DfE Curriculum Review: Three Big Changes Coming to Primary Education
Written by Kapow Primary team
Published on 13th October 2025
Last Updated: 13th October 2025
Written by Kapow Primary team
Published on 13th October 2025
Last Updated: 13th October 2025
The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s interim report, published in spring 2025, signaled a significant shift in how the national curriculum may evolve – and primary schools are already starting to prepare. While the final recommendations won’t be published until late autumn 2025, the direction is clear.
The curriculum must do more to reflect a rapidly changing world – socially, technologically, and globally – and give children a stronger foundation for future learning across the full breadth of primary education, not just in core subjects.
At Kapow Primary, we have a dedicated team not only monitoring these developments but actively building future priorities into our curriculum design. We know change can bring uncertainty – but you can feel confident we’re already thinking ahead.
Three key themes are emerging: sustainability and climate change, digital and AI literacy, and achieving the right balance between breadth and mastery at KS1 and KS2. In this post, we explore each and show how Kapow is helping schools stay ahead.
The interim report highlights that our curriculum must do more to prepare young people for the global environmental challenges they will face. Climate change and environmental issues are among the biggest challenges today’s children will face, and the review stresses that the curriculum must prepare them for a rapidly changing world.
For primary schools, this means sustainability and climate education must move from the sidelines to the centre – becoming a core part of learning across all subjects.
This has been an integral part of the curriculum at Kapow, even before the curriculum review:
Another clear theme in the interim report is that the curriculum must keep pace with rapid technological change. The rise of artificial intelligence and the spread of digital information mean that children need more than just coding skills – they need to understand how technology shapes the world around them, how to use it safely and respectfully, and how to think critically about the information they encounter online.
For primary schools, this means strengthening computing and media literacy from the early years, so pupils leave Year 6 as confident, safe, and curious digital learners – ready to navigate and question the online world.
We’ve built this thinking into our curriculum already:
The interim report raises a familiar concern: the primary curriculum is overloaded. Teachers are struggling to cover everything in sufficient depth, which can hinder pupils from truly mastering key concepts – especially in core subjects like English and Maths.
At the same time, the pressure to fit everything in often squeezes out time for foundation subjects, narrowing the breadth of pupils’ learning.
For KS1 and KS2, the review is considering streamlining the curriculum – creating more space for pupils to secure core knowledge while still accessing the full range of subjects. The focus is likely to shift towards depth and mastery, rather than rushing through overloaded programmes of study.
It’s a challenge we’re already addressing through our curriculum design:
While we don’t yet know the final shape of the curriculum, the direction is clear – and at Kapow Primary, we’re already helping schools prepare. By embedding sustainability, digital and AI literacy, and a balanced approach to breadth and mastery across our schemes, we’re making sure you don’t have to wait to adapt.
As changes unfold, you can trust that we’ll continue to respond quickly and thoughtfully – keeping your school one step ahead and giving you the confidence to focus on what matters most: inspiring and supporting every pupil.