd year of the Foundation Stage
	2nd year of Key Stage 2
	2nd year of Key Stage 3
	2nd year of Key Stage 4
2009/2010	1st and 2nd years of Key Stage 1
	3rd year of Key Stage 2
	3rd year of Key Stage 3

Article 2

SCHEDULE 2 Specification of Minimum Content

PART 1 Statutory Requirements Relating to the Curriculum

The statutory Northern Ireland Curriculum from Foundation Stage to Key Stage 4

is a balanced and broadly based curriculum which—

(a) promotes the spiritual, emotional, moral, cultural, intellectual and physical development of pupils at the school and thereby of society; and

(b) prepares such pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life by equipping them with appropriate knowledge, understanding and skills.

In order to meet their statutory requirements, schools must provide learning opportunities in relation to the following:

(a) Religious Education – in accordance with the core syllabus drafted by the four main Christian Churches in Northern Ireland and specified by the Department of Education.

(b) the following Areas of Learning:

At Foundation Stage:

Areas of Learning	Contributory Elements
Language and Literacy	Talking and Listening Reading Writing
Mathematics and Numeracy	Number Measures Shape and Space Sorting Patterns and Relationships
The Arts	Art and design Music Drama
The World Around Us	The World Around Us
Personal Development and Mutual Understanding	Personal Understanding and Health Mutual Understanding in the Local and Wider Community
Physical Development and Movement	Physical Development and Movement

At Key Stages 1 and 2:

Areas of Learning	Contributory Elements
Language and Literacy	Talking and Listening Reading Writing
Mathematics and Numeracy	Processes in Mathematics Number Measures Shape and Space Handling Data
The Arts	Art and Design Music Drama
The World Around Us	History Geography Science and Technology
Personal Development and Mutual Understanding	Personal Understanding and Health Mutual Understanding in the Local and Wider Community
Physical Education	Physical Education

At Key Stage 3:

Areas of Learning	Contributory Elements
Language and Literacy	English Irish (in Irish-speaking schools) Media education
Mathematics and Numeracy	Mathematics Financial capability
Modern Languages	Any official language of the European Union (other than English and, in Irish speaking schools, Irish).
The Arts	Art and Design Music Drama
Environment and Society	History Geography
Science and Technology	Science Technology and Design
Learning for Life and Work	Employability Local and Global Citizenship Personal Development Home Economics
Physical Education	Physical Education

At Key Stage 4:

Areas of Learning	Contributory Elements
Language and Literacy
Mathematics and Numeracy
Modern Languages
The Arts
Environment and Society
Science and Technology
Learning for Life and Work	Employability Local and Global Citizenship Personal Development
Physical Education	Physical Education

Minimum Content

The Minimum Content for each Area of Learning and Key Stage means the knowledge, understanding and skills within that Area of Learning which are required to be taught to pupils of different abilities and maturities during that stage.

PART 2 Foundation Stage

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

The minimum content for Language and Literacy is set out below.

Teachers should enable children to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

TALKING AND LISTENING

Pupils should be enabled to develop:

• attention and listening skills through:

  • listening to a wide range of stories, poems, songs and music;

  • following instructions;

  • identifying environmental sounds;

  • repeating familiar phrases/sound sequences;

  • recalling sequence and detail.

• phonological awareness through:

  • responding to a steady beat;

  • identifying words in phrases and sentences;

  • identifying syllables;

  • identifying and generating rhymes;

  • identifying and manipulating phonemes.

• social use of language through:

  • observing modelled behaviours;

  • understanding non-verbal signals;

  • talking with adults and other pupils;

  • initiating and joining in conversations in pairs or groups;

  • working in different groupings;

  • adopting or assuming a role relevant to context.

• language and thinking through:

  • talking about experiences, pictures and stories;

  • talking about their work, play and things they have made;

  • naming;

  • recalling;

  • sequencing;

  • predicting;

  • asking and answering questions;

  • describing;

  • explaining;

  • sharing their thoughts, feelings and ideas with different audiences;

  • taking part/contributing to group oral language activities.

• an extended vocabulary through:

  • listening and responding to adults and peers;

  • an immersion in the language of books, both fiction and non-fiction;

  • focused experiences to introduce or generate vocabulary.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• express themselves with increasing clarity and confidence, using a growing vocabulary and more complex sentence structure;

• understand and use social conventions in conversations and pupil initiated interactions;

• initiate and sustain conversations with adults and peers in the classroom;

• retell stories, events or personal experiences in sequence with reasonable detail;

• answer questions to give information and demonstrate understanding;

• ask questions to find information or seek an explanation;

• offer reasons to support opinions given;

• listen with increasing attentiveness and for longer periods of time;

• listen to and carry out increasingly complex instructions.

READING

Through modelled, shared and guided reading sessions pupils should be enabled to:

• read with some independence;

• read a range of texts including electronic texts and those composed by themselves and others;

• sequence stories in reasonable detail using appropriate language;

• use word structure to develop reading;

• develop auditory discrimination and memory;

• develop visual discrimination and memory;

• share a range of books with adults/other pupils;

• know how to handle and care for books;

• understand and use some language associated with books;

• select and use books for specific purposes;

• develop concepts of print;

• listen to a range of stories, poems and non-fiction texts read to them by adults/other pupils.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• understand that words are made up of sounds and syllables and that sounds are represented by letters (phoneme/grapheme awareness);

• recognise different types of text and identify specific features of some genres;

• read and follow simple instructions;

• use a range of reading cues with increasing independence and begin to self-correct;

• read on sight, some words in a range of meaningful contexts;

• begin to read with expression in response to print variations and punctuation;

• use extended vocabulary when discussing text, re-telling stories or in their emergent writing;

• make links between personal experience and the text;

• make and give reasons for predictions;

• understand the purpose of and use environmental print;

• browse and choose books for a specific purpose.

WRITING

Through modelled, shared and guided writing sessions pupils should be enabled to:

• distinguish between drawing and writing;

• talk about the ideas represented in their drawings.

• understand that writing is a means of communication and can be used for different purposes;

• share their writing with others;

• see themselves and the teacher as ‘writers’;

• observe the teacher modelling specific writing strategies;

• use ICT to present and communicate their ideas.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• write without prompting and make decisions about how and what they will write;

• use rhymes, poems and patterned stories as models for structuring their own writing;

• write in a range of genres with teacher guidance;

• begin to problem-solve how to write using sound-symbol correspondence as the first strategy;

• begin to show evidence of sequence in recount and instructions;

• use a wide range of vocabulary in their writing;

• begin to demarcate sentences;

• begin to use capital letters for the pronoun ‘I’, for names and at the start of a sentence;

• show increased control over formation of lower and upper-case letters, size and spacing.

MATHEMATICS AND NUMERACY

The minimum content for Mathematics and Numeracy is set out below.

Teachers should enable children to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

NUMBER:

Understanding Number

Pupils should be enabled to:

• count a variety of objects;

• develop an understanding of one-to-one correspondence and come to appreciate that the size of a set is given by the last number in the count;

• investigate different ways of making sets for a given number within 5/10;

• match numerals to sets;

• order numerals and sets within 5/10;

• develop an understanding of conservation of number within 5/10;

• understand in counting activities that ‘none’ is represented by zero;

• explore ordinal number;

• explore the number that comes after, before, between a given number;

• carry out simple mental calculations;

• extend, when appropriate, understanding of number beyond 10.

Counting and Number Recognition

Pupils should be enabled to:

• count in the context of number rhymes, jingles and stories;

• count forwards in ones within 5/10 from different starting points;

• count backwards in ones within 5/10 from different starting points;

• recognise numerals up to 5/10;

• state, without counting, quantities within 5;

• make a sensible guess of quantities within 10;

• explore numbers relevant to their every day lives;

• extend, when appropriate, counting in ones and recognition of numbers beyond 10;

• extend activities to include counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

Understanding Money

Pupils should be enabled to:

• use money in various contexts;

• talk about things that they want to spend money on;

• understand the need to pay for goods;

• become familiar with coins in everyday use;

• talk about different ways we can pay for goods;

• use their number skills in shopping activities.

MEASURES

Pupils should be enabled to:

• compare two objects of different length/weight/capacity/area; understand and use the language of comparison;

• order three objects of different length, weight, capacity, area; talk about the ordering using appropriate language;

• find an object of similar length, weight, capacity, area; talk about their findings in terms of ‘just about the same’ length, weight, capacity, area;

• begin to explore the notion of conservation of length, weight, capacity in practical situations; engage in discussion about their observations;

• choose and use, with guidance, non-standard units to measure length/capacity/weight; talk about their work;

• sequence two or three familiar events;

• talk about significant times on the clock;

• compare two intervals of time; talk about their observations in terms of took longer/shorter time;

• explore time patterns;

• choose and use, with guidance, non-standard units to measure time; talk about their work.

