You are probably aware that in the latest National Curriculum document for England there is no mention at all of fungi, whilst plants and animals are each mentioned over sixty times.

Over the last couple of days the BMS Fungal Education and Outreach Committee (FEO) have drafted suggested amendments to the document that would facilitate the inclusion of fungi in the Primary School Curriculum. This has now been sent along with a letter from the President, both by email and by post to the Department of Education.

We would now like to ask the BMS membership to help address this important omission.

The FEO have drafted a response that individuals may use if they wish or they may wish to write their own message of support. Please find this attached.

Responding to the document is very straight forward.

To respond, should you choose to do so, please do the following:

• Log onto the Department of Education website: (URL below)

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/national-curriculum-review-new-programmes-of-study-and-attainment-targets-from-september-2014

• Click on ‘Respond online’

Fill in personal details – respond on behalf of BMS or as an individual

• Go to Q4, tick yes

Copy over the paragraph attached or voice your own concern:

• Submit.

With your help the BMS may be able to address a serious imbalance in educating future generations about the importance of fungi. Thank you in advance for your support in this