Children in their final year of primary school are spending almost two-thirds of their time learning core subjects, said schools minister Estelle Morris.
The average percentage of teaching time in Year 6 spent on English, maths and science has risen from 53 per cent in 1996-7 to 60 per cent this year. But the rises in the time devoted to English and maths mask a slight drop i the percentage of the school week allocated to science.
While English now takes up 27 per cent of the timetable compared to 22 per cent in 1996-7, and time spent on maths has risen to 22 per cent, science accounts for only 11 per cent of the curriculum compared to 12 per cent four years ago. Ms Morris was responding to a question from Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie.