Students joining us in Year 7 will advance on the foundations built at primary school by being exposed to a wide range of high-quality literature that challenges and provokes thought beyond the pages of the text.  Throughout Key Stage 3, students will access both fiction and non-fiction, whilst being exposed to a range of reading and writing skills, allowing them to access and produce a variety of text types. Students will also develop their spoken language skills whereby they expand upon their performance and delivery techniques, helping to support their confidence and oral communication. We systematically promote reading for pleasure to ignite a love of reading and a sense of curiosity in exploring the world in ways that develop a student’s cultural and emotional intellect.  In our ever-changing modern world, high standards of reading, writing and spoken language will remain key requisites for those who aspire to be successful global citizens. 

Subject specialists have carefully sequenced and thought hard about the rationale of the curriculum; why we teach the content we do and in the order that we do. This is to make certain knowledge is not detached information but is connected to prior learning and built upon to ensure retention of learning and provide students deeper understanding, meaning and purpose.

At KS3, students are introduced to the English skills needed to access and produce a variety of text types, building on knowledge they have acquired at KS2 through engaging and inciteful lessons. These skills are revisited throughout KS3 through the study of more increasingly more challenging texts and concepts.

Students are provided with a clear learning intention each lesson that focuses on the skills in English. Lessons are structured in a way that allows students to retrieve previous learning and make connections to new knowledge. Modelling is a key element of our teaching providing worked examples and use of ‘I do, we do, you do’ to develop essential knowledge and to develop our students into independent and successful learners. Rigorous methods of questioning are used to inform adaptive teaching, ‘say it again, say it better’ responses are also used ensuring students accurately and clearly articulate their responses.

The impact of our curriculum will be measured in numerous ways to give us a secure understanding of everyone’s achievements.

In lesson, progress is measured in a variety of ways with the purpose of working towards age-related or aspirational expectations. Students will begin every lesson with an activity which requires them to recall prior learning that will support the day’s lesson through consistent five question recall starter questions. This prior learning could be from the previous lesson, something learnt in the previous week, or something learnt in the last month. These daily, weekly, and monthly retrieval practices will help to support students’ maintenance of knowledge in their long-term memory. It is important that these activities take on a range of appearances so that students experience the prior knowledge in a range of different contexts to challenge their working memory and cement further the knowledge in their long-term memory. During the lesson, progress will be measured through a range of questioning techniques which have the main purpose of assessing students’ understanding, the progress made and identifying any misconceptions whilst ensuring all students are actively engaged. These questions will focus on both knowledge and skills so that we can ensure that students understand how to obtain the knowledge when they approach similar tasks in a different context later in their study.

Marking in exercise books will also be used to measure students’ progress. On a regular basis, students’ books will be marked to show what they have done well and where they have improved on previous areas for development. A ‘Green Box Task’ will be set to help students improve on a particular English skill(s) that have been identified as an area for improvement. The ‘Green Box Task’ may involve re-drafting a piece of work or adding in another element to a piece of work. Students are also encouraged to use purple pen in their work to evidence where they have made progress – this could be, but not limited to – extension questions, progress against their previous marking target or improving and adding to their work based on peer/self/class assessment. To clarify: purple in students work highlights that progress has been made and green pen indicates that students have reflected and improved.

Throughout the study of each termly unit, students will undertake one summative assessment based on the key assessment objectives taught that term. These assessments will be based upon the style of questions student’s will eventually answer in their GCSE examinations and therefore encourages students to work within their spiral towards the goal of mastery of the assessed objective. Results from these summative assessments will provide data on those students who are working at, working above or working below in terms of progress and therefore provide indications of which students need to be provided with more challenging work, as well as providing information on those who may need Wave 1 or Wave 2 intervention (one-to-one or small group support with an English teacher). Assessments are differentiated in KS3 to encompass a format that is more accessible for students based on age-related expectations. This strategic outlay for assessments ensures that our students can make suitable progress against their flight path. To correspond with this, marking is also based on GCSE mark schemes, but the levels have been differentiated so that mark schemes are age related for year groups, this ensures that students can achieve the highest marks based on their age range so that aspirational goals are possible for all students.

Fortnightly homework’s of at least 60 minutes study, alternating between retrieval practise and a wider reading focus (comprehension and guided analytical tasks) supported by comprehension booklets for KS3.

Within our curriculum, we offer students a range of extra-curricular activities to broaden their horizons and allow them to progress in the areas that interest them and support their future career aspirations. Currently on offer, we have: Debating Club and Book Club. Alongside this, student culture within the department is heavily valued and is overseen by the Assistant Subject Leader – showcasing the value that is placed on enrichment and student experiences. Competitions are planned into the curriculum for KS3 so that all students have opportunities to extend their skills beyond the classroom environment and achieve rewards for outstanding efforts. These extra-curricular activities are provided to allow students to experience the skills in English outside of the classroom and hopefully foster a love for the subject so that they continue their studies in further education.

Ultimately, students’ progress will be measured by the future careers they find themselves in. We want all our students to aspire to be the best that they can be and if they make good or better progress, the world will be their oyster.

By the end of KS3 students will have developed an understanding of the world around them, be able to articulate this world as well as make judgments and detailed analysis of what they experience around them. These skills are fundamental in developing independence and ultimately succeeding in GCSE’s, which is vital for students’ future employment prospects and academic progression.