Education by Natasha Bita Premium Content  Schools won't teach students to tell the time until Year 2 or recite times tables until Year 4, under a simpler syllabus to start next year. A "chainsawed" national curriculum has stripped subjects from history, slowed down primary school lessons and postponed the teaching of key maths and science concepts so kids have more time to master the basics of literacy and numeracy. Year 1 students will no longer be taught to tell the time on a clock with hands, or to use fractions - waiting until Year 2 when they are "more conceptually ready'' at the age of six or seven.