AS millions of children across England begin a new curriculum geared towards preparing them for "life in modern Britain", local education leaders have welcomed the changes. Both primary and secondary schools will be subject to the "tough" new framework, put together by former education secretary Michael Gove. Some of the most notable changes include computer coding being taught in primary schools for the first time, primary pupils learning more complex maths and early secondary students studying two Shakespeare plays instead of one. But there has been criticism nationally of the roll-out, with an Association of Teachers and Lecturers study finding that more than 60 per cent of teachers polled felt they were not "fully prepared" to implement the changes. For full story, see this week's Alton Herald.