What would you add to National Curriculum ?

I sympathise with the wish to add life skills to the curriculum, but what would you omit in order to make space? Expecting teachers to do more is entirely unreasonable, and in any case they may not have the appropriate skills.

As someone has already pointed out, the children most in need of such support are least likely to get it from home, but I don’t see any ready solution in these cash-strapped times.

Definitely Cookery - from planning a meal, shopping and budgeting for a week's meals, using food that is in season and local produce.
Financial planning from having a bank account, use of credit - either by cards or loans, as well as finding the best costs for utilities etc.
I also like the idea of the conversation classes - surely that would have a knock on effect to help form friendships that won't need technology to keep alive!
How to get from A to B without using "Mum's or Dad's taxi"!
The number of time that I have been waiting to catch a bus home from the nearest town and their are usually a group of teenagers that seem to think that if they stand at a bus stop, a bus will magically appear! Timetables apparently don't exist!

Food and textiles are part of Design Technology, and all pupils will cook, sew, experience a workshop environment for making things in wood (possibly metal and plastics too). Usually each year they do a term of each, and then choose one for their GCSE.
Teamwork, good manners etc is part of every lesson.
Finally the idea that schools aren't interested in the less able is not true.

Many of the things that Gransnetters feel are missing in education are because of govt interference in a system that for many of them neither they nor their children/grandchildren ever experienced. The effect in schools of austerity has been indescribable, fewer teachers (bigger classes), more experienced teachers edged out, fewer people coming into the profession, the crazy pressure on English, Maths, Science, the constant change.
Academisation means some much has been lost - subject support from Local Authority and networking with other local schools, less money in school, decisions being made hundreds of miles away, little or no local understanding - working for the council was so different.

As a retired teacher, some of my knowledge is a little out-of-date, but I did teach in different parts of England until a few years ago.
Most pupils study drama in KS3, many KS4 too, so they do speak in public (and other subjects too they'll speak in front of at least a classful). Many secondary schools participate in local Public Speaking competitions.
Schools start earlier and has been mentioned, have much shorter breaks than ever before. The number of hours/days in a pupil's years used to be prescribed by govt; maybe academies can manipulate that, I don't know. The half day loss is a purely financial decision. It saves money because the teaching staff have all their non-contact time Friday pm. I used to hate frees Friday pm, because I got less work done (marking, lesson plans, admin etc) than I would've at any other time.
All the academic subjects can't be taught in the morning - what would core subject staff do in the afternoon? Some schools have a late lunchtime so the morning is much longer than the afternoon.

I would add self defence training.

Money management would be the top of my list. Cooking not necessary as everybody can read a recipe.2nd in list would be ‘common sense’ .... so there you have it..... money management and common sense!

How to run a home. To include budgeting, Direct Debits, bank accounts, credit cards, all bills utilities, council tax, benefits system, NI, tax, insurances for home, shopping for food, nutrition vitamins etc, cleaning and cooking. Most children struggle with this when leaving home.

Yes basic cookery for both sexes. That way they will not need to use all these ready meals etc & save a fortune.
\in my experience they love to cook if given the right approach. All my GC have learnt / are learning with me as did their dads & they are perfectly able to knock up some basic dishes. My eldest DGS cooks for every new girlfriend (of which there are many!!) & they are always impressed. The last one asked if she could still come round for his Chinese Chicken after they split up- to give him his due he did say yes!

Useful foreign languages.
French may be the language most widely taught, but quite honestly, other languages should have more priority. French is useful if you go to France but its usefulness is limited now.

Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese and German.
At least two should be compulsory subjects.

I would make compulsory cookery lessons for everyone including where food comes from. I worked in a nursery 10 years ago where we would regularly make simple cakes, buns etc with the children. Many of the staff had never made cakes and did not know where to start. Many are now married with children presumably still not cooking/baking. I would also include politics, how our government and especially the EU works.

I would suggest ways to increase self esteem, coupled with the practice of self compassion and compassion for others. The great thing about compassion, is that it is rewarded with the release of the happiness hormone oxytocin, whether giving or receiving compassion. What's not to love..?

interesting. so many of the comments suggest things that my parents taught me and i taught to my kids. manners, washing clothes, cooking, sewing, being articulate, love of reading, etc. perhaps a course on how to be a good parent might be best and incorporate all and more of these things!

