Key stage 3

Compulsory national curriculum subjects are:

• English
• maths
• science
• history
• geography
• modern foreign languages
• design and technology
• art and design
• music
• physical education
• citizenship
• computing

Schools must provide religious education (RE) and sex education from key stage 3 but parents can ask for their children to be taken out of the whole lesson or part of it.

Key stage 4

During key stage 4 most pupils work towards national qualifications – usually GCSEs.

The compulsory national curriculum subjects are the ‘core’ and ‘foundation’ subjects.

Core subjects are:

• English
• maths
• science

Foundation subjects are:

• computing
• physical education
• citizenship

Schools must also offer at least one subject from each of these areas:

• arts
• design and technology
• humanities
• modern foreign languages

They must also provide religious education (RE) and sex education at key stage 4.

English Baccalaureate (EBacc)

In performance tables, the EBacc shows how many students got a GCSE grade C or above in English, maths, 2 sciences, a language, and history or geography.