SHAPE AND SPACE

Pupils should be enabled to:

• explore and talk about shapes in the environment;

• build and make models with 3D shapes; create pictures and patterns with 2D shapes;

• investigate and talk about the properties of shapes;

• sort collections of shapes in several ways; describe the arrangements;

• describe and name common 3-D and 2-D shapes;

• explore body space through different types of movement;

• explore movement through space during indoor and outdoor play activities;

• understand and use a range of positional words;

• explore movement using programmable devices;

• follow/give directions from/to a partner for simple movements.

SORTING

Pupils should be enabled to:

• explore freely properties of a range of materials and one/two/three property collections; respond to questions about the arrangements;

• sort collections of random materials;

• sort for one criterion using one-property materials; talk about the arrangement;

• sort for one criterion using two-property collections; re-sort for the second criterion; explain their work;

• sort for one criterion using three/four-property collections; find the various possibilities; explain their work;

• partition sets into subsets in preparation for exploring components of number.

PATTERNS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Pupils should be enabled to:

• investigate and talk about pattern in the environment;

• copy a simple pattern;

• continue a simple pattern;

• create patterns;

• explore pattern in number;

• discover the components of numbers within 5/10 by investigating different ways of partitioning sets into subsets practically; talk abut the outcomes;

• understand the concept of addition by combining sets of objects to find ‘how many’;

• match objects in real contexts;

• compare sets by matching objects/counting objects to understand the terms ‘more than’ less than’ ‘the same’;

• investigate the relationship between addition and subtraction in practical situations.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• use appropriate mathematical language and symbols;

• sort and re-sort materials, recording the outcomes in a variety of ways;

• talk about data represented in simple block graphs, tables and diagrams;

• understand the conservation of number;

• count forwards and backwards from different starting points;

• recognise numbers to at least 20;

• carry out mental calculations such as 1 more/less than up to 20, doubles up to 10 and mentally add and subtract within 10;

• understand that ‘teen’ numbers are made up of 10 plus another number;

• begin to measure using non-standard units;

• talk about the properties of 3-D and 2-D shapes using appropriate mathematical language;

• be involved in solving practical problems.

THE ARTS

The minimum content for The Arts is set out below.

Teachers should enable children to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

ART AND DESIGN

Pupils should be enabled to:

• observe and respond to things seen, handled, remembered and imagined;

• investigate and talk about colours, lines, shapes, textures and patterns;

• look at, and respond to a piece of work by artists, designers, illustrators or craft workers;

• explore and use a wide range of materials and processes;

• create and develop ideas using colours, lines, shapes, textures and patterns;

• talk about own and other pupils work, and how the work was made.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• use senses to explore real things, developing the capacity for focusing attention to detail;

• use direct experiences, memory and imagination to observe and respond to the world;

• begin to use visual language to describe what has been examined and observed;

• begin to appreciate the visual qualities in the natural and made environment;

• value own and other pupils’ work;

• talk about the processes involved in creating own work;

• look at, explore and talk with some confidence about works of art, craft and design;

• explore and discover qualities of various materials in order to make choices and to create their own unique pictures and structures;

• begin to develop a range of skills using materials, tools and processes (drawing, painting, printmaking, textiles, malleable materials and three dimensional construction).

MUSIC

Pupils should be enabled to:

• work creatively with sound;

• sing and perform with simple instruments;

• listen and respond to own and others’ music-making.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• be aware of and perform a steady beat;

• distinguish between loud/quiet sounds, high/low sounds, long/short sounds, fast/slow music;

• listen to and repeat simple rhythms;

• make music;

• watch and respond to start/stop signals;

• value own and others’ contributions in the team aspect of music making and performing.

DRAMA

Pupils should be enabled to:

• express thoughts ideas and feelings;

• develop their creativity through imaginative play;

• engage in dramatic play to extend the learning;

• take part in a range of drama games and strategies.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• co-operate during role play, negotiate roles, agree rules and act out scenarios;

• express thoughts, ideas, feelings and imagination with confidence in a range of dramatic contexts using verbal and non-verbal language;

• adopt and sustain a role.

THE WORLD AROUND US

The minimum content for The World Around Us is set out below.

Teachers should enable children to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

Interdependence

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• Who am I?

• What am I?

• Am I the same as everyone else?

• What else is living?

• How do living things survive?

Place

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• Where do I live?

• How have I changed over time?

• What is in my world?

• What is beyond my world?

• How has this place changed?

Movement and Energy

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• How do things move now and in the past?

• Why do things move?

• How do things work?

• Why do people and animals move?

• Where do things move?

• Where do people and animals move to?

• What sources of energy are in my world?

• How and why are they used?

Change over Time

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• How do things change?

• What kind of changes happen, have happened or might happen?

• How can we make change happen?

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• show curiosity about the living things, places, objects and materials in the environment;

• identify similarities and differences between living things, places, objects and materials;

• understand that some things change over time;

• understand that different materials behave in different ways, have different properties and can be used for different purposes;

• understand that some materials change if kept in different conditions;

• understand that materials can be joined/assembled in different ways;

• be aware of the local natural and built environment and their place in it;

• know some of the jobs that are carried out by different people in the local community;

• be able to sequence familiar events;

• be aware of different lifestyles;

• understand the need to respect and care for themselves, other people, plants, animals and the environment;

• understand and use positional and directional language, as well as simple maps and drawings;

• be aware of everyday uses of technological tools and know how to use some of these safely.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

The minimum content for Personal Development and Mutual Understanding is set out below.

Teachers should enable children to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING AND HEALTH

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• themselves and their personal attributes;

• their own and others’ feelings and emotions;

• their dispositions and attitudes to learning;

• the importance of keeping healthy and how to keep safe in familiar and unfamiliar environments.

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN THE LOCAL AND WIDER COMMUNITY

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• their relationships with family and friends;

• their responsibilities for self and others;

• how to respond appropriately in conflict situations;

• similarities and differences between groups of people;

• learning to live as a member of a community.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• express a senses of self awareness;

• show some self control and express their own feelings and emotions appropriately;

• show a positive attitude to learning;

• adopt healthy and hygienic routines and understand how to keep safe;

• form good relationships with adults and other pupils;

• show independence and know when to seek help;

• show respect when working and playing together and recognise the need for rules;

• recognise similarities and differences in families and the wider community;

• be familiar with the interdependent nature of the class/school community.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND MOVEMENT

The minimum content for Physical Development and Movement is set out below.

Teachers should enable children to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

• Athletics: Pupils should be provided with opportunities for activities and physical challenges enabling them to learn, understand and develop the core skills of running, jumping and throwing in a co-operative context.

• Dance: Pupils should be given opportunities to respond to a variety of stimuli and the use of body movements to communicate ideas and express feelings.

• Games: Pupils should be taught to develop games skills through a range of activities and using a variety of equipment.

• Gymnastics: Pupils should be taught to explore, create, practice and improve body management skills.

Pupils should be enabled to:

• listen to and follow simple instructions/rules;

• take part in warm-up and cool-down activities;

• experiment with different ways of moving and exploring personal and general space;

• develop confidence, imagination and some understanding of safety through participating in a range of movement activities;

• develop body awareness through varying body movements in relation to shape, levels, pathways (straight/curved), directions, speed;

• use a range of small equipment to develop skills of rolling, pushing, patting, throwing, catching, aiming, hitting, kicking and passing;

• play/create/modify simple games;

• listen and respond to a range of stimuli;

• explore, refine and improve simple movements;

• create, practise, improve and perform simple movement sequences which have a clear beginning, middle and end;

• use a range of movement vocabulary to discuss actions;

• observe, describe and copy what others have done;

• lift, carry, place and store equipment safely, with adult assistance where appropriate.

Progression

As pupils progress through the Foundation Stage they should be enabled to:

• move with control and co-ordination;

• move with confidence, imagination and safety;

• show an awareness of personal and general space;

• respond appropriately to instructions and to stimuli;

• travel, showing changes of speed, direction and level;

• develop controlled movement, understanding positional language;

• create, remember and perform simple movement sequences;

• use a range of small and large equipment appropriately;

• handle small tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control;

• use appropriate language to talk about ideas, feelings and movements of themselves and others;

• begin to understand the importance of warm-up and cool-down activities before and after exercise;

• begin to understand the importance of physical activity for good health and the reasons that it is important to dress appropriately for physical activity;

• be aware of the effects of exercise on their bodies.

PART 3 Key Stage 1

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

The minimum content for Language and Literacy is set out below.

Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

TALKING AND LISTENING

Pupils should be enabled to:

• participate in talking and listening in every area of learning;

• listen to, respond to and explore stories, poems, songs, drama, and media texts through the use of traditional and digital resources and recreate parts of them in a range of expressive activities;

• listen to, interpret and retell, with some supporting detail, a range of oral and written texts;

• tell their own stories based on personal experiences and imagination;

• listen to and respond to guidance and instructions;

• take turns at talking and listening in group and paired activities;

• take part in a range of drama activities to support activity based learning across the curriculum;

• express thoughts, feelings and opinions in response to personal experiences, imaginary situations, literature, media and curricular topics and activities;

• present ideas and information with some structure and sequence;

• think about what they say and how they say it;

• speak audibly and clearly, using appropriate quality of speech and voice;

• devise and ask questions to find information in social situations and across the curriculum;

• read aloud from a variety of sources, including their own work, inflecting appropriately to emphasise meaning;

• recognise and talk about features of spoken language, showing phonological awareness.

READING

Pupils should be enabled to:

• participate in modelled, shared, paired and guided reading activities;

• read, and be read to from a wide selection of poetry and prose;

• read with some independence for enjoyment and information;

• read, explore, understand and make use of a range of traditional and digital texts;

• re-tell, re-read and act out a range of texts, representing ideas through drama, pictures, diagrams and ICT;

• begin to locate, select and use texts for specific purposes;

• research and manage information relevant to specific purposes, using traditional and digital sources, and present their findings in a variety of ways;

• use a range of comprehension skills, both oral and written, to interpret and discuss texts;

• explore and begin to understand how texts are structured in a range of genres;

• explore and interpret a range of visual texts;

• express opinions and give reasons based on what they have read;

• begin to use evidence from text to support their views;

• read and share their own books of stories and poems including the use of digital resources;

• build up a sight vocabulary;

• use a range of strategies to identify unfamiliar words;

• talk with the teacher about ways in which language is written down, identifying phrases, words, patterns or letters and other features of written language;

• recognise and notice how words are constructed and spelt.

WRITING

Pupils should be enabled to:

• participate in modelled, shared, guided and independent writing, including composing on-screen;

• understand and use a range of vocabulary by investigating and experimenting with language;

• talk about and plan what they are going to write;

• begin to check their work in relation to specific criteria;

• write without prompting, making their own decisions about form and content;

• write for a variety of purposes and audiences;

• express thoughts, feelings and opinions in imaginative and factual writing;

• organise, structure and present ideas and information using traditional and digital means;

• understand some of the differences between spoken and written language;

• use a variety of skills to spell words in their writing;

• spell correctly a range of familiar, important and regularly occurring words;

• develop increasing competence in the use of grammar and punctuation;

• use a legible style of handwriting.

MATHEMATICS AND NUMERACY

Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

PROCESSES IN MATHEMATICS

Making and Monitoring Decisions

Pupils should be enabled to:

• select the materials and mathematics appropriate for a task;

• develop different approaches to problem solving;

• begin to organise their own work and work systematically.

Communicating Mathematically

Pupils should be enabled to:

• understand mathematical language and be able to use it to talk about their work;

• represent work in a clear and organised way, using symbols where appropriate.

Mathematical Reasoning

Pupils should be enabled to:

• recognise simple patterns and relationships and make predictions;

• ask and respond to open-ended questions;

• explain their way of working;

• know ways to check their own work.

NUMBER

Understanding Number and Number Notation

Pupils should be enabled to:

• count, read, write and order whole numbers, initially to 10, progressing to at least 1,000;

• understand the empty set and the conservation of number;

• understand that the place of the digit indicates its value;

• make a sensible estimate of a small number of objects and begin to approximate to the nearest 10 or 100;

• recognise and use simple everyday fractions.

Patterns, Relationships and Sequences in Number

Pupils should be enabled to:

• copy, continue and devise repeating patterns;

• explore patterns in number tables;

• understand the commutative property of addition and the relationship between addition and subtraction;

• understand the use of a symbol to stand for an unknown number;

• understand and use simple function machines.

Operations and their Applications

Pupils should be enabled to:

• understand the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (without remainders) and use them to solve problems;

• know addition and subtraction facts to 20 and the majority of multiplication facts up to 10 x 10;

• develop strategies for adding and subtracting mentally up to the addition of two two-digit numbers within 100.

Money

Pupils should be enabled to:

• recognise coins and use them in simple contexts;

• add and subtract money up to £10, use the conventional way of recording money, and use these skills to solve problems;

• talk about the value of money and ways in which it could be spent, saved and kept safe;

• talk about what money is and alternatives for paying;

• decide how to spend money.

MEASURES

Pupils should be enabled to:

• understand and use the language associated with length, ‘weight’, capacity, area and time;

• use non-standard units to measure and recognise the need for standard units;

• know and use the most commonly used units to measure in purposeful contexts;

• make estimates using arbitrary and standard units;

• choose and use simple measuring instruments, reading and interpreting them with reasonable accuracy;

• sequence everyday events; know the days of the week, months of the year and seasons; explore calendar patterns;

• recognise times on the analogue clock and digital displays;

• understand the conservation of measures.

SHAPE AND SPACE

Exploration of Shape

Pupils should be enabled to:

• sort 2-D and 3-D shapes in different ways;

• make constructions, pictures and patterns using 2-D and 3-D shapes;

• name and describe 2-D and 3-D shapes; recognise reflective symmetry;

• explore simple tessellation through practical activities.

Position, Movement and Direction

Pupils should be enabled to:

• use prepositions to state position;

• understand angle as a measure of turn; understand and give instructions for turning through right angles;

• recognise right-angled corners in 2-D and 3-D shapes;

• know the four points of the compass;

• use programmable devices to explore movement and direction.

HANDLING DATA

Collecting, Representing and Interpreting Data

Pupils should be enabled to:

• sort and classify objects for one or two criteria and represent results using Venn, Carroll and Tree diagrams;

• collect data, record and present it using real objects, drawings, tables, mapping diagrams, simple graphs and ICT software;

• discuss and interpret the data;

• extract information from a range of charts, diagrams and tables;

• enter and access information using a database.

THE ARTS

The minimum content for The Arts is set out below.

Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

ART AND DESIGN

Pupils should be enabled to:

• investigate and respond to direct sensory experience; including visual, verbal, spatial and tactile dimensions, memory and imagination;

• look at and talk about resource material to stimulate their own ideas;

• enjoy and appreciate the work of artists and designers and craftworkers from their own and other cultures; use what has been viewed as a starting point for their own work;

• explore the visual elements of colour, tone, line, shape, form, space, texture and pattern to express ideas;

• talk about their own and others’ work and how it was made, use observations to identify difficulties and suggest modifications;

• experiment with a range of media, materials, tools and processes such as: drawing, painting, printmaking, malleable materials, textiles and three-dimensional construction.

MUSIC

Pupils should be enabled to:

• work creatively with sound by investigating, experimenting, selecting and combining sounds to express feelings, ideas, mood and atmosphere;

• sing and perform with simple instruments to develop vocal and manipulative control;

• listen and respond to their own and others’ music-making, thinking and talking about sounds, effects and musical features in music that they create, perform or listen to.

DRAMA

Pupils should be enabled to:

• develop their understanding of the world by engaging in a range of creative and imaginative role play situations by creating invented situations on their own and with others, and responding in role to the dramatic play of others and to the teacher in role;

• explore a range of cultural and human issues in a safe environment by participating in dramatic activity and sharing ideas with others;

• develop a range of drama strategies including freeze frame, tableau and hot seating;

• develop dramatic skills appropriate to audience, context, purpose and task by using simple props to suggest character, and by using symbols and images to develop action and make meaning.

THE WORLD AROUND US

The minimum content for The World Around Us is set out below.

Through the contributory elements of History, Geography and Science and Technology, teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

Interdependence

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• ‘Me’ in the world;

• How plants and animals rely on each other within the natural world;

• Interdependence of people and the environment;

• The effect of people on the natural environment over time;

• Interdependence of people, plants, animals and place.

Place

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• How place influences plant and animal life;

• Ways in which living things depend on and adapt to their environment;

• Features of the immediate world and comparisons between places;

• Change over time in local places;

• Positive and negative effects of people on places.

Movement and Energy

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• Sources of energy in the world;

• How and why people and animals move;

• Changes in movement and energy over time.

Change over Time

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• Ways in which change occurs in the natural world;

• How people and places have changed over time;

• Positive change and how we have a responsibility to make an active contribution.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

The minimum content for Personal Development and Mutual Understanding is set out below.

Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING AND HEALTH

• their self esteem and self confidence;

• their own and others’ feelings and emotions and how their actions affect others;

• positive attitudes to learning and achievement;

• strategies and skills for keeping themselves healthy and safe.

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN THE LOCAL AND WIDER COMMUNITY

• initiating and developing mutually satisfying relationships;

• responsibility and respect, honesty and fairness;

• constructive approaches to conflict;

• similarities and differences between people;

• developing themselves as members of a community.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

The minimum content for Physical Education is set out below.

