Dear Sir or Madam,

Please provide information on how the Department plans to celebrate
St George's Day in 2009, and whether any instruction or assistance
is provided to schools for the celebration of England's national
day.

Yours faithfully,

Gareth Young

Dear Mr Young,

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2008/0085746

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Young

Thank you for your email dated 15 October, inquiring about plans to
celebrate St George's Day in 2009. I have been asked to reply.

The Department has no plans for celebrating St George's Day in 2009.
The national curriculum is extremely flexible and it is a matter for
individual schools to determine the content and delivery of the school
day. We believe that schools are best placed to choose activities and
teaching methods, with teachers using their professional judgement to
identify the most appropriate ways of meeting their pupils' specific
learning needs.

There are opportunities for children to learn about patron saints in
several areas of the curriculum, including religious education (RE),
history and geography. Full details of the national curriculum are
available online at: http://curriculum.qca.gov.uk
<http://curriculum.qca.gov.uk/> . Additionally, some sample lesson
plans are available online at: www.teachernet.gov.uk
<http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/> - teachers are free to use these or
adapt them as they see fit.

Yours sincerely

Pete Jinks
Public Communications Unit
www.dcsf.gov.uk <http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/>
<http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/system/style/new/...>

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number
2008/0085746. To correspond by email with the Department for Children,
Schools and Families please contact [DCSF request email].

If you have any further queries why not browse our Popular Questions
website. This site has been built to allow you to quickly find the
answer to your question http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/popularquestions

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