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Curriculum and assessment review: summary of the government's plans

Get up to speed on the planned changes to curriculum and assessment, including a reformed National Curriculum from 2028, removing EBacc performance measures and a new statutory reading test in year 8.

Last reviewed on 7 November 2025
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 45910
Contents
  1. What is the curriculum and assessment review?
  2. What's the latest? 
  3. New National Curriculum to start from September 2028 
  4. EBacc performance measures to be removed, with changes to Progress 8 
  5. Citizenship to become statutory in primary schools
  6. New non-statutory oracy framework
  7. Higher phonics check expectations in year 1
  8. New statutory reading test in year 8
  9. New enrichment benchmarks 
  10. Other proposals

What is the curriculum and assessment review?

It's a review of primary, secondary and 16-19 education and covers:

  • The National Curriculum
  • The statutory assessment system in England (including GCSEs, A-levels and SATs) 

The review was conducted by Becky Francis, the chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, with a panel of other education experts. It was commissioned by the government in July 2024.

The final report from the review was published on 5 November 2025.

What's the latest? 

The government has published its response to the curriculum and assessment review, where it sets out its planned changes to the National Curriculum and assessment system in England. It has accepted many of the review's recommendations.

The government will publish more information and guidance on how it'll go about implementing the changes. We'll update this article when this happens – select 'save for later' at the top right-hand corner