Everything your child learns in Year 7 English.

Skills: Locating explicit information in a text, Skimming and scanning for key details, Selecting the most relevant evidence, Summarising retrieved information in your own words

Skills: Distinguishing what is stated from what is implied, Inferring meaning from a single clue, Inferring meaning by combining several clues, Supporting an inference with a precise quotation

Skills: Identifying a writer's language technique, Explaining the effect of a specific word choice, Analysing connotation within a quotation, Commenting on how language affects the reader

Skills: Identifying structural features (openings, endings, shifts), Explaining why a writer orders information a certain way, Tracking how focus changes across a text, Linking a structural choice to its effect on the reader

Skills: Selecting the most relevant quotation for a point, Embedding a short quotation inside your own sentence, Explaining how a piece of evidence supports a point, Using more than one piece of evidence to build an argument

Skills: Identifying when and where a text was written or set, Explaining how context shapes what a text includes, Linking context to a writer's likely purpose, Using context to support an interpretation

Skills: Identifying what a writer wants the reader to think or feel, Distinguishing a writer's intention from the text's actual effect, Supporting a claim about intention with evidence, Discussing whether a writer succeeds in their intention

Skills: Identifying tone from word choice, Describing tone using precise vocabulary, Explaining how tone is created, Tracking how tone shifts across a text

Skills: Distinguishing tone (writer's attitude) from mood (reader's feeling), Identifying techniques that create mood, Explaining the effect of mood on the reader, Tracking how mood changes across a text

Skills: Identifying whose perspective a text is told from, Recognising a limited or biased perspective, Explaining how perspective shapes what is included or left out, Comparing perspectives across two texts

Skills: Distinguishing viewpoint from perspective, Identifying a writer's viewpoint on their subject, Explaining how viewpoint is conveyed through language choices, Evaluating how convincingly a viewpoint is presented

Skills: Identifying similarities and differences between two texts, Comparing the methods two writers use, Comparing the effect of those methods on the reader, Structuring a clear comparison paragraph

Skills: Forming a personal judgement about a text, Supporting a judgement with evidence, Evaluating how effective a writer's choices are, Balancing strengths and weaknesses in an evaluation

Skills: Identifying a poem's form and structure, Recognising common poetic techniques, Explaining the effect of a poetic technique, Discussing how a theme is developed across a poem

Skills: Recognising features of prose fiction, Identifying narrative voice and point of view, Discussing how prose builds a character, Discussing how prose builds a setting

Skills: Recognising features of a play script (stage directions, dialogue), Understanding dramatic irony, Discussing character through what they say and do, Explaining how tension is created on stage

Skills: Understanding the context of Shakespearean theatre, Recognising features of Early Modern English, Following a simple plot across a scene, Spotting one key technique in a short extract

Skills: Identifying a character's traits, Tracking how a character develops across a text, Explaining how a writer presents a character, Using evidence to support character analysis

Skills: Identifying a theme in a text, Explaining how a theme is developed, Linking a theme to its context, Comparing how a theme is presented in two texts

Skills: Identifying details that establish a setting, Explaining how a writer creates a setting, Discussing how setting affects mood or atmosphere, Linking setting to a text's wider theme

Skills: Sequencing the events of a plot, Identifying plot structure (exposition, climax, resolution), Explaining how a writer builds tension, Discussing a plot device and its purpose

Skills: Identifying types of conflict (internal and external), Explaining how conflict drives a narrative forward, Discussing how a conflict is resolved, Linking conflict to theme

Skills: Recognising a symbol within a text, Explaining what a symbol represents, Discussing why a writer chose that symbol, Linking symbolism to a text's theme

Skills: Identifying common devices (simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration), Explaining the effect of a device, Using a device to support a point of analysis, Comparing how two writers use a similar device

Skills: Planning a clear narrative structure, Writing an engaging opening, Building tension and controlling pace, Writing a satisfying ending

Skills: Using precise sensory detail, Using figurative language for effect, Varying sentence structure for descriptive effect, Creating a consistent atmosphere

Skills: Using persuasive techniques (rhetorical questions, repetition, emotive language), Structuring a persuasive argument, Addressing a counter-argument, Writing a persuasive conclusion

Skills: Stating a clear position, Supporting a position with reasons and evidence, Structuring points logically, Writing a convincing conclusion

Skills: Using direct address to an audience, Using rhetorical devices for spoken effect, Structuring a speech clearly, Adapting tone for a specific audience

Skills: Writing an effective headline and strapline, Structuring paragraphs for an article, Adopting an appropriate register, Using evidence or quotations to support a point

Skills: Using a consistently formal register, Avoiding contractions and colloquialisms, Structuring a formal opening and closing, Maintaining an objective tone

Skills: Using an appropriately informal register, Matching tone to audience, Using informal punctuation and style purposefully

Skills: Generating original ideas, Experimenting with structure, Using varied and precise vocabulary, Redrafting for effect

Skills: Recognising rhetorical devices, Using a rhetorical question for effect, Using the rule of three, Using direct address purposefully

Skills: Using simple, compound and complex sentences, Varying sentence length for effect, Choosing a sentence structure purposefully

Skills: Identifying main and subordinate clauses, Combining clauses accurately, Punctuating clauses correctly

Skills: Distinguishing a phrase from a clause, Using noun and verb phrases effectively, Expanding a phrase to add detail

Skills: Identifying the main word classes, Using word class knowledge to build accurate sentences, Recognising a word class shift (e.g. a noun used as a verb)

Skills: Recognising active and passive voice, Understanding the effect of each voice, Choosing active or passive voice purposefully

Skills: Identifying markers of formal and informal register, Switching register appropriately for audience, Maintaining a consistent register across a piece

Skills: Using cohesive devices within a paragraph, Using cohesive devices between paragraphs, Avoiding unnecessary repetition

Skills: Understanding how word order affects meaning, Manipulating syntax for effect, Recognising unusual syntax in a text

Skills: Understanding word choice and connotation, Analysing a writer's diction, Choosing precise diction in your own writing

Skills: Recognising common prefixes, Using a prefix to work out an unfamiliar word's meaning, Using prefixes to build new words

Skills: Recognising common suffixes, Understanding how a suffix changes a word's class, Using suffixes accurately in writing

Skills: Recognising common Greek and Latin roots, Using a root to work out an unfamiliar word, Building a family of words from a shared root

Skills: Understanding what etymology is, Using etymology to deduce meaning, Exploring how a word's meaning has changed over time

Skills: Distinguishing connotation from denotation, Identifying positive and negative connotation, Analysing connotation within a quotation

Skills: Understanding a word's literal, dictionary meaning, Distinguishing denotation from connotation, Using precise denotation in your own writing

Skills: Finding synonyms for a given word, Choosing the most precise synonym for context, Avoiding repetition by using synonyms

Skills: Finding antonyms for a given word, Using antonyms to clarify meaning, Understanding nuance between near-antonyms

Skills: Identifying simile, metaphor and personification, Explaining the effect of a figurative technique, Using figurative language in your own writing

Skills: Recognising rhetorical and persuasive vocabulary, Understanding its effect on an audience, Using rhetorical vocabulary purposefully in writing