A mocked up exam paper for the new 2020 specification, based on CIE’s specimen. Useful as a mock exam or to work through in class.

A collection of 5 different example essays written on Carter’s The Bloody Chamber.

A set of independent reading questions for The Hobbit. Ideal for KS3 students as weekly homework alongside study of the novel.

Worksheets to aid narrative planning for section B of the exam. Tasks focus students on the characteristics of successful answers by asking them to ‘upgrade’ poor plans and to continue exemplar openings. Works well as a class or as independent homework tasks. Includes poster with key reminders which is a useful revision tool.

A fun activity to encourage students to identify common cliches in their narrative writing. Helpful for exam prep for WJEC and AQA.

A useful step by step to guide students through responses to passage based questions. Key reminders based on examiner reports.

A broad range of passage based exam questions (aimed at Cambridge English Literature 9695) which can be used as lesson resources, mock exams or a full set of revision questions for students to complete independently.

A comprehensive planning sheet and tasks to help KS3 students plan better mystery stories. These lessons focus on the concept of the discovery of a mystery object which somehow reveals a secret. Students begin with physical objects (a shoe, a jewelry box- anything you have) and imagining their histories. After this, they come up with a few ideas of mystery objects and then plan out a short narrative using ‘set up, build up, climax, resolution/cliffhanger’. This is very successful with weaker groups who need clear direction, but also works well for curtailing the ambition of some budding novelists!

Our co-constructed marking/feedback policy for English. Lots of ideas borrowed from research and great schools (all referenced). A good starting point for developing your own policy or for NQTs to think about good feedback.

A progress tracker for students to complete to keep track of assessment targets and their reported grades to encourage a focus on progress rather than attainment.

Fun starter for introduction dystopian fiction. Fact or fiction worksheet. Students must guess which are real news stories and which are dystopian fiction.

Simple, but active spelling strategies. Useful for display or to stick in the front of spelling books.

Sheets explaining comma splicing and fragmented sentences, with exercises to fix these common GCSE errors.

Example controlled descriptive pieces. Aimed at WJEC/Eduqas GCSE, but would work for other specifications.

Simple, controlled narratives as examples for GCSE narrative writing. Aimed at WJEC/Eduqas, but could be used for any GCSE specification narrative tasks.

Example essay on gender in ‘Twelfth Night’ for AQA Lit. Band 4/5 example.

A fun version of the game Articulate, to encourage revision of key elements of the Gothic genre. Aimed at A Level Literature, but would work well with able Secondary groups too. Print in colour and laminate for best results.

A good grade 5 example formal letter, with a focus on clearly organised paragraphs. Useful at GCSE for transactional writing preparation.

Engaging worksheets using passages from 'Harry Potter' and 'The Hobbit' to explore characterisation and then encourage students to create their own heroes.

A band 5 passage based response on Act 1 Scene 1 of ‘Twelfth Night’, written by an examiner. Students can annotate with assessment objectives or use as a model for their own responses.