The secondary curriculum review
To make good progress pupils need continuity and opportunities for development across the key stages. To achieve this, curriculum planning at key stage 3 needs to:
The programme of study at key stage 2 provides pupils with opportunities to read a range of fiction and non-fiction texts, write in some different genres, and speak and listen for different purposes, mostly with their peers. Pupils understand the main rules and conventions of English and begin to learn how language works, which provides them with a sound level of literacy.
By the end of key stage 2, most pupils are able to change the way they speak and listen for different purposes and audiences, and take different roles in groups. Most can read independently and use their knowledge of words, sentences and texts to understand literal meanings and make inferences. Most pupils are beginning to explore the use of language in literary and non-literary texts and how it can be used to express different meanings. Most will know how to use the planning, drafting and editing process to improve their writing.
The English programme of study for key stage 3 builds on the knowledge, skills and understanding pupils acquire during key stage 2. Pupils encounter a wide range of increasingly challenging fiction and non-fiction texts, including literary texts written before the twentieth century. They develop their speaking and listening in a range of collaborative and individual contexts, including those beyond the classroom and ones that require them to respond formally. Pupils experience a wide range of contexts and purposes for writing. They explore different ways to interest and engage their reader and create an impact.
By the end of key stage 3, most pupils are able to speak and listen for a wide range of purposes and make informed choices about how to match delivery and selection of content to the task. Most are able to engage with the detail of the texts they read and develop increasingly independent interpretations supported by relevant textual evidence. Most can comment on how texts are crafted to produce meaning and how structure, language and presentation can produce particular effects to have an impact on the reader.
Most pupils are able to write with ambition and accuracy and have developed a repertoire of techniques that they can bring to bear on a variety of different writing purposes, selecting appropriately for clarity and impact.
At key stage 3 pupils acquire a range of skills across the three modes, speaking and listening, reading and writing. At key stage 4 progression is characterised by the application of these skills in a wide range of contexts, particularly the more formal and less familiar.
In speaking and listening, pupils select from a range of skills at their disposal and respond flexibly in order to meet the needs of unfamiliar audiences and new contexts. They understand the demands of more formal situations and are able to adapt what they say in appropriate ways. They use evaluative and critical skills as a basis on which to form judgements about what they hear and are able to internalise and synthesize information from a range of sources.
In reading, pupils are able to form independent interpretations of what they read, and use analytical and evaluative skills to select material according to their needs. They are aware of the subtle ways that writers may influence their readers and have a critical understanding of writers' purposes. Pupils learn to relate texts to the wider contexts in which they were written and make comparisons and connections between ideas and themes that may connect texts.
In writing, pupils sustain and develop their ideas in extended ways, making deliberate choices about style and form according to purpose. They develop their ability to write accurately, and with precision about complex subjects.
