I'm working on some amendments to our syllabus. I'm stretching things out a little bit so the middle grades only need to study the one kata each. This will put more focus onto each kata instead of trying to learn two at once. I believe the pinans are often bypassed in favour of flashier kata. I think this is a mistake.
Previously some of our mid grades had two new pinan kata to learn. I thought it was a bit of a squeeze and didn't allow a more in-depth study of the kata.
Some of the basics have been jiggled around a bit too. Now they are more closely tied to their associated kata. No techniques have been removed, they've just been swapped about a little. I'll post a copy when it's finalised.
Passai is off the shodan requirement list, and is added to the "additional kata" section. Shodan now requires Seishan and Chinto.