Teachers should provide opportunities for pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

Athletics

Pupils should be enabled to:

• participate in fun activities and physical challenges enabling them to begin to learn, understand and develop the core skills of running, jumping and throwing individually and in a co-operative context, using a variety of equipment;

• practise simple running techniques in a variety of fun activities;

• practise jumping and throwing activities, initially from a stationary position progressing to a controlled run-up;

• measure performance in simple athletic activities.

Dance

Pupils should be enabled to:

• use different parts of the body to explore personal and general space and to move using simple actions;

• listen to, and move in response to, different stimuli and accompaniments;

• move in a controlled manner, at different speeds and in different directions, using different levels in space, (high, low), and different strengths (heavy, light);

• perform simple steps and movements to given rhythms and musical phrases;

• create, practise, remember and perform simple movement sequences;

• develop their movements progressively individually and in pairs.

Games

Pupils should be enabled to:

• practise and develop the skills of handling, hitting and kicking through a range of activities and using a variety of equipment;

• develop the skills relevant to games, including running, stopping, jumping and skipping;

• make use of space to outwit an opponent;

• take part in simple games involving individual and co-operative play.

Gymnastics

Pupils should be enabled to

• explore a range of movement skills, including travelling, jumping and landing, rolling, climbing, transferring weight, balancing;

• explore, practise and improve body management skills;

• form simple sequences by linking movements;

• progress from working individually to working in pairs;

• evaluate their movements and those of others.

PART 4 Key Stage 2

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

The minimum content for Language and Literacy is set out below.

Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

TALKING AND LISTENING

Pupils should be enabled to:

• listen and respond to a range of fiction, poetry, drama and media texts through the use of traditional and digital resources;

• tell, re-tell and interpret stories based on memories, personal experiences, literature, imagination and the content of the curriculum;

• participate in group and class discussions for a variety of curricular purposes;

• know, understand and use the conventions of group discussion;

• share, respond to and evaluate ideas, arguments and points of view and use evidence or reason to justify opinions, actions or proposals;

• formulate, give and respond to guidance, directions and instructions;

• participate in a range of drama activities across the curriculum;

• improvise a scene based on experience, imagination, literature, media and/or curricular topics;

• describe and talk about real experiences and imaginary situations and about people, places, events and artefacts;

• prepare and give a short oral presentation to a familiar group, showing an awareness of audience and including the use of multimedia presentations;

• identify and ask appropriate questions to seek information, views and feelings;

• talk with people in a variety of formal and informal situations;

• use appropriate quality of speech and voice, speaking audibly and varying register, according to the purpose and audience;

• read aloud, inflecting appropriately, to express thoughts and feelings and emphasise the meaning of what they have read;

• recognise and discuss features of spoken language, including formal and informal language, dialect and colloquial speech.

READING

Pupils should be enabled to:

• participate in modelled, shared, paired and guided reading experiences;

• read, explore, understand and make use of a wide range of traditional and digital texts;

• engage in sustained, independent and silent reading for enjoyment and information;

• extend the range of their reading and develop their own preferences;

• use traditional and digital sources to locate, select, evaluate and communicate information relevant for a particular task;

• represent their understanding of texts in a range of ways, including visual, oral, dramatic and digital;

• consider, interpret and discuss texts, exploring the ways in which language can be manipulated in order to affect the reader or engage attention;

• begin to be aware of how different media present information, ideas and events in different ways;

• justify their responses logically, by inference, deduction and/or reference to evidence within the text;

• reconsider their initial response to texts in the light of insight and information which emerge subsequently from their reading;

• read aloud to the class or teacher from prepared texts, including those composed by themselves, using inflection to assist meaning;

• use a range of cross-checking strategies to read unfamiliar words in texts;

• use a variety of reading skills for different reading purposes.

WRITING

Pupils should be enabled to:

• participate in modelled, shared, guided and independent writing, including composing on-screen;

• discuss various features of layout in texts and apply these, as appropriate, within their own writing;

• experiment with rhymes, rhythms, verse structure and all kinds of word play and dialect;

• write for a variety of purposes and audiences, selecting, planning and using appropriate style and form;

• use the skills of planning, revising and redrafting to improve their writing, including that which they have composed digitally;

• express thoughts, feelings and opinions in imaginative and factual writing;

• use a variety of stylistic features to create mood and effect;

• begin to formulate their own personal style;

• create, organise, refine and present ideas using traditional and digital means, combining text, sound or graphics;

• understand the differences between spoken and written language;

• use a variety of skills to spell words correctly;

• develop increasing competence in the use of grammar and punctuation to create clarity of meaning;

• develop a swift and legible style of handwriting.

MATHEMATICS AND NUMERACY

The minimum content for Mathematics and Numeracy is set out below.

Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

PROCESSES IN MATHEMATICS

Making and Monitoring Decisions

Pupils should be enabled to:

• take increasing responsibility for selecting and using the materials and the mathematics required for their work;

• identify and obtain the information required for a task, suggesting appropriate sources to find the information;

• plan and organise their work, learning to work systematically;

• develop a range of strategies for problem solving, looking for ways to overcome difficulties.

Communicating Mathematically

Pupils should be enabled to:

• understand mathematical language and use it to discuss their work and explain their thinking;

• compare their ideas and methods of working with others;

• interpret situations mathematically using appropriate symbols or diagrams;

• present information and results clearly.

Mathematical Reasoning

Pupils should be enabled to:

• recognise general patterns and relationships and make predictions about them;

• ask and respond to open-ended questions and explain their thinking;

• understand and make general statements;

• check results and consider whether they are reasonable.

NUMBER

Understanding Number and Number Notation

Pupils should be enabled to:

• count, read, write and order whole numbers;

• develop an understanding of place value up to two decimal places; use this to multiply and divide numbers by 10 and 100;

• estimate and approximate to gain an indication of the size of a solution to a calculation or problem;

• understand and use vulgar fractions, decimal fractions and percentages and explore the relationships between them;

• understand and use negative numbers in context.

Patterns, Relationships and Sequences in Number

Pupils should be enabled to:

• explore and predict patterns and sequences of whole numbers; follow and devise rules for generating sequences;

• understand and use multiples and factors and the terms prime, square and cube; appreciate inverse operations;

• interpret, generalise and use simple relationships expressed in numerical, spatial and practical situations; understand and use simple function machines;

• understand that a letter can stand for an unknown number.

Operations and their Applications

Pupils should be enabled to:

• develop strategies to add and subtract mentally;

• know the multiplication facts up to 10 x 10;

• engage in a range of activities to develop understanding of the four operations of number; appreciate the use of brackets; add and subtract with up to two decimal places; multiply and divide decimals by whole numbers; use these operations to solve problems.

Money

Pupils should be enabled to:

• use the four operations to solve problems involving money;

• discuss the value of money, how to keep money safe, ways in which goods can be paid for and the need for budgeting;

• be able to plan and think ahead in terms of saving and spending money; prioritise spending with a limited supply of money; understand how to access best buys;

• discuss foreign currency including the Euro.

MEASURES

Pupils should be enabled to:

• develop skills in estimation of length, ‘weight’, volume/capacity, time, area and temperature;

• appreciate important ideas about measurement, including the continuous nature of measurement and the need for appropriate accuracy;

• understand the relationship between units and convert one metric unit to another; use the four operations to solve problems;

• calculate perimeter and the areas and volumes of simple shapes;

• understand and use scale in the context of simple maps and drawings;

• recognise times on the analogue and digital clocks and understand the relationship between the 12 and 24-hour clocks; use timetables.

SHAPE AND SPACE

Exploration of Shape

Pupils should be enabled to:

• construct a range of regular and irregular 2-D shapes; classify these through examination of angles and sides; recognise line and rotational symmetry; reflect shapes in a line; explore tessellations; name and describe common 2-D shapes; begin to understand congruence in 2-D shapes;

• construct 3-D shapes; investigate the number of faces, edges and vertices on these shapes; name and describe common 3-D shapes; explore the relationship between 2-D and 3-D shapes.

Position, Movement and Direction

Pupils should be enabled to:

• understand the notion of angle in the context of turning; recognise right angles; understand clockwise and anti-clockwise; know the eight points of the compass; use logo to understand movement and turning; be introduced to a programming language and use it to create pictures and patterns and to generate shapes;

• develop language associated with line and angle; recognise properties of acute, obtuse and reflex angles; investigate angles in triangles and quadrilaterals; measure and draw angles up to 360°;

• use co-ordinates to plot and draw shapes in the first quadrant.

HANDLING DATA

Collecting, Representing and Interpreting Data

Pupils should be enabled to:

• collect, classify, record and present data drawn from a range of meaningful situations, using graphs, tables, diagrams and ICT software;

• explain their work orally and/or through writing and draw conclusions;

• interpret a wide range of tables, lists, graphs and diagrams; create and interpret frequency tables, including those for grouped data;

• design and use a data collection sheet; interpret the results; enter information in a database or spreadsheet and interrogate and interpret the results;

• understand, calculate and use the mean and range of a set of discrete data.

