Principals met yesterday with the Education Ministry over plans to reform the middle school curriculum.

Education Minister Sen. Milton Scott said his officers were consulting with head teachers about the best way to take the proposal forward, with as little disruption as possible.

It was revealed last week that the curriculum of the middle schools will be scaled down to ensure that pupils study no more than nine subjects in a year, including reading.

It followed a study on the system by experts from the US, who produced what has been labelled the Gatewood report into the strengths and weaknesses of the middle schools.

It stated that the curriculum was overly full, resulting in youngsters not studying subjects in great enough depth, and sometimes becoming overwhelmed with the curriculum.

And it recommended that pupils cover fewer subjects in more detail, and learn to connect certain aspects of various faculties.

But both the Bermuda Union of Teachers and Opposition Education Minister Tim Smith have called for the full report to be made public.

Instead, Sen. Scott said a summary of the report had been published and distributed to teachers and the union.

Sen. Scott said: "The changes to the curriculum will mean recognising the timetables for the new school year.

"We wrote to principals at the end of May on this issue, inviting them to join a committee to ensure that this can be introduced in the most effective and efficient way possible.

"We recognise that this will impact on schools in a number of ways, including in terms of scheduling and use of facilities. The first meeting will be held this Friday.

"This is the first in a series of initiatives that will be introduced to tackle the issues raised by the Gatewood Report."

However, Mr. Scott refused to comment last night and said: "There was a meeting that was held but it didn't involvement me," before hanging up.

The report praised the commitment and dedication of the teachers and principals in the middle school system, who have steered pupils along since the system was set up three years oago.