English in Years 7 to 9

Years 7 to 9 make up Key Stage 3. What schools teach in English at this stage is set out in the national curriculum’s programme of study for English, published in 2013. Academies and private schools do not have to follow the national curriculum at the moment, although academies must teach a broad and balanced curriculum that includes English. A law passed in 2026 will require academies to follow the reformed national curriculum, from a date still to be set. Ask your child’s school what it teaches in each year.

What the curriculum asks for

The Key Stage 3 section of the programme of study says: “Reading at key stage 3 should be wide, varied and challenging. Pupils should be expected to read whole books, to read in depth and to read for pleasure and information.”

In reading, students should meet a wide range of fiction and non-fiction: whole books and plays, short stories and poems. The range includes English literature from before 1914 and from today, “Shakespeare (two plays)” and “seminal world literature”, meaning important books from around the world. Students should study “at least two authors in depth each year”, choose books for themselves “for challenge, interest and enjoyment”, and re-read books they met earlier.

They also learn to read critically: how language and structure create meaning, how poets use form, how a writer builds characters and a plot, how a play changes in performance, and how to compare texts.

In writing, students write at length for many purposes and audiences, from essays and stories to scripts and poems, and from notes for a talk to a formal letter. They plan and draft, then edit and proofread, with attention to accurate spelling and punctuation.

In grammar and vocabulary, they build on what they learnt at primary school, take new words from their reading, and learn to use Standard English and the terms for talking about language.

In spoken English, they give short speeches and presentations, take part in formal debates and structured discussions, and rehearse and perform play scripts and poetry.

Questions for the school

Schools choose the books and the order, so the same curriculum can look very different from one school to the next. Useful questions for a parents’ evening:

• Which books will my child read in full this year, and which Shakespeare play?
• How much reading happens in lessons, and what is expected at home?
• What writing will they do, and how is it marked?
• Is there a library lesson or a reading scheme?

If your child is in Year 9, it is also fair to ask when GCSE work starts. Our teacher article on GCSE-style tasks at Key Stage 3 sets out what Ofsted found and what the evidence says.

Reading at home

The curriculum asks for reading for pleasure as well as for study. Let your child choose, including graphic novels, non-fiction and audiobooks. Keep books in the house and visit the library. Our page on reading for pleasure at 14 to 16 has more.

How it leads to GCSE

AQA’s GCSE English Literature covers a Shakespeare play, a 19th-century novel, a modern play or novel, poems from an anthology cluster, and poems your child has not seen before. The exams are closed book, so apart from the extracts and poems printed on the paper, every quotation comes from memory. GCSE English Language sets fiction from the 20th or 21st century on one paper and non-fiction from different periods on the other, each followed by a piece of writing, and it includes a spoken presentation, the spoken language endorsement. Reading whole books and Shakespeare, older texts and poetry, and speaking formally in Years 7 to 9 is the groundwork for all of it. The guide to GCSE English sets out the four exams.

What is due to change

In November 2025 the government said it would publish a revised national curriculum in 2027 for first teaching in 2028, and update GCSEs for first teaching from 2029 onwards. It also said it would introduce a new statutory reading test in Year 8, designed to check both fluency and comprehension. A child who started Year 7 in September 2026 starts Year 10 in September 2029, so ask the school nearer the time which version of the GCSEs they will take.

Sources

• Department for Education, Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act: policy summary notes (June 2026)
• Department for Education, English programmes of study: key stage 3 (September 2013)
• GOV.UK, The national curriculum
• Department for Education, Government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review (November 2025)
• AQA, GCSE English Literature 8702 specification (version 1.3, 2022)
• AQA, GCSE English Language 8700 specification