Introduction to Probability

Pupils should be enabled to:

• become familiar with and use the language of probability;

• understand possible outcomes of simple random events; understand that there is a degree of uncertainty about the outcome of some events, while others are certain or impossible;

• place events in order of ‘likelihood’; understand and use the idea of ‘evens’ and know whether events are more or less likely than this.

THE ARTS

The minimum content for The Arts is set out below.

Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

ART AND DESIGN

Pupils should be enabled to:

• engage with observing, investigating, and responding to first hand experiences, memory and imagination;

• collect, examine and select resource material to use in the development of ideas;

• look at and talk about the work of artists, designers and craftsworkers from their own and other cultures; appreciate methods used in the resource materials and use their appreciation to stimulate personal ideas and engage with informed art making;

• develop their understanding of the visual elements of colour, tone, line, shape, form, space, texture and pattern to communicate their ideas;

• evaluate their own and others’ work and how it was made, explain and share their ideas discuss difficulties and review and modify work to find solutions;

• use a range of media, materials, tools and processes such as: drawing, painting, printmaking, malleable materials, textiles and three-dimensional construction, selecting which is appropriate in order to realise personal ideas and intentions.

MUSIC

Pupils should be enabled to:

• work creatively with sound by creating musical stories, pictures, patterns, conversations, accompaniments and by investigating ways of preserving the music they have created;

• sing and perform with simple instruments from memory, by ear or from notation to develop vocal and instrumental skills;

• listen and respond to their own and others’ music-making, thinking about, talking about and discussing a variety of characteristics within music that they create, perform or listen to.

Drama

Pupils should be enabled to:

• develop their understanding of the world by engaging in a range of creative and imaginative role play situations;

• explore a range of cultural and human issues in a safe environment by using drama to begin to explore their own and others’ feeling about issues, and by negotiating situations both in and out of role;

• develop a range of drama strategies including freeze frame, tableau, hot seating, thought tracking and conscience;

• develop dramatic skills appropriate to audience, context, purpose and task by exploring voice, movement, gesture and facial expression through basic exploration of a specific role, and by structuring dramatic activity to make meaning clear for a chosen audience.

THE WORLD AROUND US

The minimum content for The World Around Us is set out below.

Through the contributory elements of History, Geography and Science and Technology, teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

Interdependence

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• How they and others interact in the world;

• How living things rely on each other within the natural world;

• Interdependence of people and the environment and how this has been accelerated over time by advances in transport and communications;

• The effect of people on the natural and built environment over time.

Place

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• How place influences the nature of life;

• Ways in which people, plants and animals depend on the features and materials in places and how they adapt to their environment;

• Features of, and variations in places, including physical, human, climatic, vegetation and animal life;

• Our place in the universe;

• Change over time in places;

• Positive and negative effects of natural and human events upon place over time.

Movement and Energy

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• The causes and effect of energy, forces and movement;

• Causes that effect the movement of people and animals;

• How movement can be accelerated by human and natural events such as wars, earthquakes, famine or floods;

• Positive and negative consequences of movement and its impact on people, places and interdependence.

Change over Time

Pupils should be enabled to explore:

• How change is a feature of the human and natural world and may have consequences for our lives and the world around us;

• Ways in which change occurs over both short and long periods of time in the physical and natural world;

• The effects of positive and negative changes globally and how we contribute to some of these changes.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

The minimum content for Personal Development and Mutual Understanding is set out below.

Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING AND HEALTH

• their self esteem, self confidence and how they develop as individuals;

• their management of a range of feelings and emotions and the feelings and emotions of others;

• effective learning strategies;

• how to sustain their health, growth and well being and coping safely and efficiently with their environment.

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING IN THE LOCAL AND WIDER COMMUNITY

• initiating, developing and sustaining mutually satisfying relationships;

• human rights and social responsibility;

• causes of conflict and appropriate responses;

• valuing and celebrating cultural difference and diversity;

• playing an active and meaningful part in the life of the community and being concerned about the wider environment.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

The minimum content for Physical Education is set out below.

Teachers should provide opportunities for pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:

Athletics

Pupils should be enabled to

• participate in activities and physical challenges to learn, understand and continue to develop the core skills of running, jumping and throwing in a co-operative and competitive context using a variety of equipment;

• progress from simple running, jumping and throwing activities towards becoming involved in more difficult personal challenges and through them, improving performance;

• practise running over short and long distances;

• practise jumping for height and distance;

• practise throwing activities for accuracy and distance from a stationary position to a controlled run-up;

• record and analyse personal performance in a variety of ways.

Dance

Pupils should be enabled to:

• progress from using simple movements and gestures, towards developing these into a structured, sequenced and co-ordinated set of movements using variables such as space, direction and speed;

• develop their movements progressively individually; in pairs; in trios; small groups; and larger groups.

• develop more effective use of space levels, directions, speed and strength

• move with increased control, co-ordination and poise, using a variety of actions and gestures which communicate ideas and feelings;

• create, practise and perform movement sequences, using a variety of stimuli and to an audience;

• structure dances with clear beginnings, middles and ends;

• perform a selection of simple folk dances.

Games

Pupils should be enabled to:

• progress from developing individual skills and partner activities and games to suitable small-sided, adapted and mini-games through both co-operative and then competitive play;

• develop control in running, jumping, changing speed, stopping and starting, with and without small equipment;

• improve their skills of handling, hitting and kicking using a variety of equipment and progress from developing individual skills and partner activities and games to suitable small-sided adapted and mini games through both co-operative and then competitive play;

• develop an understanding of, and participate in, small-sided, adapted and mini games.

Gymnastics

Pupils should be enabled to:

• extend their body management skills and improve the variety and quality of movement;

• progress from working individually to working in pairs, trios, small groups and whole groups;

• explore, practise and refine a range of movement skills, including travelling, flight, rolling, balancing, transferring weight, including weight on hands, twisting, turning and stretching.

Swimming

Pupils should be enabled to:

• develop basic swimming and personal survival skills;

• understand the importance of personal hygiene in relation to pool use;

• progress from using a swimming aid to developing their confidence and competence in being able to swim without the use of any aids using recognised swimming strokes.

PART 5 Key Stage 3

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY: English with Media Education

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Through engagement with a range of stimuli, including peers, poetry, prose, drama, non-fiction, media and multimedia, which enhance creativity and stimulate curiosity and imagination, pupils should have opportunities to become critical, creative and effective communicators by: expressing meaning, feelings and viewpoints; talking, to include debate, role play, interviews, presentations and group discussions; listening actively and reporting back; reading and viewing for key ideas, enjoyment, engagement and empathy; writing and presenting in different media and for different audiences and purposes; participating in a range of drama activities; interpreting visual stimuli including the moving image; developing an understanding of different forms, genres and methods of communication and an understanding of how meaning is created; developing their knowledge of how language works and their accuracy in using the conventions of language, including spelling, punctuation and grammar; analysing critically their own and other texts; using a range of techniques, forms and media to convey information creatively and appropriately.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Engage, through language, with their peers and with fictional and real-life characters and situations, to explore their own emotions and develop creative potential. Personal Understanding Explore and respond to others’ emotions as encountered in literature, the media, moving image and peer discussion. Develop the ability to use language (including body language) effectively in communicating with and relating to others. Mutual Understanding Explore the use of language and imagery in conveying and evoking a variety of powerful feelings. Spiritual Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Personal Health Media Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Use literature, drama, poetry or the moving image to explore others’ needs and rights. Citizenship Explore the power of a range of communication techniques to inform, entertain, influence and persuade. Consider how meanings are changed when texts are adapted to different media. Media Awareness Explore how different cultures and beliefs are reflected in a range of communication methods. Cultural Understanding Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate the importance of communication skills in life/work situations. Employability Plan and create an effective communication campaign on an issue related to: Education for Sustainable Development. Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of English with Media Education. Pupils should be able to:	research and manage information effectively, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual and written formats (including ICT and the moving image) showing clear awareness of audience and purpose and attention to accuracy.

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY: Irish with Media Education in Irish-speaking schools

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Through engagement with a range of stimuli including peers, poetry, prose, drama, non-fiction, media and multimedia which enhance creativity and stimulate curiosity and imagination, pupils should have opportunities to become creative and effective communicators by: expressing meaning, feelings and viewpoints; talking - including debate, role play, interviews, presentations; active listening and reporting back; reading and viewing for key ideas, enjoyment, engagement and empathy; writing for different audiences and purposes; participation in a range of drama activities; interpreting visual stimuli and the moving image; developing an understanding of different forms, genres and methods of communication and understanding how meaning is created; developing their knowledge of how language works and their accuracy in using the conventions of language, including spelling, punctuation and grammar; using a range of techniques, forms and media to convey information creatively and appropriately.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Engage, through language, with their peers and with fictional and real-life characters and situations, to explore emotions and develop creative potential. Personal Understanding Explore and respond to others’ emotions through literature, moving image or peer discussion. Develop an understanding of the power of languages (including bi-lingualism and body language) to communicate and empathise with others. Mutual Understanding Explore the use of language and imagery in conveying and evoking a variety of powerful feelings. Spiritual Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Personal Health Moral Character	Pupils should have opportunities to: Use literature, drama, poetry or the moving image to explore others’ needs and rights. Citizenship Explore the power of a range of communication techniques to inform, entertain, influence and persuade. Analyse and evaluate how a novel has been portrayed in film. Media Awareness Explore how different cultures and beliefs and language communities, here and globally are reflected in a range of communication methods. Cultural Understanding Investigate and evaluate communication techniques used to explore a relevant ethical issue. Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate how communication skills are vital to life/work situations. Investigate how the skills developed through the Irish language will enhance career options and increase mobility. Employability Plan and create an effective communication campaign on an issue related to: Education for Sustainable Development Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Irish (in Irish-speaking schools) with Media Education. Pupils should be able to:	research and manage information effectively, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual and written formats (including ICT and the moving image) showing clear awareness of audience, purpose and attention to accuracy.

MATHEMATICS AND NUMERACY: Mathematics with Financial Capability

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities, through the contexts opposite, to develop: knowledge and understanding of Number Algebra Shape, Space and Measures Handling Data; knowledge and understanding of personal finance issues; and skills to enable competent and responsible financial decision making; the application of mathematical skills to real life and work situations; the creative use of technology to enhance mathematical understanding; by demonstrating: creative thinking in their approach to solving mathematical problems; increasing competence in mental mathematics skills; increasing competence in pencil and paper methods; increasing confidence in the use of mathematical language and notation; practical skills using technology.	Young people should have opportunities to : Investigate a personal and class lifestyle study of time. Personal Understanding Work collaboratively in problem solving, taking account of others’ viewpoints to reach consensus. Mutual Understanding Demonstrate an ability and willingness to develop logical arguments. Moral Character Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Personal Health Spiritual Awareness	Young people should have opportunities to: Analyse and interpret information patterns relating to local and global trends. Citizenship Critically examine the use and misuse of mathematics to justify/support particular attitudes/opinions in different media, and the interpretation of data. Media Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Cultural Understanding Ethical Awareness	Young people should have opportunities to: Examine the role of mathematics as a “key” to entry for future education, training and employment. Explore how the skills developed through mathematics will be useful to a range of careers Employability Apply mathematical skills in everyday financial planning and decision making Economic Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Education for Sustainable Development
Learning Outcomes The Learning Outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Mathematics. Pupils should be able to:	demonstrate mental mathematical capability with simple problems; decide on the appropriate method and equipment to solve problems–mental, written, calculator, mathematical instruments or a combination of these; demonstrate financial capability in a range of relevant everyday contexts; research and manage information effectively to investigate and solve mathematical problems, using ICT where appropriate; show deeper mathematical understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

MODERN LANGUAGES

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities, through the contexts opposite, to become effective and creative communicators by: listening and responding in oral and written form, in the target language, to a range of stimuli and for a variety of purposes; talking about experience, feelings and opinions using the target language; developing an awareness of language and how it works, and by improving accuracy; comparing linguistic features in first and target language; reading and viewing a range of stimuli in the target language for key ideas, detail, enjoyment and engagement; writing in the target language to exchange information and ideas, establish and maintain contact; using a range of techniques, including performance and multi-media, to convey, present and exchange information innovatively in the target language and as a means of creative expression; using previously learnt language in unfamiliar contexts; engaging with others including, where possible, partner schools; applying the language-specific skills and transferable skills acquired through second language learning to real-life situations locally, nationally and internationally.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Communicate an understanding of self. Personal Understanding Communicate an understanding of others. Mutual Understanding Explore issues relating to lifestyle choices. Personal Health Discover how second language learning can inspire an awareness of cultural similarities and differences. Spiritual Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Moral Character	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore social issues which relate to everyday lives. Citizenship Present an understanding of their own culture and of the culture associated with the language. Cultural Understanding Develop an awareness of media and a knowledge of media resources in the target language country. Media Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate how the language-specific skills and learning skills developed through languages will enhance career options and increase mobility. Employability Enhance awareness of money matters in target language regions. Economic Awareness Consider local and global environmental issues. Education for Sustainable Development
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of the Target Language. Pupils should be able to:	research and manage information effectively to investigate target language issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written and ICT formats, improving accuracy and showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

THE ARTS: Art and Design

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities, through the contexts opposite, to develop their own personal and creative responses by: researching, gathering and interpreting information from direct experiences, observations, memory, imagination and a range of traditional and digital sources; developing an appreciation of the work of artists, designers and craft workers from their own and other cultures, past and present; developing creative thinking skills and personal creative outcomes through investigating, realising, designing and making; drawing and graphic media, printmaking, textiles, ceramics, 3-dimensional construction or prototyping, lens based and digital media; using the visual elements with understanding when engaging in art and design; evaluating and appreciating their own and others’ work through discussion and reflection.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Express themselves through Art and Design. Personal Understanding Work with other pupils to produce a creative response to group expressions of identity. Mutual Understanding Investigate and respond to works of art that inspire and relate to their lives and experiences. Spiritual Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Personal Health Moral Character	Pupils should have opportunities to: Make an informed and critical response to a social/environmental issue. Citizenship Explore the diversity of various cultures that are expressed through Art & Design. Cultural Understanding Investigate and respond to the use of visual language, logos and catchphrases in advertising. Media Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Develop awareness of employment opportunities within the creative industries in N. Ireland and beyond. Employability Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness Education for Sustainable Development
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Art and Design. Pupils should be able to:	research and manage information effectively to investigate and inform ideas in art, design, craft, digital media and moving image, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper artistic understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working independently and systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written and digital media (ICT) formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

ART AND DESIGN: MUSIC

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should develop their musical potential by having opportunities, through the contexts opposite, to: improvise, compose and perform music in a range of styles; explore and combine the elements of music (pitch, rhythm, dynamics, timbre, texture) to create structure and style when improvising and composing; perform individually and in groups, and discuss and decide on points of interpretation in the music; use existing and emerging music technology resources when composing and performing; listen to and appraise their own music and that of others; listen to a wide range of music from different styles and genres and respond critically to what they hear; explore how the skills they learn through music-making are relevant to their present and future lives; develop awareness of the range of employment opportunities in the music and music-related industries.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Compose music which expresses their own personal responses to themes and issues. Reflect on the personal processes used in developing a composition. Personal Understanding Listen to compositions and performances by other members of the class and discuss content and effect in the music. Mutual Understanding Take account of health and safety issues when composing and performing. Personal Health Demonstrate a willingness to respond positively to criticism during music-making activities and to challenge own and others pre-conceived ideas about different types and styles of music by listening to unfamiliar music with open minds. Moral Character Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Spiritual Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore the power of music to evoke mood and atmosphere and to influence behaviour. Citizenship Listen to and perform music from different periods styles, and cultural traditions and discuss how the elements of music are used within the different contexts. Cultural Understanding Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Media Awareness Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Develop awareness of employment opportunities in the music industry and the skills required. Develop the ability to be discriminating consumers of music through making and responding to music. Employability Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness Education for Sustainable Development
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Making Music and Responding to Music. Pupils should be able to:	demonstrate musical understanding and skills by expressing and communicating their thoughts, ideas and feelings through making and responding to music, showing a clear awareness of audience and purpose; demonstrate critical thinking and skilful decision-making when combining the elements of music to create compositions and performances; demonstrate musical understanding and creativity when making and responding to music; use a range of appropriate resources (including music technology) to explore and experiment with different approaches to composing and performing; demonstrate self management by working independently and systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; work effectively as members of a group when composing and performing.

