Urgent reforms are needed to protect primary schools struggling to cope with an overloaded curriculum, a Goverment report has concluded. Under proposals outlined by Sir Jim Rose, the Government's top adviser on primary schools, traditional lessons such as history and geography would be axed to allow teachers greater flexibility to teach fewer subjects in greater depth.

Instead of teaching subjects individually, the report said the curriculum should focus on cross-curricular studies encompassing a range of subjects and ideas.

The report said:"Failure to protect primary schools from curriculum overload will lead to the superficial treatment of essential content, as they struggle to cope with 'the next new thing' rather than teach worthwhile knowledge, skills and understanding to sufficient depth, and make sure that children value and enjoy their learning."