Good manners, basic cookery and budgetting!

Arggh JackyB my idea of a nightmare curriculum. Team sports, having to perform in a group. I’d definitely have become a school refuser! The little I had to do in that regard was more than enough.

That’s one of the problems. People who love something think that everyone else should do it too. Hooray for my school that made sure we could read, write and and understand maths and then let us choose what suited and interested us.

should be taught basic cookery, basic needlework, how to sew on a button mend a hem instead of throwing clothes away, basic economics, how to shop for food and clothes, how to budget, claim benefits, open a bank account and refuse a credit card and loan,

What school leavers don’t realize is that they have to learn a skill, it doesn’t matter what it is, clerical, engineer, bricklayer or accountant. Whatever they choose they will be starting at the bottom and will have to do whatever they are asked and if they do not give satisfaction they will get sacked.

All through school they have new experiences but learn nothing in depth and there are no consequences if they don’t, that is going to change, it’s going to get serious. Academic children are easy to teach it’s motivating the less academic that there is a good future for them that is not being done.

Secondary schools fail to address the needs of the children that are not academic, friends of mine find it impossible to find young people to train as apprentices, two are carpenters, one a large garage, one an electrician. They all try, but after a week or two the young person looses interest and drifts off.

They are just not willing to accept the routine of turning up on time and doing something useful.

The majority of the things mentioned are all taught in schools.

“It is far more important that everybody within the school, including staff, shows good manners, leads by example and gently reminds those who don't. Once an ethos of politeness is established, the vast majority of pupils will conform.”

Hear hear. You can’t “teach” politeness and rather a waste of time to be honest. lead by example is best. I once had a very recalcitrant student to deal with and decided to be so incredibly polite and charming to him that he had nothing to fight against. Job done.

There were three girls on Woman's Hour last week campaigning for lessons in self-defence. They certainly had a point. It could be included in PE at any stage. As should any form of team sports - if properly guided, surely a good game of football, hockey, netball, basketball or the like would surely cultivate the "teamwork" so often required in job descriptions. And, of course, the joy of producing something as a team that you get from singing in a choir, playing in an orchestra or band.

David true up to a point, but what careers will be available in the future, and what skills will be needed? I had an academic education, but my IT skills, for instance, after only five years out of employment, are out of date. Creativity and flexibility are important as jobs change and today’s youngsters may have to change careers during their working life. Learning how to learn, to make links between disparate subjects, to process information and select that which is relevant ( meta learning) is crucial. We are also more aware of how creativity and mindfulness can contribute to better mental health.

Reality, you have have a skill that someone else is willing to pay for. When you leave school how are you going to live and pay the rent, realistic career based education needs to be reinvented.

I wish we had a system whereby education was left in the hands of those with experience of working in that field. Where government ministers, Mr Gove springs to mind instantly, just but out.

If a child isn't reading by seven, there will be difficulties the teachers in his/her primary school can identify. Maybe a specific ld like dyslexia or maybe the child's home circumstances prevent learning.
Good posts from trisher and DoraMarr.

Goodness, sewing on buttons? I think it’s up to parents to teach basic skills, and from my experience most do, and show their children how to cook, too, far better than I could. Teaching basic skills to all children would be taking a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. Schools should teach academic subjects, but the curriculum should be broader, and all children should have the opportunity to learn music and other arts, and not drop arts subjects before GCSEs. I also think homework should be banned until children are in year nine, formal education shouldn’t start until age seven, and infant school (KS1) children should have a shorter day, with more emphasis on play. However, this would require a commitment to providing affordable childcare with qualified practitioners for working parents.

I wonder if theres a way to do the same for the older section of society. Not making sweeping assumptions about young people maybe

I don't believe that etiquettes should be taught as a separate subject. For a start, most children wouldn't take any notice of being told explicitly how to behave. There seems to be an assumption that teaching is the same as learning. Anybody who knows anything about teenagers realises that they're more likely to rebel, if told to do something by people they don't respect.

It is far more important that everybody within the school, including staff, shows good manners, leads by example and gently reminds those who don't. Once an ethos of politeness is established, the vast majority of pupils will conform.