THE ARTS: Drama

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities, through the contexts opposite, to use dramatic skills appropriate to audience, context, purpose and task. They should have opportunities to: engage with a range of stimuli to develop critical and creative thinking skills; adopt a role; take part in improvisation; devise scripts and use drama forms and strategies effectively to explore and present ideas; employ sign, symbol, metaphor and image; engage in movement and/or dance; experience live and recorded drama, and respond to a variety of texts; begin to develop an appreciation of theatre styles, genres and vocabulary; explore characterisation through use of masks, costume, props, puppets and electronic media; evaluate their own and others’ work.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Express themselves emotionally and imaginatively through drama and improvisation. Personal Understanding Explore and respond to the views and feelings of others. Mutual Understanding Explore ways in which uplifting/spiritual experiences can be conveyed through gesture, expression, movement, dance etc. Spiritual Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Personal Health Moral Character	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore how drama is used to educate about and resolve issues of social concern. Citizenship Explore how drama reflects and gives insight into a range of cultures. Cultural Understanding Explore the effects of media and ICT. Media Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate how skills developed through drama such as empathy, confidence, communication skills are vital to life/work situations and a range of careers. Employability Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness Education for Sustainable Development
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Drama. Pupils should be able to:	research and manage information effectively to investigate issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance. communicate effectively in oral, visual, written and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY: History

The Minimum Content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities to: investigate the past and its impact on our world today through an understanding of: different perspectives and interpretations; cause and effect; continuity and change; progression and regression; and by developing: the enquiry skills to undertake historical investigations; critical thinking skills to evaluate a range of evidence and appreciate different interpretations; creative thinking skills in their approach to solving problems and making decisions; chronological awareness and the ability to make connections between historical periods, events and turning points; an ability to challenge stereotypical, biased or distorted viewpoints with appropriately sensitive, informed and balanced responses; through a broad and balanced range of: historical periods; Irish, British, European and global contexts; significant political, social, economic, cultural and religious development.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore how history has affected their personal identity, culture and lifestyle. Personal Understanding Investigate how history has been selectively interpreted to create stereotypical perceptions and to justify views and actions. Mutual Understanding Investigate individuals who are considered to have taken a significant moral stand and examine their motivation and legacy. Moral Character Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Personal Health Spiritual Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate the long and short term causes and consequences of the partition of Ireland and how it has influenced Northern Ireland today including key events and turning points. Citizenship Investigate the impact of significant events/ideas of the 20th century on the world. Cultural Understanding Critically investigate and evaluate the power of the media in their representation of a significant historical event or individual. Media Awareness Investigate critical issues in history or historical figures who have behaved ethically or unethically. Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate how the skills developed through history will be useful in a range of careers. Employability Investigate the need to preserve history in the local and global environment. Education for Sustainable Development Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of History and its impact on the present. Pupils should be able to:	research and manage information effectively to investigate historical issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper historical understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY: Geography

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities, through the contexts opposite, to: develop geographical skills to interpret spatial patterns including atlas and map-work skills; develop enquiry and fieldwork skills–questioning, planning, collecting, recording, presenting, analysing, interpreting information and drawing conclusions relating to a range of primary and secondary sources; develop critical and creative thinking skills to solve geographical problems and make informed decisions; develop a sense of place through the study of: a range of local, national, European and global contexts; contrasting physical and human environments; issues of topical significance; in order to develop an understanding of: physical processes of landscape development; the interrelationships between physical and human environments; the dynamic nature of physical and human environments; the ways in which places are interdependent; the need for social, economic and environmental change to be sustainable.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Develop a sense of place and belonging at a local level. Demonstrate an awareness of their own relationships to other places, peoples and environments, from local to global. Personal Understanding Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Mutual Understanding Personal Health Moral Character Spiritual Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate differences in lifestyle within and between countries. Explore how we can play a role in helping to promote a fairer world for all. Citizenship Develop an understanding of how people in different places interact with their environment. Cultural Understanding Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Media Awareness Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate how the skills developed through geography will be useful to a range of careers. Employability Investigate how physical processes operate to create distinct and diverse environments. Investigate the impact of conflict between social, economic and environmental needs, both locally and globally. Explore how we can exercise environmental stewardship and help promote a better quality of life for present and future generations, both locally and globally. Education for Sustainable Development Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Geography. Pupils should be able to:	demonstrate skills in using maps, fieldwork equipment and methods of data collection in undertaking geographical enquiry; research and manage information effectively to investigate geographical issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper geographical understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Science

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities, through the contexts opposite, to: develop skills in scientific methods of enquiry to further scientific knowledge and understanding: planning for investigations, obtaining evidence, presenting and interpreting results; develop creative and critical thinking in their approach to solving scientific problems; research scientific information from a range of sources; develop a range of practical skills, including the safe use of science equipment; learn about: Organisms and Health Interdependence of plants and animals Cells, genes and reproduction Healthy body and mind Chemical and material behaviour Atoms and chemical changes Structures, properties, uses of materials Elements, compounds and mixtures Forces and energy Forces and energy transfer Using electricity Sound and light Earth and Universe The environment and human influences The solar system and universe.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore emotional development. Investigate ways of improving own learning by finding out how the brain functions. Personal Understanding Explore physical, chemical and biological effects on personal health. Personal Health Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Mutual Understanding Moral Character Spiritual Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate how the media help inform the public about science and science related issues. Media Awareness Explore some ethical dilemmas arising from scientific developments. Ethical Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Citizenship Cultural Understanding	Pupils should have opportunities to: Identify how skills developed through science will be useful to a wide range of careers. Employability Investigate a product of economic importance to determine the science behind it. Economic Awareness Investigate the effects of pollution and specific measures to improve and protect the environment. Explore the importance of biodiversity, how it impacts on our lives and how it is affected by human activity. Investigate what can be done to conserve and promote biodiversity. Education for Sustainable Development
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Science. Pupils should be able to:	demonstrate a range of practical skills in undertaking experiments, including the safe use of scientific equipment and appropriate mathematical calculations; use investigative skills to explore scientific issues, solve problems and make informed decisions; research and manage information effectively, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper scientific understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Technology and Design

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities through the contexts opposite, to develop creative thinking and problem solving skills through: Design – identifying problems; investigating, generating, developing, modelling and evaluating design proposals; giving consideration to form, function and safety; Communication – use of free-hand sketching and formal drawing techniques and ICT tools (including 3D modelling); Manufacturing – selecting and using materials fit for purpose; safe use of a range of tools and processes appropriate to materials, demonstrating accuracy and quality of outcome; Control – incorporate control systems, such as mechanical, electronic or computer-based, in products and understand how these can be employed to achieve desired effects.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Respond to a personal design challenge in relation to their own lifestyle. Personal Understanding Abide by health and safety rules when using tools, machines and equipment. Personal Health Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Mutual Understanding Moral Character Spiritual Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore technical inventions and designs that have met a social need cost-effectively. Design cost effective and appropriate solutions to meet the specific needs of diverse local and global groups. Citizenship Explore how developments in Technology and Design have changed the way we can access the media. Media Awareness Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Cultural Understanding Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate how the skills developed through Technology and Design will be useful to a wide range of careers. Employability Pursue design solutions using environmental friendly materials and energy sources. Identify product needs and pursue sustainable harmonious design solutions in a local outdoor/indoor context. Education for Sustainable Development Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Technology and Design. Pupils should be able to:	demonstrate practical skills in the safe use of a range of tools, machines and equipment; research and manage information effectively to investigate design issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual (including graphic), written, mathematical and ICT formats showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK: Employability

The minimum content is set out below

Work in the Local and Global Economy Exploring work in the Local and Global Economy allows young people opportunities to investigate the impact of the global market on Northern Ireland and to reflect on the implications for their personal career planning.	Career Management Exploring Career Management provides opportunities for young people to investigate the changing concept of career which is moving away from the likelihood of a job for life to the expectation that individuals will experience several career changes and this will involve lifelong learning, updating knowledge and skills, self marketing and effective personal career planning.	Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Exploring Enterprise and Entrepreneurship provides opportunities for young people to investigate the need for creativity and enterprise, whether as an employer or employee, and to identify and practise some of the skills and develop the attributes associated with being enterprising.
Pupils should have opportunities to: Describe different types of work and investigate the range of employment in the local area, including any changes in employment trends, taking account of the implications for career planning. Investigate the local impact of the global market. Investigate how technology is affecting life and work. Investigate how an employer might deal with issues affecting work. Investigate how environmental considerations are affecting work and work practices. Investigate how work organisations contribute to the community.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Assess personal skills and achievements to date; identify areas of interest and set targets for self-improvement. Explore the changing concept of career. Engage in the personal career planning process to investigate and reach decisions about post-14 options, recognising that attitudes to work will change over time and are influenced by family and community values. Practise presentational and self-marketing skills. Investigate a variety of both familiar and unfamiliar jobs. Make use of appropriate information, advice and guidance to inform career management.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Identify and practise the skills and attributes which make one enterprising. Understand the importance of innovation and develop strategies to promote an entrepreneurial spirit, considering possible implications for career planning. Find out what makes an entrepreneur and develop an awareness of the challenges and benefits of building your own business. Explore the range of small businesses in the life of the community and consider possible implications for career planning.
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Employability. Pupils should be able to:	research and manage information effectively to investigate employability issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate enterprise , creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own learning and performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK: Local and Global Citizenship

The minimum content is set out below

Diversity and Inclusion Exploring Diversity and Inclusion provides opportunities to consider the range and extent of diversity in societies locally and globally and to identify the challenges and opportunities which diversity and inclusion present in local, national, European and global contexts.	Human Rights and Social Responsibility Exploring Human Rights and Social Responsibility provides opportunities to understand that a globally accepted values base exists that reflects the rights, as outlined within various international human rights instruments, and responsibilities of individuals and groups in democratic society.	Equality and Social Justice Exploring Equality and Social Justice provides opportunities to understand that society needs to safeguard individual and collective rights to try and ensure that everyone is treated fairly.	Democracy and Active Participation Exploring Democracy and Active Participation provides opportunities for young people to understand how to participate in and to influence democratic processes and to be aware of some key democratic institutions and their role in promoting inclusion, justice and democracy.
Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate factors that influence individual and group identity. Investigate ways in which individuals and groups express their identity. Investigate how and why conflict, including prejudice, stereotyping, sectarianism and racism may arise in the community. Investigate ways of managing conflict and promoting community relations, reconciliation.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate why it is important to uphold human rights standards in modern democratic societies, including meeting basic needs, protecting individuals and groups of people. Investigate key human rights principles Investigate why different rights must be limited or balanced in our society. Investigate local and global scenarios where human rights have been seriously infringed.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore how inequalities can arise in society including how and why some people may experience inequality or discrimination on the basis of their group identity. Investigate how and why some people may experience inequality/social exclusion on the basis of their material circumstances in local and global contexts. Explore the work of inter-governmental, governmental and non governmental organisations (NGO) which aim to promote equality and social justice.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Investigate the basic characteristics of democracy. Investigate various ways to participate in school and society. Investigate why rules and laws are needed, how they are enforced and how breaches of the law affect the community. Investigate an issue from a range of viewpoints and suggest action that might be taken to improve or resolve the situation.
Learning Outcomes The Learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Local and Global Citizenship. Pupils should be able to:	research and manage information effectively to investigate Citizenship issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, exploring problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK: Personal Development

The minimum content is set out below

Self Awareness Exploring Self Awareness provides opportunities to consider the importance of self-confidence and self-esteem to physical and emotional/mental health throughout life.	Personal Health Exploring Personal Health provides opportunities to understand the importance of recognising and managing factors that may influence physical and emotional/mental health throughout life.	Relationships Exploring Relationships provides opportunities to understand the importance of forming and maintaining relationships to physical and emotional/mental health throughout life.
Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore and express a sense of self. Explore personal morals, values and beliefs. Investigate the influences on a young person. Explore the different ways to develop self-esteem. Develop skills and strategies to improve own learning.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore the concept of Health as the development of a whole person. Investigate the influences on physical and emotional /mental personal health. Develop understanding about, and strategies to manage, the effects of change on body, mind and behaviour. Investigate the effects on the body of legal and illegal substances and the risks and consequences of their misuse. Develop preventative strategies in relation to accidents in the home, school and on the road. Develop strategies to promote personal safety.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore the qualities of relationships including friendship. Explore the qualities of a loving, respectful relationship. Develop coping strategies to deal with challenging relationship scenarios. Develop strategies to avoid and resolve conflict. Explore the implications of sexual maturation. Explore the emotional, social and moral implications of early sexual activity.
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Personal Development. Pupils should be able to:	develop an awareness of emergency first aid procedures; research and manage information effectively to investigate Personal Development issues; using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systemically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK: Home Economics

The minimum content is set out below

Healthy Eating Exploring Healthy Eating provides opportunities to develop understanding required in the choice, planning, storage, preparation, cooking and serving of food.	Home and Family Life Exploring Home and Family Life provides opportunities to understand the importance of the family as a caring unit.	Independent Living Exploring Independent Living provides opportunities to understand the importance of becoming discerning consumers and effective managers of resources.
Pupils should have opportunities to: Develop practical skills in the safe, hygienic, healthy and creative use of foods to plan, prepare, cook and serve a range of meals. Develop the practical skills in the safe use of a range of utensils and appliances in the preparation, cooking and serving of a variety of dishes. Investigate the impact of storage, preparation and cooking on food. Explore ways to achieve a healthy diet.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Explore the roles and responsibilities of individuals within a variety of home and family structures. Develop awareness of parenting skills. Investigate some of the changing needs of family members at different stages of the life cycle. Explore strategies to manage family scenarios.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Develop a range of skills to promote independence through planning, managing and using resources. Investigate a range of factors that influence consumer choices and decisions. Investigate consumer rights, responsibilities and support available in a range of scenarios.
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills and application of knowledge and understanding of Home Economics. Pupils should be able to:	demonstrate skills in the safe, hygienic, healthy and creative use of food; research and manage information effectively to investigate Home Economics issues, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in oral, visual, written, mathematical and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Physical Education

The minimum content is set out below

Developing pupils’ Knowledge, Understanding and Skills	(Objective 1) Developing pupils as Individuals	(Objective 2) Developing pupils as Contributors to Society	(Objective 3) Developing pupils as Contributors to the Economy and the Environment
Pupils should have opportunities to: increase their knowledge, understanding and skills through frequent and regular participation in a balanced programme of Athletics, Games (invasion, fielding/striking and net/wall), Gymnastics, Swimming; practise, refine and develop skills and specific techniques and use these with consistency; experience, monitor and understand a range of short-term effects of exercise on the body systems including cardiovascular and musculo-skeletal systems; monitor and evaluate their own activity levels over a period of time and plan how they can fulfil the activity recommendations for health; develop their knowledge of safe practices and procedures when taking part in sport and physical activity; develop the skills and capabilities required to analyse and improve their own and others’ work; develop the skills and capabilities required to work effectively with others in tasks which require co-operation, creativity, problem solving, planning and team work.	Pupils should have opportunities to: Make decisions about what they want to achieve and how to improve the quality of their work. Personal Understanding Develop positive relationships and respect for the differing capabilities of others through participation in a range of competitive and co-operative physical activities. Mutual Understanding Experience and evaluate the health and fitness benefits of a range of different physical activities, including their physical, social and psychological well-being. Personal Health Develop positive sporting behaviour and a sense of fair play. Plan, perform and evaluate their commitment to a personal activity programme. Moral Character Explore the aesthetic quality of movement, dedication, perseverance and strength of human spirit. Spiritual Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Work with others to solve problems in a range of practical situations. Citizenship Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Cultural Understanding Media Awareness Ethical Awareness	Pupils should have opportunities to: Develop through practical tasks, their personal skills in preparation for future education/training/employment. Employability Opportunities must also be provided to explore issues related to: Economic Awareness Education for Sustainable Development
Learning Outcomes The learning outcomes require the demonstration of skills applying knowledge and understanding of Physical Education. Pupils should be able to:	take responsibility for their own safety in relation to warming-up and cooling-down, injury prevention and clothing and equipment; work independently to plan, undertake and evaluate a personal physical activity programme to meet up-to -date health recommendations; research and manage information effectively, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; show deeper understanding by thinking critically and flexibly, solving problems and making informed decisions, using Mathematics and ICT where appropriate; demonstrate creativity and initiative when developing ideas and following them through; work effectively with others; demonstrate self management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance; communicate effectively in practical, oral, visual, written and ICT formats, showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

PART 6 Key Stage 4

In addition to the Minimum Content for Learning and Life and Work and Physical Education, schools will be required to provide pupils with access to each of the areas of learning at Key Stage 4 set out above.

LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK

• Employability

  Pupil should be enabled to:

  • explore self employment and identify relevant sources of support;

  • examine the impact of globalisation on employment;

  • investigate the recruitment and selection process, taking into account the rights and responsibilities of employees and employers;

  • consider how employees and employers might maintain an effective working environment;

  • investigate the increasing social responsibility of business in the community;

  • develop a personal career plan based on relevant information and guidance.

• Personal Development

  Pupils should be enabled to:

  • develop an understanding of how to maximise and sustain their own health and well-being;

  • reflect on, and respond to, their developing concept of self, including managing emotions and reactions to on-going life experiences;

  • recognise, assess and manage risk in a range of real-life contexts;

  • develop their understanding of relationships and sexuality and the responsibilities of healthy relationships;

  • develop an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of parenting;

  • develop further their competence as discerning consumers in preparation for independent living.

• Local and Global Citizenship

  Pupils should be enabled to:

  • respond to the specific challenges and opportunities which diversity and inclusion present in Northern Ireland and the wider world;

  • identify and exercise their rights and social responsibilities in relation to local, national and global issues;

  • develop their understanding of the role of society and government in safeguarding individual and collective rights in order to promote equality and to ensure that everyone is treated fairly;

  • develop their understanding of how to participate in a range of democratic processes;

  • develop awareness of key democratic institutions and their role in promoting inclusion, justice and democracy;

  • develop awareness of the role of non-governmental organisations.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Pupils should be enabled to:

• plan and participate in a regular, frequent and balanced programme of physical activity that:

  • develops their interests and talents;

  • extends their knowledge, understanding and skills; and

  • contributes to, and helps sustain, a healthy and active lifestyle;

• evaluate their own performances and that of others;

• recognise and manage risk and apply safe principles and procedures before, during and after physical activity;

• experience and understand different roles within a range of physical activities;

• know how to access sporting and recreational opportunities in the local and wider community.