These documents describe what teachers must teach at each key stage. Most National Curriculum subjects are divided into different areas of learning. The National Curriculum does not include detailed lesson plans for teachers. Schools and teachers draw up their own lesson plans based on the National Curriculum. Teachers will plan these lessons, taking account of their pupils' needs.
Schools also decide for themselves which text books and other teaching materials to use.
The National Curriculum sets standards of achievement in each subject for pupils aged 5 to 14. For most subjects these standards range from levels 1 to 8. Pupils climb up the levels as they get older and learn more. The National Curriculum for music, art and PE does not use levels 1 to 8. Instead, there is a single description of the standard that most pupils can expect to reach at the end of a key stage for each area of learning.