The Guernsey English Curriculum at Key Stage 3

As children in Guernsey head to one of the island's high schools (St Sampson's, La Mare de Carteret, Les Beaucamps or The Grammar School) the English curriculum continues to build on skills developed at primary level. You will notice a slow increase in the depth and detail of the analytical writing used to evidence and demonstrate skills in both reading and writing tasks, and a decrease in the focus on creative writing.

Here at Tutoring Heroes in Guernsey, we often find this shift towards more analytical writing, the structuring of balanced arguments and developing essay structure and style are key skills which children studying English at Key Stage 3, and beyond to GCSE, benefit from additional one-to-one English tutoring.

Text types

There are a wide range of text types taught at Key Stage 3, and schools are at liberty to choose their own texts and design schemes of work around these. Children will engage with a range of texts (fiction, non-fiction, poetry) across whole books, extracts and a variety of media including plays, magazines, comics, films, and more.

Examples of texts studied at KS3 level include Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Hamlet), Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, War Poetry, detective stories, dystopian novels, and early and ancient texts.

The curriculum is split into 3 key areas – reading, writing and speaking & listening.

Reading

The curriculum ensures all children have access to enjoyable and real world reading experiences, meeting authors and poets, developing reading stamina, learning robust research methods, and reading aloud with fluency, intonation and expression. Skills include retrieving and summarising information, interpreting and inferring meaning, recognising bias, and evaluating writers' choices – an area our Guernsey English tutors often help students make great progress in.

Writing

The Guernsey English curriculum states that children should be encouraged to write in a range of genres, communicating ideas fluently and consistently, whilst developing stamina, planning and organisational skills, and personal style. Skills include using punctuation creatively, purposeful language devices, accurate spelling, varied sentence structures, effective paragraphing, and independent proofreading and editing.

Children are taught a huge range of text types, including narrative genres (adventure, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and more), poetry (free verse, visual, structured), and non-fiction (instructions, journalistic writing, biography, persuasive writing, balanced arguments).

Speaking and Listening

Speaking and listening forms a vital part of every child's school experience. Although not a separate GCSE subject grade, children are assessed, and some exam boards see this area as integral to overall GCSE English assessment. Skills include analysing and refining ideas, building on others' contributions, initiating collaboration, and demonstrating assured and fluent use of standard English – something our English tutors in Guernsey are adept at modelling in tutoring sessions.

So, what's the conclusion?

By the time your child reaches the end of Year 9, they should be fully prepared to embark on GCSE study, and to use their English skills across the full curriculum. If your child is finding any aspect of the KS3 English curriculum challenging, please get in touch with our Guernsey English tutors and we can find the best way to engage and support your child.