Key Stage 3 Curriculum Overview for (English) Year 7
Unit Title(s)
Half Term 1
Half Term 2
Exploring fictional texts
focusing on horror writing
Reading ‘Ghost Box’
Short stories
Rudyard Kipling
Exploring a range of fictional
horror writing
 Edgar Allan Poe: the Black
Cat/ The Tell-Tale Heat/ The
Raven
 H G Wells: The Red Room
 Anthony Horrowitz: The
Hitchhiker
Christmas cracker speaking and
listening project: producing and
selling a product to a target
audience.
Studying a play and exploring
script writing
‘Our Day Out’ by Willy Russel
Key Learning Objectives
SMSC
Identifying key characteristics
and conventions of mystery/horror
genre.
Explore themes of
death/fear/supernatural/ life
after death.
Exploring narrative structures in
terms of tension and suspense.
Explore writers’ craft focusing on the
language and structure used.
Big questions about the afterlife.
S/L presentation appealing to and
persuading specific target audience
Exploring the historical, social and
cultural context of Liverpool in
1970’s.
Half Term 3
Key conventions of Drama and script
writing.
Consider importance of how
historical, social and cultural context
adds to the meaning of a text.
Summative reading assessment based
on the ‘Ghost Box’ focusing on language
and structural features.
Explore themes of
death/fear/supernatural/ life
after death.
Summative creative writing assessment
creating an opening for a horror story
and describing a creature/villain.
Big questions about the afterlife.
Speaking and listening assessment
focusing on persuasive writing.
Value of education considering
the past and present.
Summative reading assessment based
upon a scene from Our Day Out.
Social deprivation.
Understanding the main characters
of the play and how important their
roles are.
Assessment Method(s)
Discussion of corporal
punishment and relationships
how teachers treated pupils.
Half Term 4
Half Term 5
Introduction to Shakespeare
 Exploring who Shakespeare
is
 Research the Globe Theatre
and the Elizabethan Era
Introduction to the Romantic
Poets and poetry
Looking at Environmental
Poetry
World Literature
Stories from other Cultures
Half Term 6
Introduction to the world of
Shakespeare his writing and steps to
analysing Shakespearian language
Changing attitudes towards
women such as how they were
treated by their family and men.
Exploring the Elizabethan Era and
understand how context connected
with/ effected the plays Shakespeare
wrote
Significance of Romantic poets as a
literary movement.
Religious values during the time
and how this linked to the
theatre.
Exploring poets’ craft.
Religious values during the time
and how this influenced their
writing.
Learning about the poets themselves
and how they were influenced to
create their work.
Understanding and exploration of
writing from different cultures.
Spirituality/natural world/ inner
eye.
Explore other
cultures/attitudes/beliefs and
values.
Summative writing assessment creating
a descriptive piece on a Trip to the
Globe Theatre including historical
context.
Summative reading assessment
analysing the language, structure and
form of a specific poem with a focus on
context.
Summative writing assessment focusing
upon other cultures.