A Breakdown for Interested Parents: The Skills Students Learn in English at Key Stage Three

It can be quite frustrating as a parent.

You send them off to school, ask what they did that day, and little snippets of unwillingly bestowed information float back.

"Looking at a book."

"Bit of writing."

"Looking at poems."

"No... I can't remember which ones."

...and so it goes.

So, for the hair-tearing parent, shall I share what your child is probably doing in English?

Buckle up...

The Big Picture

What you need to realise first is that the skills being taught right from the outset in Year 7 are intended to mirror the skills that are eventually examined in the English Language and Literature GCSE papers taken in the summer of Year 11.

The main exam boards are remarkably similar in terms of the skills they examine and the texts they use.

Both use two Literature exam papers, covering:

• A Shakespeare play

• A Victorian novel

• A modern text (play or novel)

• Poetry – around fifteen anthology poems studied in depth

• Unseen poetry, using the same analytical skills developed through the anthology

Alongside this, students also complete two Language papers.

English Language

Paper 1

Language Paper 1 focuses on fiction.

Students analyse an unseen extract from a story before completing a piece of creative writing based on a picture or idea.

Paper 2

Language Paper 2 focuses on non-fiction.

Students analyse two non-fiction texts, which could include:

• Diaries

• Letters

• Articles

• Blogs

• Extracts from non-fiction texts

The second half of the paper requires students to write a piece of transactional writing.

For those unsure, this simply means writing designed to persuade, inform or argue.

Reading and Writing Skills

A great deal of lesson time is spent helping students develop two key areas:

• Reading skills – analysing and interpreting texts.

• Writing skills – producing effective writing for a variety of purposes and audiences.

These skills are built gradually over the five years of secondary school.

It's About More Than Exams

Alongside all of these technical skills, there is also the rather more philosophical—and lovely—aspect of English.

(Yes, it really does exist!)

Students should experience some of the greatest novels in the English language.

English departments take this responsibility very seriously. We want stories that inspire, excite and encourage young people to think.

Studying literature also allows students to grow emotionally. They learn to empathise with characters they may never previously have understood.

Benjamin Zephaniah's Face is a great example.

The main character isn't initially the nicest of boys, but after suffering a terrible accident, readers begin to empathise with someone rebuilding not only his body, but his entire outlook on life.

Learning to Analyse Texts

Generally speaking (as I certainly don't speak for every school or every English department!), somewhere within the early Key Stage 3 schemes of work, students begin learning the basics of analytical writing.

Why is this so important?

Imagine students are studying The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

They might be asked how the author presents the character of Shmuel.

A simple answer like:

"Shmuel is sad."

isn't enough.

Students quickly learn that every point needs evidence.

They make a point, support it with a quotation or example, and then explain what that evidence tells us about the character, often analysing individual words.

In its simplest form, this becomes:

• Point

• Evidence

• Explanation

The Importance of the PEE Paragraph

The PEE paragraph becomes incredibly important.

It provides students with a reliable framework that allows them to organise their thinking every single time they answer an analytical question.

As students move through the years, the texts, characters and themes change constantly, but the underlying structure remains the same.

Knowing how to organise an answer already puts students at an advantage.

Interestingly, this same structured style of writing is also used in subjects such as History.

Developing Creative Writing

Creative writing opportunities appear throughout Key Stage 3.

As mentioned earlier, reading and writing skills are constantly interwoven.

Students might write:

• Diary entries

• Personal letters

• Character monologues

while studying a novel or play.

Along the way they learn techniques that make creative writing more engaging, imaginative and effective.

All of this builds towards the creative writing task in English Language Paper 1.

Learning to Persuade

Students also spend time developing transactional and persuasive writing.

Throughout Key Stage 3 they learn the literary techniques writers use to persuade an audience.

Many schools introduce the acronym AFOREST, which includes:

• Alliteration

• Facts

• Opinion

• Rhetorical questions (and repetition)

• Emotive language

• Statistics

• Triplets (the Rule of Three)

In reality, students learn many more persuasive techniques than AFOREST alone.

As they mature, their writing becomes more sophisticated, incorporating anecdotes, humour, hyperbole and increasingly subtle tone.

These are the very skills they will eventually use in the transactional writing section of English Language Paper 2.

"We're Doing The Tempest..."

Imagine asking your child what they're studying in English.

They shrug and reply:

"I dunno... Tempest or something."

Well, dear parents, it isn't just The Tempest or something!

It will be a carefully planned scheme of work balancing reading, analysis, creativity and writing.

Students might:

• Read and understand the play.

• Create a map of Prospero's island (great fun—and excellent for classroom displays!).

• Analyse Prospero's character.

• Explore Shakespeare's language.

• Practise writing PEE paragraphs.

• Analyse Ariel's relationship with Prospero.

• Write a diary entry from Ariel's perspective using ambitious vocabulary and metaphor.

• Explore how Caliban's and Prospero's dialogue presents racism as a key theme.

• Ensure every student, including those with additional learning needs, is supported throughout.

All while making sure there's plenty of enjoyment along the way.

So... What Are They Actually Learning?

The answer to the question posed in the title is:

An awful lot.

They just need to fortify themselves with a snack or two before they tell you...