Why the sudden flashback to 1999? Because that, according to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s website, was the last time the ICT National Curriculum for 5 to 11-year-olds was updated. Scan right down to the bottom of the page, and there you’ll find: “This content relates to the 1999 programmes of study and attainment targets.”

At first I thought this was a mistake, an outdated page that was left lingering by mistake on the QCA website.  So I rang the QCA press office to point out this heinous error. “That is a long time ago,” said the press officer, before putting me on hold to check what had gone wrong. “Apparently, that is the current curriculum,” he proclaimed upon his return. “They’re in the process of updating it now.”

Indeed they are. It’s part of Sir Jim Rose’s review of primary education. The review that concluded that primary schools were failing to keep pace with children’s IT skills and that “ICT is not yet providing value for money in many schools.”

Is it any wonder when the guidelines are a decade out of date? Hence you’ll find pupils are required to “gather information from a variety of sources – for example, people, books, databases, CD-ROMs, videos and TV”, but there’s not even a mention of the internet in the entire key stage 1 ICT curriculum.

I’m sure most schools and teachers are smart enough to apply the curriculum to today’s technology – in fact I’ve seen first-hand evidence of it at my daughter’s new school.  But surely the ICT curriculum should never be left to fester for so long again.