Millions of primary and secondary school children will be taught under what has been described as a more robust and tougher national curriculum.

This will see five-year-olds introduced to computer coding and fractions, 11-year-olds will be required to sit maths exams without a calculator and teenagers will have to study at least two plays by William Shakespeare.

Under these changes, the new curriculum is being put into practice for most year groups concurrently, with the Department for Education stating that it will prepare youngsters for "life in modern Britain".

A spokesman for the government said that one of the defining features of the new system is the emphasis it places on developing "core knowledge in key subjects".

This, he said, is what universities and employers are looking for when it comes to recruiting the best talent.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, told the BBC that teachers all across the country have worked tirelessly over the last year to ensure that they are au fait with the new curriculum.

While confident that for the most part teachers will be able to rise to the challenge, he feels that when it comes to the delivery of maths, getting used to the fact that more difficult topics need to be taught to younger kids will likely be problematic.

"One of the mistakes in the implementation of the curriculum is that it's all being implemented at once," Mr Hobby was quoted by the broadcaster as saying.

"In maths you need to learn the early concepts before you learn the later concepts, so there is a problem that there will be children who have not learned the earlier concepts before being expected to learn the more demanding ones."

Some other notable changes include learning about evolution and the periodic table by the age of 14 (sciences); a new emphasis on British history from the Stone Age to the formation of the NHS; and compulsory teaching of foreign languages in primary schools.